By Robbie Chamberlain
The Scene staff
A pair of red-tailed hawks have transferred to Forest Park, but they aren’t at the college to earn degrees.
It is early mating season for the birds, and they’ve built a nest on the east side of the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences, on a beam just outside a conference-room window on the fourth floor.
“It’s a pretty interesting thing to watch them carry out in front of us,” said Grounds Supervisor Joe Enger.
From their perch, the hawks have a great view of the Gateway Arch. Inside the building, they’re causing a lot of excitement among students, faculty and staff, who began seeing them in February.
People have observed the birds flying around campus in search of food or twigs and leaves for nest material.
“The female flies lower,” said Nick Belle, a campus housekeeper. “She’s hunting. And the male always flies above her, watching whatever’s watching the female. They always hunt in the morning.”
Common in St. Louis
Hawks are a common sight in St. Louis, and people have been spotting them in the Forest Park area for years.
Dental hygiene major Lindsay Cusick, whose husband is a campus groundskeeper, said she saw one fighting another bird across Interstate 64.
“We think someone from the bird sanctuary was called,” she said. “They were handling the birds very well. I think they got stuck in the fence.”
The Scene previously reported on a close encounter with a hawk on campus in 2017. It swooped down to catch a pigeon next to student Connor Smith, shocking him and coming within inches of his ear.
The current nest isn’t even the first one built on campus.
“Hawks are not something we’ve had a major issue with before in terms of them being a nuisance,” Enger said. “They’ve built nests in the bald Cyprus trees on Oakland.”
33 days to hatch
How long the nest will remain on campus depends on its success and timing of egg incubation, according to Jeff Meshach, deputy director of World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park.
“It takes roughly 33 days for their eggs to hatch, then between 50 and 60 days after that, the chicks will fledge, or leave the nest,” he stated in an email.
The St. Louis area is home to many hawks in the winter, then some migrate north to reestablish a nesting territory. Forest Park’s red tails are probably year-round “residents,” Meshach stated.
This particular pair has been treated by the World Bird Sanctuary.
The male, named Louis by sanctuary staff, was found in February of last year suffering from an ocular bone fracture after flying into a bus stop window on Kingshighway Boulevard. He also had been shot with a pellet gun.
“Yes, there are still stupid people that do stupid things to birds of prey,” Meshach stated
Staff left the bullet in Louis after determining that removal might cause more damage. He was released the following April on Wells Drive as a full adult.
The female, named Oakland, was admitted as a juvenile in November 2021 after being found stuck in a parking garage malnourished. She was released in December on Oakland Avenue.
Wait-and-see approach
The Forest Park grounds crew doesn’t plan to relocate the nest unless the hawks present an immediate problem for students.
“We had a short conversation amongst ourselves about it, and we decided to just adopt a wait-and-see approach,” Enger said. “Obviously, if it started to become disruptive, we might have a different conversation, but for now we feel content to wait and see what happens.”
Under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, it is illegal to remove protected hawk nests without a permit. The permits are usually only granted when the presence of the birds or nest causes health or safety concerns, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation website.
Even if groundskeepers removed the nest on campus, the birds would likely try to rebuild it as soon as possible.
The main danger of such nests would be possible retaliation against people who get too close to them. Additionally, Louis and Oakland could defecate or leave discarded parts of prey in the area below.
“If the hawks have no issues with people walking under the nest, my advice is to let them go through their nesting cycle,” Meshach stated in the email. “Best to let the nest be until the kids fledge, and power-wash the cement after the chicks have fledged.”
In the meantime, students, faculty and staff can get an up-close look at nature if they look out the window in conference Room 412 of the health sciences building.
They can also monitor the lovebirds’ progress in starting a family.
“I’ve only been here about a week,” said medical assistant major Makaya Ndegwa. “I saw them in (the conference room) when they were serving food.”