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8- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday August 6, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com PHOTOS BY LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER ABOVE THE CROWD: Two baby Goshawks in a large pine tree off Carla Court in Oakville. The family moved in this summer. At right, one of the hawks in flight. Neighbours tolerant of troublemakers By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Loud children, inconsiderate trash disposal practices and late partying. For months the residents of Carla Court have had to put up with some of the worst neighbours imaginable with the new arrivals almost seeming to go out of their way to make their presence known. However, while most people would be furious with such rowdy behaviour any annoyance the residents of Carla Court feel towards the newcomers is tempered with a sense of wonder as the troublemakers in question are of the feathered variety. Earlier this spring, a pair of Goshawks built a nest in one of the area's tall evergreen trees. The predatory bird, which can be identified by its short, broad wings, long tail and white and barred underbody, is widespread throughout North America, but can also be found in Europe, North Asia, Turkey, Iran, Tibet, China and Japan. Goshawks often mate for life and, on this occasion, a pair decided Carla Court would be the perfect place to settle down and raise a family. The fun started when babies born. "When the eggs hatched, I noticed that the hawks were going after the smaller birds, either their eggs or their babies," said Jane Anderson, who served as a kind of landlord for the hawks as the nest was in a tree in her backyard. "After that the hawk would be flying around, above our house and the crows especially would be attacking him. A group of crows would follow him and attack him, I guess to get rid of him." Linda Higgins, who lives on a nearby street, also witnessed this noisy phenomenon. "It's been wild," she said. "The other birds have been dive bombing mom and dad (hawks) constantly. I wouldn't be surprised if they've raided a lot of the "It's been wild. The other birds have been dive bombing mom and dad (hawks) constantly. I wouldn't be surprised if they've raided a lot of the nests around here." Linda Higgins, Nearby resident nests around here." Besides small and medium-sized birds, the Goshawk's diet includes small mammals such as rabbits. Both Anderson and Higgins have also noticed a considerable decrease in the squirrel population since the hawks moved into the area. The BBC Science and Nature Homepage noted that while both Goshawk parents bring food for their chicks only the female feeds them directly. The neighbourhood became very aware of when these chicks were hungry as they squawked constantly, urging their parents to pick up the pace and deliver food more quickly. These chicks were not the tidiest of eaters with portions of their meals falling below for the Andersons to clean up. "We would find little bodies of animals, like the feathers or the fur or sometimes a spine, on the ground," said Anderson. "They landed on the walkway to our swimming pool. There was usually about one a day. They looked like birds or maybe mice." Patrick Hubert, an avian biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources noted this continuous cascade of carcasses was the result of the birds cleaning up their nest. "There are a lot of parts of prey items that birds don't consume and they will either regurgitate that or it will come out in the See Babies page 10 Vision ­ To be the most livable town in Canada NOTICE OF TEMPORARY QEW RAMP CLOSURE Dorval Drive N Westbound QEW Exit Ramp to Kerr Street / North Service Road Starting August 11, 2008 ­ for two months rth No Se c rvi eR To facilitate improvements to the QEW, the existing Kerr Street / North Service Road exit ramp from the westbound QEW (east of Dorval Drive) will be temporarily closed for two months starting the week of August 11, 2008. The removal of the exit ramp will permit highway widening and traffic detours to continue into the next stages of construction. The Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) is undertaking highway expansion work to provide High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on the QEW through Oakville between Burloak Drive and Trafalgar Road. Implementing HOV lanes on provincial highways will ease congestion, reduce commute times and promote public transit by getting more people into multi-occupant vehicles. The mainline highway expansion work is expected to be completed by the summer of 2011. Residents with questions or concerns regarding the construction are asked to contact the Ministry of Transportation's Contract Administrator at 905-847-2009. Questions or concerns can also be addressed by the Town of Oakville's Engineering and Construction Department at 905-845-6601 ext. 3302 or 3398. Further information and construction updates are also available at www.oakville.ca/roadupdates.htm and www.roadinfo.mto.gov.on.ca. d oa W t es Ramp Closure: Westbound QEW Exit Ramp to Kerr St. / North Service Road Q.E.W ad Sinclair Ro Kerr Stree t