With the arrival of fall, the New England foliage rightly steals our attention. An array of yellows and oranges with swaths of red are hard to ignore. But if you’re not too busy looking at the trees for Professor Pearlman, keep your eyes peeled for all the cool animals you can find on campus.
Surely, you’ve seen this season’s crop of chipmunks scurrying about all over campus, who dart back and forth between the shrubbery and under metal bike racks like bats out of hell. There are the squirrels who leap from treetop to treetop with the grace of Olympian gymnasts. And of course, everyone is sure to have seen a bunny scampering from one patch of grass to the other.
There are also some larger mammals up and about on campus. It is not uncommon to see a raccoon staring at you around the periphery of campus at night, but maybe the most interesting mammal I’ve ever spotted on campus is a coywolf, a hybrid animal with coyote, wolf, and even domesticated dog ancestors. These predators can be deadly to a bunny, but are typically afraid of humans. I have seen them sparingly, but when I have, it was on Chapels Field, the surrounding woods, and by the Sacher International Center.
But my favorite group of animals is quite unique. People who know me often come across saying that “I like birds.” Well this is partially true. I’m not such a fan of the local pigeons and doves. The serenading of Black-capped Chickadees is nice, but nothing too exciting. Even the presence of a wild turkey on Chapels Field, though cool at first, becomes relatively boring after a while. But it is just a specific subset of birds that always get my attention: raptors. Now for those who have had to experience the cruelty of a childhood without Wild Kratts and don’t know what I am talking about, a raptor is what in our common parlance is called a bird of prey. The best way to identify a raptor is by their long feet and sharp talons. These are crucial for the raptor’s ability to hunt and strike its prey. A harpy eagle, a raptor indigenous to the Amazon region, has talons more powerful than a grizzly bear’s claws.
Another way to determine whether a bird is a raptor is by looking at their beak. A raptor’s beak is sharp and sheared to enable them to break apart the meat of their prey. Finally, raptors have powerful, forward facing eyes to help them spot potential food from a distance. Some raptors you can find in campus and in our area are Red-tailed Hawks, Great Horned Owls, and, if you’re lucky, you may even spot a Bald Eagle. (Fun side fact: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority [MBTA] is looking into how raptors can keep unsanitary birds, like pigeons and seagulls, away from train stations. The proposed Birds of Prey Program [BOPP] would involve exploring training hawks and falcons to scare off these disease-carrying birds from platforms and stations. So raptors are not just fascinating creatures, but may also soon be helping to keep our area cleaner.)
There are indeed many great animals to look out for here at Brandeis, but to find the best, look to the tree tops and the skies for a majestic raptor. Who knows, one may even be right out your window?
