Nature & You: Urban-dwelling hawks give chase to golfers, walkers

There is power in words. One such word is "attack." I bristle when I hear this word being used to describe a hawk's behavior when it is merely coming to the defense of its nest when humans venture much too close. One such bird is the Mississippi kite. I find it very commendable this tiny creature intentionally places its safety at risk in order to ensure that no harm comes to its offspring.

It is indeed unfortunate the Mississippi kite is not more discriminating when it comes to deciding which humans actually pose a legitimate threat to the hawk babies. Far too often, people accidentally venture too close to a hawk nest they do not even realize is there.

Some Mississippi kites fly toward people; some don't. It depends on the personality of the individual birds. What I am attempting to say is this: Not all Mississippi kites are trouble-makers; some of them nest in close proximity to people and never cause one iota of a problem.

I just wish people would quit painting this urban-dwelling hawk with a fear-mongering word such as "attack." It would be far better to acknowledge it is just a situation whereby a mother bird is doing what she can to make sure no harm befalls her offspring. What's wrong with that?

Neil Garrison was the longtime naturalist at a central Oklahoma nature center. His email is atlatlgarrison@hotmail.com.