Hawks are characterized by their hooked beaks and rounded, swept-back wings. Smaller than their cousins, the eagles, hawks have been honed by millennia of evolution to be frighteningly adapted to the task of murdering small, innocent creatures like the field mouse and the gentle sparrow. From its keen eyes, so good at spotting helpless animals from high above, to its soarable, diveable wings, to its vicious claws set perfectly to snag its poor victim at the nadir of its dive, and then squelch its living essence, to its ruthlessly razor-sharp beak used to tear the squelched prey's flesh asunder, every element of a hawk meshes seamlessly to form a horrific airborne killing machine.

Most birds' wings employ a wing-design principle based on extruded foil shapes swept outwards from the fuselage of the bird and then back towards the aft region. Factors such as the wingspan-to-body-length ratio, the degree of sweep, and total wing surface area vary in different species to suit each species' ecological niche. The flight of raptors, including hawks, falls into two principal regimes: soaring and diving. When soaring, hawk wings typically are spread wide to garner suitable lift from airflow over the active surfaces of the wings. However, unlike the wings of long-distance soarers like the albatross, the hawk holds its wings in a shallow v, known as a dihedral. This positioning allows for quick collapse of the wings when the hawk spots something good to eat below and enters the diving regime. With its wings held tight to its body as the hawk hurdles towards its unaware prey, the hawk achieves a marked reduction in drag allowing a higher terminal velocity. Subtle manipulation of vortices shedding off its wing-tips and tail with its guide feathers allows the hawk to maintain stability despite the presence of turbulence, some already in the air flow vector field and some induced by von Karman shedding during the hawk's initial acceleration. In the final moments before engaging its prey, the hawk throws its sharp talons out in front and lurches back to increase drastically the angle between the perceived airflow and the locus drawn from its wing stagnation point to the point of flow separation near its guide feathers, thereby slowing rapidly the hawk's descent. As the hawk's feet contact the victim, now suddenly aware of its imminent death and screaming, closed-loop feedback control in the hawk's nervous system cause its claws to clench shut. Its talons pierce the hapless prey and the end has come for another woodland creature. The hawk takes a few short strokes with its wings to regain altitude and then soars off to a suitable place to mince the flesh of whatever unfortunate critter it has caught. Thus the miracle of flight is twisted into a bloody tool in nature's ceaseless vendetta against the small and the blameless.

In order to endure the pressures of a career in violently ending the lives of helpless creatures, like shrews and wee birds, hawks must distance themselves from their emotions. The resultant coldness, although useful on the hunt, leads many hawks to trouble in the nest. It is quite common to see a hawk pair bickering over minutia, and most hawk offspring grow up estranged from their emotionally-challenged parents. Some seek counseling later in their 10-20 year lifespan but most drag the wounds of their childhood into their own relationships as adults. They prove to be poor mates and poor parents and the trend of domestic disfunction continues.

Despite their emotional insensitivity, most hawks like to dance. As fits their nature, most of their dances involve a step, slide, and step in 3/4 time. Their contemporary dances, developed mostly in the late 18th century and characterized by turning, embracing couples, initially shocked polite society. Variations include the rapid nipping and flapping of the hawk dances to be witnessed in northern Europe and the soaring and shrill vocalizations more familiar to those of us who watch hawks in New England. Some species of hawk keep an extra set of wings, usually rufous in hue, in a compartment built into their legs. These can be attached to special fixtures behind the birds' flight wings. When flapped at high speed by a highly skilled hawk, rhythms and beats pleasant to hawk senses are created and dancing hawks are imbued with increased energy and enthusiasm.

A malady frequent in hawk communities where a small population breeds exclusively is crossed beak (in veterinarian circles known as cruciarostrisitis). Crossed beak is a congenital affliction characterized by the upper beak-half pointing to the right and the lower beak-half to the left. In rare instances, this pattern is reversed. The reason for the propensity towards the former case is oft-researched yet still poorly understood. In many North American forests, entrepreneurial factions of squirrels have developed braces and other devices for the straightening of the beaks of afflicted hawks. The largest of these factions will be unleashing a heavy marketing campaign in late July, complete with clever slogans and catchy jingles. They hope to make a fortune in nuts and berries (please call 603-688-8377 for more information).

Most hawks reproduce asexually by fission, some are hermaphroditic, others undergo metamorphosis from a trochophore-like larva. All members of the Buteo genus adopt one of these three reproductive strategies. A select group of hawk species in the Accipiter genus breed not through any of these methods nor the bringing together of male and female gametes, but by whispering directions into the roots of a particular sort of birch tree. Following the instructions of the hawks the roots assemble a new bird from dirt, twigs, pebbles and leaves. The collective knowledge of at least three mature hawks is required, all whispering simultaneously to the tree for a healthy new raptor to be built. Attempts by overconfident hawks to whisper alone result in new hawks that are only partially complete physically, mentally or spiritually.

Hopefully it is now evident to the reader that hawks are vicious yet complicated animals. They are the scourge of little birds and the enemies of small mammals (save for gnomes, with whom they are good friends, although accidental gnome-massacring has occurred when a gnome, not wearing his tell-tale red pointed cap, has been mistaken for a large mouse) but play a vital role in the unending circle of life.