Hawk expert Dick Ashford will speak at Chautauqua Oct. 15

Hawks capture our imaginations in ways that few other bird groups do. Dick Ashford knows his hawks. Ashford, chairman of the board of the American Birding Association and past president of the Klamath Bird Observatory in Ashland, Ore., has spent hundreds of hours researching and watching hawks. He leads hawk-watching trips in Calilfornia and Oregon and originated the popular "Hawk Heaven" trips at the San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival.

Dick will come to Chautauqua on Oct. 15 to help us examine the natural history of these fascinating birds. He'll talk about their behavior, habitat and adaptations for survival. Dick won't be presenting a hawk identification workshop, but to help us know whether that raptor we see soaring overhead is a really a Red-Tailed Hawk, he'll offer basic identification features of some of our local hawks. Dick's presentation will begin at 7:15 p.m. in the Community house. Tickets are $3 and are available at the Chautuaqua Box Office or online at www.chautauqua.com