BREA : Aggressive Hawk Is Par for Course

A bird in the hand might be worth two in the bush, but what about a bird in a eucalyptus tree?

That is the problem Imperial Golf Course officials face, now that a nesting redtail hawk is aggressively defending her eggs there. Officials have been forced to rope off a portion of the property to golfers.

The hawk, in residence since February with her less-aggressive mate, swoops down on unwitting golfers who stray into her zone of protection--about one-third of an acre--in the heavily traveled stretch between the driving range and the first fairway.

“She’ll come down and swoop at you,” said Larry Taylor, the golf course manager. “Sometimes she hits people in the head.”

No one has been hurt as the result of a hawk attack, although several people have had a good scare, Taylor said.

Moreover, as word has spread of the presence of the redtail hawk and her mate, business at the Imperial Golf Course has boomed.

“I think people come to see her,” said regular golfer Sam Ivy. “When they come, their first question is, ‘Where’s the hawk?’ ”

But not everyone is happy about the course’s new mascot. Taylor said some golfers have offered to act as “hit men” and go out in the dark of night and shoot the expectant mother and her mate.

Taylor has turned down all such requests.

Indeed, such an action can land a person in jail, said Richard Evans, chief of veterinary services for Orange County. Redtail hawks, although quite common in the Southland, are protected under federal laws regulating migratory and predatory birds, and cannot be hunted without proper permits.

So Evans is helping the golf course live with the birds of prey. Signs are posted near the hawks’ nest and common areas of the course warning guests of a “Nervous Mother in Tree.”

And sometime early this summer, after the eggs have hatched and the fledgling hawks have gone off on their own, Orange County officials will assist the golf course in relocating the parent hawks to a more remote site on the property.

“If we think about an animal’s behavior, we can work with them,” Evans said.

In fact, Imperial Golf Course has been a home to wildlife for a number of years without incident. In addition to about half a dozen redtail hawks, Taylor says the course is host to two dozen coyotes and numerous squirrels and rabbits.

Taylor believes that the hawk causing all the trouble has lived on the course for several years and only turned aggressive to protect her eggs.

“I think people like the idea we are trying to work with the hawk,” Taylor said. “This is where people and nature meet these days.”