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Wednesday, February 22, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Sisters Country birds
By Douglas Beall
Correspondent
The sharp-shinned
hawk [Accipiter stiatus] is
America’s smallest hawk.
Their diet consists mostly
small birds up to the rob-
in’s size, although doves
and quail are occasion-
ally captured. Common in
our forests, the “sharpy”
hunts down prey by hiding
in trees and surprising the
birds and catching them in
mid-flight or guiding them
into trees or houses and sim-
ply picking up the stunned
birds.
Nests are built mostly
by the female, although
the male does bring some
nesting materials. High in
a conifer tree’s canopy, the
inch-to-two-inch-wide nest
contains three to eight whit-
ish-brown or blue splotched
eggs that hatch in 30-35
days.
The Nugget Newspaper Crossword
By Jacqueline E. Mathews, Tribune News Service
The nestlings are pro-
vided food by the male for
16-23 days and then begin to
attempt simple flight to other
branches, and in 3-4 weeks
are often fed on the wing
with mid-air exchanges of
food from the parents.
Unique to the sharp-
shinned hawk is the removal
of the head before present-
ing the food to their young
in the nest. After the young
hawks learn to fend for
themselves they move on
to create their own venery
territories.
A large migration from
Canada is observed with
up to 11,000 sharpies seen
in one autumn day at Cape
May Point, New Jersey. A
group of hawks is called a
“knot,” “boil,” “spiraling,”
or a “tower.”
For more sharp-shinned
hawk images visit http://
abirdsingsbecauseithas
asong.com/recent-journeys.
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