Length about 10 inches; one of the best known and handsomest, as well as smallest, of North American hawks. Breeds throughout the United States, Canada, and northern Mexico; winters in the United States and south to Guatemala.
The sparrow hawk, a true falcon, lives in the more open areas and builds its nest in hollow trees. It is often found where telephone and power poles afford it convenient perching and feeding places, and may be seen hovering high over its intended prey. Its food consists of insects, small mammals, birds, spiders, and reptiles. Grasshoppers, crickets, terrestrial beetles, and caterpillars make up considerably more than half its subsistence, while field mice, house mice, and shrews cover fully 25 percent of its annual supply.
There are few people in the United States who have not seen starlings, even though the viewers might not know the label. Introduced into this country in the 1880’s, they took hold rapidly and became permanent residents everywhere in the Nation, plus southern Canada and northern Mexico. They live in city parks and crevices of buildings, using large communal roosts in winter; you can hear the tribe gathering on cold nights along the face of many a downtown office building.
Frequently characterized as pests, they are certainly abundant. Their own call is a jittery squeak, but they imitate many birds, and sunlight brings out a shimmer of colors in their plumage. They eat almost anything, but that includes a lot of insects like Japanese beetles. Don’t scoff at starlings; they’re aggressive, quarrelsome, and determined, and they are surely here to stay.
The bird remotely resembles the robin, although smaller and more slender. It frequents bushy places and is often detected by noisy rummaging among dead leaves.
It breeds in open brushy places, barrens, slashings, and forest edges from Canada to the gulf coast, and often ventures into landscaped yards.
Its call is a loud _chewink_, and the southern birds have a proper southern drawl, a slurred _shrink_.
This sparrow-sized, active mite is often heard before it is seen. Its spring call of _peter, peter, peter_ is a clear whistle, audible at some distance.
Insects are a large part of its food, but it takes seeds and nuts from a station quite readily, and is quick to scold if your feeder is empty. It also responds to “squeaking,” the technique bird watchers use to attract many species.