During the September 2008 windstorm, the top of a large pine tree was ripped off behind Snyder’s No. 6 green. Bad news for the tree, but good for the pair of hawks that built a nest there in March.
Three chicks hatched, and now Snyder Park is their playground. They’re not afraid of humans or golf carts, and are regulars on the course.
“You can get within six to eight feet of them,” said Norm Arnold, Snyder Park’s golf course superintendent. “We actually fed them some fish out of the pond. They’ll take it from you. Now they’re finally starting to hunt on their own.”
Arnold said he’s seen the chicks begin to move around the course. The adults aren’t as friendly, but are usually near.
The hawks’ ability to live on a busy golf course is yet another example of nature adapting to human intrusion. Some red-tails are less people-shy than others, said Rick Jasper, assistant wildlife management supervisor at the Ohio Division of Wildlife District 5 office.
“They have to adapt, and the more familiar they are with those kinds of situations, the more likely they are to nest there,” he said.
A red-tailed hawk, one of Ohio’s most abundant birds of prey, weighs about four pounds, has a wing span over four feet, and feeds mostly on small animals. The chicks at Snyder Park, with the wicked talons and curved beak of their parents, already look like formidable predators — and make for a strange sight on a golf course.
“Nobody seems to bother (the hawks) in any way, and they don’t seem to be too worried about all of us being out there,” Arnold said. “They’ll sit and watch, and we’ve got people taking pictures of them. It’s nice to have something this far in town where you’ve got that much nature that you can come out and take a look at.”
While the parents may return to the nest next year for another brood, the chicks will eventually move on.
“As they begin to catch their own food and become more self-sufficient, they’re going to be drifting farther and farther away from the nest site, and eventually they won’t be seen at all,” Jasper said.
Until then, the hawks help keep the course clean: “They kept our geese population down,” Arnold said, “so we like that because the geese actually tear up our greens.”
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ontact this reporter at (937) 328-0366 or bplasters@coxohio.com.
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