Injured Hawk in the Yard!

Nick was outside practicing lacrosse with the bounce-back net (glad to have the neighbor's yard with grass but no neighbors living there). I looked outside to watch him and saw him slowly...slowly moving through the forest. It looked like he had his camera. I looked around for deer but couldn't see any from my window.

For the next 5 minutes he kept moving slowly. I didn't want to go out and disturb whatever he was watching. Marge and I watched from the kitchen and family room windows. I ran upstairs to see if I could see what he saw, but I couldn't.

Then, I saw a large bird flap on a branch close to the ground. Nick had found a hawk! It was clearly injured because it wasn't flying away. It did spread its wings and flap up to a low branch and move about from branch to branch!

I went out to get a better look. Nick was only about 15 feet away. Nick had me run back in the house and get Dan's phone for a better camera. Dan came out and let him take photos and I ran back in to research hawk rescue.

I checked the Tracy Aviary and Hogle Zoo with no luck. Then I remembered Hawk Watch International. Their website said to contact the local US Fish and Game Wildlife Dept. So I found our local department and they had a number to call for hawk rescue. When I called the number a lady answered and immediately told me to send a photo and she'd call back.

She called back a minute later to tell us it was a juvenile red-tail hawk. Then she said we should "go ahead and catch it and she'd send someone to pick it up the next day." Dan said, "You want US to catch it?!" And she replied, "You're able to catch it as easy as I can."

That didn't feel quite right to us because I imagine she has long leather gloves and EXPERIENCE dealing with predatory birds!

Dan said it really didn't sit still long enough for us to get close to it. She said, "As it gets weaker, it will. But make sure to wear leather gloves and a sweatshirt."

Yeah. Because a cotton sweatshirt will keep us safe from those talons and beak.

However, we agreed because Nick needs 3 hours of a conservation project for Scouts, and this seemed like a good way to get it.

But by the next afternoon it was gone. Dan and I searched around the yard but didn't see any sign of it. So hopefully it recovered from whatever was ailing it the night before and flew away.

And with all this wildlife lurking about our new yard, it's a good thing we didn't get a really small dog.