Northport Village 'doing everything' to address hawk attacks, police chief says

Bird attacks: some knocking women to the ground, others causing concussions or injuries requiring stitches. These are not scenes out of a Hitchcock movie. It’s what Northport Village officials say they face as they deal with an aggressive hawk nesting in the area.

The most recent reported attack was on Tuesday when a woman received lacerations to the top of her head, Northport Village Police Chief Chris Hughes said. 

Since July 12, there have been 15 incidents, including 11 attacks, 7 requiring medical attention, and other incidents where a red-tailed hawk has swooped over their heads, Hughes said. The hawk is nesting just east of Main and Church streets.

“We’re doing everything we can to remove the bird in a humane way," Hughes said. "We don’t want to see it harmed obviously, but I’m concerned someone is going to lose an eye.”

After the first couple of attacks Hughes said he reached out to the Department of Agriculture because red-tailed hawks are a federally protected species, along with their nests, eggs and feathers, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

The agency conducted a survey of the area, set a trap and caught a juvenile red-tailed hawk in August.

Tanya Espinosa, a public affairs specialist for the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the agency used a Swedish goshawk trap to capture the bird. She said it took less than a day to trap it and it was tagged and relocated to a county park in Suffolk.

Things were quiet for a bit, Hughes said.

“But in December 2021 we started to get the attacks again and since then they’ve become more frequent,” he said. "We do not know how many hawks," he said. "It is presumed, now, that the same hawk has wreaked all the havoc and that the USDA unknowingly captured a different bird back in August."

On March 31, a drone sent up by the state Department of Environmental Conservation discovered the nest, possibly containing eggs, near St. Philip Neri Church.

“They believe it’s sitting on a couple of eggs and it’s trying to hatch some newborns,” he said. “That’s why they think it’s becoming extremely territorial; it’s trying to protect its nest,” Hughes said.

A recent attempt at trapping the bird was unsuccessful, so plans are underway for a second try either by the USDA or the DEC, Hughes said.

DEC spokesperson Aphrodite Montalvo said the agency is in contact with the USDA and the village to make a determination on addressing the situation quickly. 

Peter Mahnken, 49, was out for his first run in a month the morning of March 27 when a hawk drew blood after scratching his head as he ran south on Scudder Avenue between Park Street and Seaview Avenue. He said he was shaken by the encounter, but considers it a “good problem” to have as we have to share the community with wildlife. 

Alicia Grubessi, hospital director at Volunteers for Wildlife Inc. in Locust Valley, said in an email, “Red-tailed Hawks, and other birds, may feel threatened if there is a lot of human activity directly underneath or in the immediate area of an active nest, especially if babies are present.” She recommends using alternate walkways if residents are aware of an active red-tailed hawk nest in a highly trafficked area.