Fisk The Hungry Red Tailed Hawk (Buteo Jamicensis) Letterbox Hybrid

This cache has been archived.

-allenite-: No response from owner. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the current guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.

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Hidden : 9/23/2011
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:


These caches are for the various animals that you may encounter while visiting Hawk Woods Nature Center. Please respect all park rules and regulations. Park hours are from Dawn (sun-up) until Dusk (sundown). Dogs are permitted if they are on a leash and cleaned-up after. Please replace all caches as you found them. Thank You.

This Letterbox-Hybrid Geocache is a mixture of a short "story" and geocache. They usually contain a signature stamp that stays with the box, and also must conform to the guidelines for Geocaches as well. This means the container must contain a logbook and involve GPS use as an integral part of the hunt. This should be a very easy cache for both beginners and experienced cachers alike.

The information you need for the Letterbox is below the details on the Red-Tailed Hawk.
Have fun! :)


A Red-Tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies, and is one of the most common buteos in North America. Red-tailed Hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within its range. There are fourteen recognized subspecies, which vary in appearance and range. It is one of the largest members of the genus Buteo in North America, typically weighing from 690 to 1600 grams (1.5 to 3.5 pounds) and measuring 45–65 cm (18 to 26 in) in length, with a wingspan from 110 to 145 cm (43 to 57 in). The Red-tailed Hawk displays sexual dimorphism in size, with females averaging about 25% heavier than males.
The Red-Tailed Hawk is a member of the genus Buteo, a group of medium-sized raptors with robust bodies and broad wings. Members of this genus are known as buzzards in Europe, but hawks in North America.

Red-tailed Hawk in flight.

The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies, and is one of the most common buteos in North America. Red-tailed Hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within its range. There are fourteen recognized subspecies, which vary in appearance and range. It is one of the largest members of the genus Buteo in North America, typically weighing from 690 to 1600 grams (1.5 to 3.5 pounds) and measuring 45–65 cm (18 to 26 in) in length, with a wingspan from 110 to 145 cm (43 to 57 in). The Red-tailed Hawk displays sexual dimorphism in size, with females averaging about 25% heavier than males.
Flight
In flight, this hawk soars with wings in a slight dihedral, flapping as little as possible to conserve energy. Active flight is slow and deliberate, with deep wing beats. In wind, it occasionally hovers on beating wings and remains stationary above the ground.[6] When soaring or flapping its wings, it typically travels from 20 to 40 mph (64 km/h), but when diving may exceed 120 mph (190 km/h).
Vocalization
The cry of the Red-tailed Hawk is a two to three second hoarse, rasping scream, described as "kree-eee-ar", which begins at a high pitch and slurs downward. This cry is often described as sounding similar to a steam whistle. The Red-tailed Hawk frequently vocalizes while hunting or soaring, but vocalizes loudest in annoyance or anger, in response to a predator or a rival hawk's intrusion into its territory. At close range, it makes a croaking "guh-runk". Young hawks may utter a wailing klee-uk food cry when parents leave the nest. The fierce, screaming cry of the Red-tailed Hawk is frequently used as a generic raptor sound effect in television shows and other media, even if the bird featured is not a Red-tailed Hawk.
Diet/Feeding
The Red-tailed Hawk is carnivorous, and an opportunistic feeder. Its diet is mainly small mammals, but it also includes birds and reptiles. Prey varies with regional and seasonal availability, but usually centers on rodents, comprising up to 85% of a hawk's diet.

The Red-tailed Hawk hunts primarily from an elevated perch site, swooping down from a perch to seize prey, catching birds while flying, or pursuing prey on the ground from a low flight.

On a perch


The Red-tailed Hawk reaches maturity at two years of age. It is monogamous, mating with the same individual for many years. In general, the Red-tailed Hawk will only take a new mate when its original mate dies.

The feathers and other parts of the Red-tailed Hawk are considered sacred to many American indigenous people and, like the feathers of the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle, are sometimes used in religious ceremonies and found adorning the regalia of many Native Americans in the United States; these parts, most especially their distinctive tail feathers, are a popular item in the Native American community
The Story
Here we go again following our friend Fisk the Red-Tailed Hawk as he searches for his next meal...

"Boy oh boy, I'm getting hungry again", Fisk thought to himself as he made his way back to Hawk Woods.

He really wanted something to eat but knew that in order to do so he had to visit his honey hole of prey at Hawk Woods in order to get it. He began his adventure at the Hawk Woods Totem Pole Sign right near the corner of the fence.

From there he started to make his way down the trail. There was a fence on his right which quickly disappeared as he turned left into the woods, towards the Nature Center. He followed the wood chip trail with a sign about trees on his right. He soon found another sign about the Winter Wait on his right, so he stopped to read it. After he was done reading he continued on to the Careful Footwork sign. "Wow, these must be from an Eagle Scout project," he thought to himself.

He continued down the trail, soon finding the wooden boardwalk that was laid out before him.  He walked all the way to the end, and realized that he still hadn't found anything yet.  He looked left, looked right, and decided to continue down the trail (making sure he carefully went over the fallen trees that were in his path) for about another 35 paces (human paces, not hawk paces) until he came to a small tree stump on his right, measuring about 2-feet tall and about 6-inches around.  He now wondered where to go next to try to locate his meal.

The woodchip path continued straight, but Fisk saw something appealing to him towards the left, opposite the 2-foot stump.  He headed towards what he saw, about another 36 paces (as straight as he could in this direction) towards the small creek and soon came across a couple larger two- to three-foot around trees.
"What to do now", Fisk thought to himself.

Fisk looked around at this point, seeing a small pile of twigs and sticks on the north side of the tree.  Beneath this, he soon would find his prize and he was happily rewarded.

Please do not remove the little stamp from the cache as this is part of the Letterbox.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre n fgvpx cvyr abegu fvqr bs gur gerr orgjrra gur ebbgf.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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