HAWKS’ NESTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26958, 18 December 1948, Page 6

HAWKS’ NESTS

Wild Life In Otago

Written for the Daily Times By L, E. Richdale T ' In recent weeks a considerable tmount of interest has been aroused ’ in hawks’ nests subsequent to a report that they were scarce. Several • letters have appeared to show that r? they are not so scarce as may be ■* thought. The * words “ scarce ” and " common,” however, are not very exact terms and do not tell us very c much. A number which is scarce for - one kind of bird may be common for h « second kind. Birds of prey could

\ not very well be as numerous as the ” birds on which they feed, otherwise they would soon exhaust their food supply and would themselves disap- ‘ pfar. The population of hawks in New Zealand therefore is much less than the smaller birds. This means that hawks’ nests are not found as frequently as are, say, the nests of sparrows, so 5 that it is natural for anyone to comment on the finding of a hawks’ nest. Hawks are widely spread over practically the whole of New Zealand and the outlying islands so that nests may ' be found in almost any district. Each season I come across a nest somewhere during my wanderings and at the present moment have one under observation. It contains four eggs and is built on fhe top of some lupins ‘ open to the sky. Last year one was found on a toi toi bush and the year before on some Muehlenbeckia grow- . ing over a shrub. Nests may also be . found on the ground frequently among rushes. The accompanying ‘ photograph is of a nest built on the ground near Balclutha.