Hawks, Surviving Connecticut Winters, Sharon Audubon

It’s been a harsh winter, especially for our fine feathered friends. Reports of young hawks dropping from the trees, fewer visits to our feeders — both in number and variety — indicate lower survival. Sharon Audubon Center provided further insight.

Connecticut is home to several varieties of hawks. The most common is the red-tailed hawk, followed closely by bald eagles, harriers, sharp shinned, Coopers, goshawks, kestrels, and turkey vultures. These raptors reside in Connecticut year-round, whereas several other species, broad winged, and osprey migrate south and return with the arrival of spring. Merlins, peregrine, gyrfalcon, and the golden eagle winter in northern Connecticut, migrating north for the summer.

In general, these raptors follow their food sources. Their migratory routes follow the Connecticut and Housatonic rivers. The Audubon helps them in many ways.

The Audubon Society (AS) was started by two women, Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall, in 1896. Their concern was the practice of slaughtering birds for the use of their feathers for fashion design, particularly women’s hats. The AS hosted teas to reach and educate women.

The first Field Guide was published in the early 1930s by Roger Tory Peterson. By 1940 the various chapters of the AS merged into the National Audubon Society and posted the first alert related to the pesticide DDT. Five years later, they partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In 1960, they offered studies linking numerous declining bird species with the use of DDT, including the bald eagle. In the same decade, National Audubon Society established a centralized office in Washington, D.C. Soon after saw the passage of the Endangered Species Act, and, in 1980, the Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act passed, protecting 79.5 million acres, including the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.

Audubon programs surfaced on most U.S. universities and college campuses by 2018, under the Migrating Birds Initiative. The next year culminated with the publication of “Survival by Degrees,” listing 389 bird species on the brink of extinction due to climate change. The “Climate Change Solutions Report of 2021” offered solutions, including protecting bird habitats, attention to tackling carbon pollution, minimizing climate change, and sustaining biodiversity. Since, National Audubon Society has also spearheaded efforts for sustainable energy (particularly offshore wind turbines) to decarbonizing the energy sector, advocating clean energy by 2040.

The Sharon Audubon Center, directed by Eileen Fielding, is located off Route 4 (Cornwall Bridge Road) when a 1,147-acre farm was offered. They have since developed and maintained over 8 miles of forested hiking trails, a raptor aviary, housing rehabilitated birds, unable to survive in the wild due to sustained injuries, a native plant and pollinator garden, as well as an in-house learning center and gift shop. It also serves as a short-term wildlife rehabilitation infirmary. Its latest enterprise is the development of the Bird-Friendly Maple Program, protecting the sugarbush for both the birds and maple syrup production.

Naturalist and Volunteer Coordinator Bethany Sheffer welcomes, trains, and coordinates volunteers over the age of 18. Education Program Manager Wendy Miller works with schools, libraries, and youth groups to schedule visits to the Center to organize and coordinate educational programs from grade school through high school and agricultural projects, including summer programs.

As for raptors — particularly larger hawks — most live 25 to 30 years in the wild. Raptors seem to be more adaptable, possibly due to their larger size and longer life span. They usually nest in the taller trees, over 120 feet high, laying 2 or 3 eggs.

Upon hatching, after about 28 days, Dad delivers the food while Mom cleans and prepares the food for the nestlings for the first 3 to 5 weeks. During weeks 6 to 8, they learn to clean their own food, which is usually small rodents, reptiles, or fish. At about 8 weeks, they leave the nest. Mom and Dad watch over them as they learn to fly, navigate the wind and thermal convection currents, and hunt for themselves over the next 4 or 5 weeks. The family stays together for most of the summer, as the chicks grow and learn.

Nature has her own design, strengthening and choosing the most fit for survival. Records going back to the 1960s indicate an attrition rate as high as 80% of the yearling chicks during a severe winter. Harsh winds, snow cover, and ice makes hunting hard, narrowing survival to only the strongest, healthiest of the species.