ten EOArUC DT ULBSO UNS BeUr Eilakel iN 9 
Hawk and Owl Project of the 
Decatur Audubon Society 
By Mrs. C. F. RUSSELL 
IN ANY ORGANIZATION such as ours, a strong, active and enthusiastic 
Conservation and Education committee is a must and thanks to our group, 
which has worked hard this summer planning our project, we are happy 
to pass our plans on to you. 
The following is a long range Hawk and Owl protection project. It 
cannot be done all at once, or in one year. Greater education of the public 
toward a better understanding of our birds of prey should be one of the 
first aims of any group adopting a hawk and owl campaign. Changing 
the thinking habits of people is a slow process, so do not expect your 
public to be converted overnight. Here is how the Decatur Audubon Society 
hopes to achieve its goal: 
Realizing that some of our own members need to be educated, we will 
start at home. A study program is planned for September. Our aim will 
be to acquaint our members with the individual birds of prey, identification, 
their feeding habits, etc. We will use slides, charts and so on. The book 
“North American Birds of Prey” by Alexander Sprunt, Jr. will be used 
as a basis for our program. 
This summer our paper carried a picture of a boy who had killed a 
hawk after it attacked him. We gave our first chart to the newspaper 
and wrote an article about this picture, pointing out that in most cases 
a hawk or any other bird will attack only if the person is too near their 
nest and young. 
Also one editorial writer told of a Sparrow Hawk that swooped down 
into his yard and tried to catch a bird. To the editorial writer went 
another chart and the next day he again wrote about hawks, pointing out 
the usual diet ot the Sparrow Hawk and stressing its important part in 
our daily lives. 
Publicity plans have been drawn up: Our first publicity will announce 
an educational campaign on behalf of our “Birds of Prey.” We will attempt 
to arouse interest and to make the public aware of our “Birds of Prey”’ 
through coverage in our local papers, news stories, pictures, and a sup- 
porting editorial. Personal appearances have been arranged on both of our 
radio stations and T. V. On radio we will appear on the Farmers Program, 
making use of two tape recordings from the National Audubon Society. 
Also twelve-minute scripts will be prepared in the form of a question and 
answer program, our own members taking part. On T. V., large pictures 
of hawks, the hawk and owl charts, and so on, will be shown. Diet, habits 
and descriptions will be stressed. 
