Joe Conolly Jr., age 12, of Harrisburg, Pa., for his question:
IS THE HAWK RELATED TO THE EAGLE?
The hawk is a bird of prey that can be found in many parts of the world. The true hawk belongs to the same family as the eagles, kites, ospreys, harriers and Old World vultures. There are about 260 different kinds of birds in this large family.
Both the male and female hawk usually have the same coloring. The female, however, is much larger. stronger and bolder than the male most of the time.
While the body of an eagle will vary between 30 and 35 inches in length, and it will weigh between eight and 13 pounds, the hawk is a much smaller bird. A male hawk's body will vary from 10 to 22 inches in length while the female will measure between 12 and 26 inches.
Hawks rarely gather in groups of three or more except during migration periods. The male and female usually prefer to make their nest alone and they defend their privacy from other hawks, as well as from large birds, animals and men.
Hawks can be furious. Some of the larger birds have attacked people who came close to their nests, causing painful cuts with their sharp talons.
The male and female usually make the nest together. The male helps hatch the eggs and care for the young. Hawks sometimes mate for life and often use the same nest year after year.
Most hawks build rough nests high in trees. Others nest in bushes, on cliffs or even on the ground. The female lays from two to six eggs, depending on the kind of hawk. The eggs hatch after three or four weeks. Larger hawks take the longest to hatch.
At first the young hawks are covered with a whitish down and are helpless. The parents bring food to the edge of the nest where they tear it to pieces and drop it in the eager, open mouths.
As the young grow older, they lose their down and grow feathers a little duller in color than those of their parents. They fly away from the nest after a month or six weeks.
Sixteen kinds of hawks live in the part of North America north of Mexico. They are divided into three groups. The smallest, called the harrier, contains only the marsh hawk. The other two are the bird hawks and the buzzard hawks.
Bird hawks have slim bodies and long pointed wings. They have also been called chicken hawks because they sometimes raid poultry yards. These swift flying hawks catch both birds and mice.
Buzzard hawks are larger, heavy bodied birds with long, broad wings and wide, rounded tails They soar in the sky in wide circles or sit quietly on some high perch and wait for their prey. They then swoop down with great speed. They usually eat insects, frogs, snakes, lizards and various harmful rodents.
Hawks play a very important role in the balance of nature by preying on such small animals as mice and rats. In the United Sates, the federal government and most states have laws that prohibit the killing of hawks.