Posted by Paul on July 26, 2002 at 07:31:45:
There are now three short-tailed hawks sightings by multiple observers in the vicinity of: Northside...Parkland city hall on Holberg road and University....Southside theSawgrass expressway and University Drive (which is the 24 acre site of the church Mary Help of Christians) Eastside....the Grand Cypress Estates subdivision which borders the eastside of the church but runs about 3/4 miles eastward...the westside is not yet determined but probably not extensive since it is dense subdivisions. Suggest the best way to attempt a viewing is to go to the church site and park and listen. The hawks call to one another and then just follow your ears. The church has extentsive wooded area and the hawks are resting in the tops of the cypress trees. They frequently circle at high and middle level altitudes. On Wednesday threee of them interacted with each other flying to trees. One of these is dark phase, the second is light phase and the third is a strange color mix of the light phase and acts as if it is a juvenile constantly flying to where the other two are perched and "bumping them" off their perch....in much the manner of juvenile red-shouldered hawks trying to be "fed" by parents. On Thursday a surveyor working on the property site was attracted by the call and flight pattern of one of the hawks. During an interview with the surveyor the hawk began calling again but flew before being approached. Note the singular cypress tree to the north of the road as you enter the church site. This is the favored perch and commands a view of the surrounding fields (about 14 acres).
Parkland is the northern city of Broward County. Sawgrass Expressway circles Coral Spring then exits Sawgrass at the University Drive ramp and head a short distance north. Sawgrass is known as the 10th Street Exit from I-95 and is just past Sample Road exit.
The wooded area of the Church site is a meditation Garden and open to the public. It is also a display of native Florida vegetation for botany lovers. And a few butterflys are around....some brown thrasher, lots of shrike, the canals have egrets, ducks in season, anhingas and cormorants...the usual South Florida barn-yard birds.