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u......i 4-Orw WeIy Tme, Wedïnesday,Auýtguýst 23, 199-5 THE "ULTIMATE SciciRow" The hawk you see above you is gypsy, and it is a red tailed hawk owned by handier Dirk Hoesterey, of Golden Creek Bird Farm, near Orillia. What you see before you is the "ultimate scarecrow." The bawk was just one of many brought down 10 Charles Stevens' Wilmot Orchards, over on the Clarke 3rd Concession, just west of the 115. It seems that Charles bad a problem with songbirds. ""Wben I first started (bere), there were literally tbousarids of birds,'4 says Dirk, the birds handier. The songbirds are attracted 10 the abun- dance of blueberries thal Charles bas growing in his fields. Apparently, songbirds would deslroy about 20% of the crop. Sounding off guns to scare the birds proved ineffective and botb- ered the neigbbours, and bis fields were to big 10, place nets up, 50 employing birds of prey was the only option. Dirk insists that bis birds of prey do flot hunt the songbirds; il is their mere presence that keeps the birds away. "These birds are their natu- raI predators," says Dirk. Dirk arrived at the farm for ten days over a tbree week period. He broughl wilb bim a mix of gerefal- cons, kestrels, arnd red tailed hawks. In the moming be wouhd fly îbem around to let the other birds see them. "Songbirds try 10 find a place in the morming they cari stay all day a," said Dirk. Just seeing the birds of prey was enougb 10 keep most birds away. They seem to bave been effective; no birds were seen flying amongst the bushes and Dirk reported that Charles' losses 10 birds had been reduced tu 5%. Acting as scarecrows is Just one of many jobs that a falconer can hope to find work in. Airports also provide falconers 10 keep small birds away from the airfield where lhey pose a danger to jet airliners. Falconers are required 10 be on duty everyday of the year as long as planes are flying. Some are also used in city cores to keep the pigeon population away. In most cases the birds of prey are only used lu scare birds away, but some- limes tbey are allowed to bunm. This however is usually frowned upon; if the bird is on the ground consuming ils meal, il is flot doine its job. ORONO ARJAYS VIDEO BEOKERS STUTS PHARMAI DULEES NEWCASTLE VILL BECKERS MAXI DRUGS MIKE'S PLACE GRUFFIES NEWTONVILLE NEWTONVILLE CONVENIENCE PL ANNUAL SUBSORIPTIOI $1 7.00 mnc. Gs by Arthur Black If you watch a gaine, it's fun. If you play il, it's recreation. If you work at il, it's golf. Bob Hope Well, here we are moving into the shank of the year..spring is long gone, summer's fading fast, autumn is aIl but upon us... ,And I have yet te make it out for a single round of golf. Just like ast year. And the fifty years before that. Hell, I'm movmng irito the shank of my life and I have yet to play a round of golf. And how do I really feel about this shocking recreational deprivation? Well, the phrase Yippee! springs to mind. Golf is a Scottish invention of course. t belongs right up there with those other famous Hibernian contributions to civilization: haggis, the bagpîpes,, oatmeal breakfast., My ancestry is solid lowland Scot, but I do flot golf. Neyer took it up and don't care to start. Got better things bo do than try to bludgeon a ittie white pill 10 deatb with a set of customized fire pokers under the blazing sun. Besides, 1 haven't got a pair of polyester puce slacks 10 my naine. It's nol that I'm particuharly lazy -- or even unsportsmanlike. I wouldn't take up Algebra, either. And I sense that golf, like Algebra, is designed- 10 drive you nuls. The very premise is nuls. You try to hit the bail as- few limes as possible? As few times? Why not Nleave the bail in your pocket, chalk up a perfect game and save yourself the grief? Besides, I'm just flot lucky enough 10 be a decent golfer. Not 0o'm like Peter Croke. 7ýnJ Did you hear about this guy? 's'imliving He's a British golfer wbo was playing in a match at the Southerndown Golf Club in Wales. He bits a drive from the l7th tee that hooks lu the left of the green and bounces ino. .. a sheep. Specifically, the ball lodges under the tail of the grazing sbeep, which then meanders 30 yards dloser to the l8th hole. At which point the sheep gives a little shake and the ball ... plops out ýcY on the green. Noîhing in the rules about .AG E assistance from sheep. Golfer Croke plays the baIl from its new position and wins the match. That is a true story. I'm flot too sure about the following une, but it was told to me by a buddy of mine who spends a lot of time adding to bis collection of drink US coasters at the I9th hole. Seems thal God was sitting around one summer day at loose NS ends. He picks up the phone and 3T calîs Moses. "How about a game of golf?" asks God. "You're on" says Moses. An hour ater they're teeing off at Cehestial Downs Golf and Country Club. Moses goes first. He sets up bis bail, takes a couple of practice swings, a deep breaîh, seutles in behind the bail and then.... CRAAAAAAAAAACK! I's a beauty. Two bundred and eighty, maybe three bundred yards straight down the fairway. Moses is in good shape. God sleps up 10 the tee. No practice swings, ail kind of loosey-goosey, lie whangs the bahl, which skitters crazily across the grass, bounces off a tree and caroms into a swamp deep in the rough. But instead of sinking in the slime, the bail bounces off a turtle sheli, hit s a log, pops straight up about six feet, whereupon a buge golden eagle swoops down and seizes the baîl in bis talons. God and Moses watch as the majestic bird pumps ils migbty wings up, up, until il's no more thal a dot in the sky. At this point the eagle drops tbe baIl, which falîs slraigbî down in the dead centre of a lake rigbt beside the second green. JusI as the bail is about t0 splasb mbt the lake, a hugh cohoe salmon rises 10 the surface, flips on ils side, catches the golf bail in the fleshy meat jusl above the pectoral fin, lets the bail slide down lowards ils laul, then fli ps the bail in a graceful arc onto the green wbere il dribbles mbt the cup. A hole in une. Moses turfis 10 God' and says "We gonna play some golf today or are you just gonna fool around?" Orono Tykes Soccer Players of the Week Troy Webster Kyle Balson Troy and Kyle each received a gift for their efforts from their coach Steven Campney of Clarington Glass. Congratulations boys! SUBSCRIPTIONS $7. 20 August 1 to January 1 H.W.J. Wood Industries Inc. 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