My review of “Unlikely predators: Owls, raccoons feast on endangered baby hawks”

This week I looked at an article called “Unlikely predators: Owls, raccoons feast on endangered baby hawks”. This article on CBC talks about an endangered hawk, called the ferruginous hawk. Recently, there have been multiple attacks on ferruginous hawk nests. Each nest contains baby ferruginous hawks. Researchers didn’t know who carried out these attacks until the University of Alberta found the culprits. Two of the attackers are the raccoons and great horned owls. This really surprised me when it said raccoons. When I picture a raccoon I see it looking through garbage, not attacking baby ferruginous hawk. The researchers at the University of Alberta put cameras right next to 90 nests. In three years there were four attacks. That doesn’t seem like much but each nest contains multiple baby ferruginous hawks. It also doesn’t help that half of the ferruginous hawks in Canada died since the 1990s.

Because of all these attacks on North Americas largest Hawks, their numbers are dwindling. In response to this, researchers from the University of Alberta are looking for ways to protect these birds. Unfortunately, the researchers at the University of Alberta are still watching the ferruginous hawks. Therefore, researchers haven’t implemented any counter measures yet. Maybe a way to help these ferruginous hawks are to place their nests in less accessible areas, like maybe on top of a cliff or mountain. Another way to possibly protect the ferruginous hawks is to fortify their nests. An example is putting barb wire or raccoon traps around the nests. Hopefully, this might make raccoons think twice before assaulting a nest. All the idea I just mentioned, are for the raccoon because I can’t think of a way to stop the horned owls without hurting the ferruginous hawks.

After reading this article, it really made me think of all the other endangered spices around the world. Before this article, I didn’t even know what a ferruginous hawk was. This reminded me that polar bears aren’t the only endangered animal. I have also learned not to underestimate furry creatures (raccoons, rabbits, etc). They seem harmless, but they destroy many things. Overall, I liked this article it showed me that a lot of things are happening right now in the real world.

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ferruginous-hawk-predators-raccoons-owls-1.4199813