Chicago Wildlife News: NEW: Wild Musings -- Hawks, chickens and city living

NEW: Wild Musings -- Hawks, chickens and city living

(POSTED: 10/12/09) I couldn't identify the fury of feathers that descended to try and eat my chickens the other day, but suffice it to say it was bigger than the kestrel we see overhead several times a week. The hawk, perhaps a red-tailed, or a rough-legged, which pass through in the spring and fall, started in the oak tree at the end of the block where I saw it land when I let the chickens out. Thinking I shouldn't leave them alone, I had only stepped out of view when the hawk attacked. Fortunately nobody was caught, yet it was quite shocking to think how easily our new chicks could become lunch.

The threat to my chickens from local wildlife is more varied than one might imagine. There is the variety of hawk species that frequent our garden. We have an opossum that passes by with regularity, conveniently playing possum which confuses our dog. There is a raccoon that lives two doors down in the roof of a now-empty house (calls for removal have got us nowhere; private property is private property, I guess, until more than the roof falls in.) In Logan Square we have seen coyotes and in LaBagh Woods, just blocks to the north, we see owls, foxes and deer. Lucky for us, the local rabbits have avoided our garden thus far.

Living in the city, one can be surprised by the amount and diversity of wildlife. We have planted our garden with native flowers and shrubs and, as a result, in addition to our birds (9-week-old Delaware pullets) we get annual visits from an incredible breadth of migrants plus a summer-long show from goldfinches and the host of fledgling sparrows, finches, cardinals and robins who learn to fly and avoid cats in our garden. In or along the Chicago River there are beaver, muskrats, mink, groundhogs, skunks and several species of turtles including enormous snapping turtles visible on the banks near Diversey and anywhere in the woods. There are 70 species of fish, 60 species of birds and, recently, evidence of otters spotted by Cook County Forest Preserve officials downtown.

To me that river-edge trees are felled by beavers on Bryn Mawr, that coyotes eat goose eggs in Garfield Park or that big giant unidentified hawks can be hunting my chickens in the midst of a city neighborhood surrounded by dollar stores, taquerias and the Fullerton bus is a complete thrill. I wish them all well, except maybe that hawk, and look forward to sharing the adventure with you.

By Margaret Frisbie
Contact: [email protected]

Margaret Frisbie is the executive director of Friends of the Chicago River, a nonprofit organization that works to improve and protect the Chicago River for the people, plants and animals who share our watershed. A lifelong wildlife enthusiast who grew up hiking our forest preserves and canoeing our streams, Frisbie lives on Chicago's Northwest Side where, despite its urban environment, wildlife is never too far from her door.

0 comments:

Quick Hits -- Updated Regularly

(OCT. 24) Forest Preserve near Lake Villa being restored.

ChicagoWildlifeNews.com

Featured Image

Featured Column

Featured Links

Categories

0 comments:

Leave a Reply

Welcome to Chicago Wildlife News

Quick Hits -- Updated Regularly