 "Photo: Kim, Dominic")
Not many students worry about the "Hawks." After all, Boston College doesn't play the University of Iowa or the University of Hartford all that often in athletics. But for Dominic Kim, an Environmental Scholar (ES) and A&S '08, the arrival of the hawks on the BC campus is a constant and ever-present preoccupation.
Kim, whose research project monitors the behavior of two red-tailed hawks on the BC grounds, is a participant in one of the some eight to 10 scientific endeavors taking place right here on campus during the 2007-08 academic year. His project began about a year and a half ago after he learned methodology techniques in a biology field and methods course. Now, he spends much of his time monitoring the perch sites of BC's two red-tailed hawks, recording their activity in our "urban" environment, and investigating how human activity influences their ecosystem.
Peter Auger, a professor in the biology department and an ES Program advisor, said that red-tailed hawks are animals with a "high visibility impact" and are "extremely conspicuous." Many students see the birds on a day-to-day basis; they tend to perch and hunt from the highest vantage points on campus. Some may also remember an incident that occurred recently in which the female hawk stopped for a quick bite of rabbit on the Higgins Stairs. But what students and faculty don't know is that the hawks have important traditional and scientific values for BC as well.
Auger says that the hawks' impact as predators is perhaps one of the most advantageous aspects of their presence at BC. They are constantly watching for prey, like rabbits, squirrels, snakes, and small birds to eat, which not only "significantly modifies the ecology of campus" but benefits those who would be otherwise annoyed by these rodents and nuisances. Auger says that these active predators have always been important to their own ecosystems and, in our case, their ability to "co-exist with anthropogenic [human] activity" is just one more plus.
Besides monitoring the way in which the hawks help to control the pest population at BC, Kim's project also monitors the hawk's perch locations and reproductive behaviors according to season.
During breeding season (late winter through early spring), the hawks can be found on the top of St. Ignatius Church on Lower Campus, on the crucifix of St. John's Seminary on the Brighton Campus, and on the flagpoles of Alumni Stadium. During the non-breeding season (late summer through early fall), the hawks usually perch on the crucifix of Devlin and the peak of St. Mary's, as well as the flagpole by Higgins Hall.
In the past, a Sony IP camera was installed on the sixth floor of Ignacio in order to digitally monitor and take pictures of the birds. The camera works in conjunction with the Internet and is highly sophisticated, with zoom, tilt, pan, and rotation capabilities. Everyday from 6 a.m. until sunset the camera was ready to record the chosen perch site. With the aid of a program called "EYEcopia" the camera became motion-activated; when the hawk flew into the perch or nest, the program would record and save the footage in a long, streamlined clip. Kim would then watch the footage on his personal computer over the Internet. The feeding session on the Higgins stairs was actually the first time Kim was able to witness such an event via the digital camera. At the present time there are no known nesting locations, but there is hope that after the breeding season ends that a consistent perch site will be discovered and the IP camera can be reinstated.
"It's important because there's not much research available on the urbanization of red-tailed hawks, and the Boston College campus is pretty urbanized," Kim said. "There's lots of people, lots of buildings, lots of traffic. But there's no research out there involving IP cameras, so this is a preliminary precedence we're setting [with the way in which we are] monitoring avian species."
Now Kim monitors the hawks through a transect system, "whereby certain locations on campus are chosen based on the likelihood of the hawks' presence." Kim and some of the other scholars complete their research daily by rotating every 15 minutes from certain locales, like the top of the Commonwealth Avenue parking garage or O'Neill Plaza, recording animal activity, weather, and time of day.
"I think people would [also] be really interested to learn about the hawks because they're a part of Boston College's rich history," Kim said.
Back before the official mascot was chosen, there was talk of making the hawk the mascot. When the eagle was chosen, a hawk was accidentally brought and released on campus. Furthermore, there's still a debate about whether the bronze statue in front of Gasson Hall is an eagle or a hawk (Kim claims it's a hawk, though BC's Web site on mascot history proclaims otherwise).
George Gennis, another Environmental Scholar working with the hawks and other birds on campus and A&S '08, said these projects are especially important because they raise awareness about the presence of wildlife in the BC neighborhood and the effects that humans, must have on them. Many people forget that the city surroundings are still an essential part of an ecosystem, which is a unique focus of the Environmental Scholar projects.
"It's all about making the city a better place to live, educating kids, giving them hands-on science, and improving public policy," Gennis said.
Kim's project is one of the newer Environmental Scholar projects, but he hopes that a future scholar will take the reins next year. Auger expresses confidence that it will become one of the long-term studies on the BC campus.
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