Hold on to your hats, hawk dive bombing some Stampede goers

Cowboy hats have been coming in handy for some visitors to the Stampede grounds this week.

A Swainson's hawk has been dive bombing some Stampede goers as they pass by its nest near 6th St. and 11thAve. S.E.

The reason, at least two eyas the technical term for a baby hawk are inside the nest.

"They're all doing very well but the mom is in kind of a protective state right now," said Stampede spokeswoman Jennifer Booth.

"We like to say she has firmly asked us to leave her nest alone, so basically we're just recommending people stay aware."

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EMS said a man in his 50s had to be taken to a medical clinic after a brush with the angry bird on Tuesday.

The hawk's behaviour isn't unusual, Barb Kowalzik, an environmental educator with city's Parks Department told the Homestretch.

"You see this kind of behaviour when hawks are nesting and their young are ready to fledge, or leave the nest for the first time," she said.

"They become very defensive of that area and they will swoop down [on] anything they see as a potential threat so that could be your dog, that could be you yourself and basically what's going on is they are trying to protect their young just as we would do if we thought our children were under threat."

Homestretch host Doug Dirks was even dive-bombed by the bird last week.

"It can be extremely unnerving if something like that does happen to you but these are not enormous bald eagles, these birds typically weigh less than two kilograms."

A migratory bird, Swainson's hawks usually spend the winters around Argentina before flying back to nest.

Even though they're not big birds, they can do damage.

"They are a predatory raptor so they're out there catching things like field mice or Richardson's ground squirrels," said Kowalzik.

"Those require pretty strong talons in order to successfully take down a prey and raise your young to maturity."

With files from the Homestretch