Injured Hawk, Deadly Pigeon and Poisoned Rat... Oh My!

In more terrifying animal news (as if Rat Bite Fever weren't enough!): this article about an injured hawk in Stuyvesant Square Park features some fun urban wildlife facts. For example, did you know that pigeons have a parasite in their body that they can survive with, but will kill "anything that eats them"? This is mostly bad news for hawks and Mike Tyson, but mostly hawks, which prey on pigeons and rats (the recently injured one was first believed to have eaten a poisoned rat). Maybe everyone should just stick to barbeque chicken scraps. Or not, circle of life, etc.

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By Jen Carlson in News on December 3, 2010 5:13 PM

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OSN!

Spend a lot of my childhood catching pigeons. My BFF caught a sewer rat, cleaned him, and used to carry him around in the pocket of his coat.

dadoc

Folks walk around down here all the time and never even realize how many Redtails there are around, plus the Kestrels and Peregrines. Look up sometime, you might just enjoy it. The Stuy Square Redtails are particularly fun as they will sit in a tree and hunt ten feet from you, then swoop down on the lawns now and then to grab a rat or mouse. Same in Tompkins Square. Great transplants to the city for a change :)