Chicago Wildlife News: Never mind the cars -- a hawk and the Kennedy Expy.

Never mind the cars -- a hawk and the Kennedy Expy.

(POSTED: 9/3/09) It's understandable that some hawks like to spend their time near highways. After all, there often are trees or street lights providing good vantages to hunt along grassy shoulder areas.

Driving down I-80 to Utica every few months, I see at least two or three hawks roadside.

But the Kennedy Expy. qualifies as a good hunting ground?

Those who traverse this traffic-gnarled roadway know how busy it is, how modest are the parkways. And yet, there's a red-tailed hawk that spends a good amount of time perched on those towering lamps lining the pavement, between Addison and Foster.

So it's a North Side bird.

I've seen it (I'm presuming it's the same beast) for at least two years. Not every day, or even every month. But it always seems to return, most recently in August in the photo featured here. (Not the best picture I'll admit; I pulled over to snap it, but the wise bird kept moving further south when I approached from the ground with camera in hand.)

I wonder what the hawk eats, and whether plump city rats might be part of the diet.

Whatever the case, it's a welcome bit of wild in a city that's too often wild in the wrong ways.

By Robert Herguth, ChicagoWildlifeNews
Contact: [email protected]

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