Friday, April 17, 2009

Injured Coopers Hawk in Downtown Worceter Today

You know, there are times when you don't have to go searching for birds and instead the birds come to you. Take this morning for example, I was at work typing away when suddenly my phone rang. It was building maintenance telling me they thought one of the falcons hit the building and was seriously hurt. My mouth went dry as panic set in over the fate of the falcon and their eggs. I asked him if he was sure if it was a falcon and he then said no, perhaps it was a hawk and he thought it was a Red Tailed Hawk. I looked out the window and squinted to see if I could make out what type of hawk it was. I couldn't so proceeded to ask if they had contacted Fish and Wildlife. Needless to say maintenance and meter attendants were all outside calling every number they could only to get transferred to another department.
I picked up my phone and called Tufts asking for the number for Fish and Wildlife and asking if we could bring him in there for care. They gave me the number and told me they would be waiting for him. One call and I got an answer from a very helpful man who told me to try and contain it in a box. You want me to what?? I asked. Put a towel over him and put him in a box with holes in it he told me. Ummmmm, will do I replied. I go down the elevator wondering how we were going to be able to pull this off.

This is what I see when I go down there. The poor thing was obviously in shock and unable to move much.

Finally the hawk regains some of its strength and proceeds to venture onto the grass to escape the ever growing audience.


He looked like he was going back into shock again so I asked for a box with holes and a towel and then asked for a volunteer to box him up to keep him calm until Wildlife replied. No one was eager to be put in this predicament so I grabbed the box and put it on top of him with a weight until help could arrive.


Here is the make shift carrier we devised. Notice the tape I requested so no one would bother it while I ran upstairs to check on the location of Fish and Wildlife!! HA! I am so over dramatic sometime.


Finally they arrived as did a reporter from the T&G and a bus load of children going on a field trip!!! Everyone stood around as the hawk was examined. The Wildlife guy was fantastic during the whole thing and told the children that the hawk was a Coopers Hawk and was part of the Accipiter family. He then proceeded to tell them that the injury was probably a result of the Peregrine Falcon going after him (people reported seeing a bird fight), and the end result was this poor hawk crashing into the building. Preservation Worcester and the school have been tracking the Peregrines so I am going to give them my blog url so they can see some pictures of the falcons. Very cool to see young kids into wildlife, especially birds!!


Here is the helpful man checking the hawks vitals.


The hawk is stressed and makes its first eye contact with him.



And the photo that breaks my heart. How stressful for the poor bird. I have yet to call Tufts because I am afraid of bad news. I will call them tomorrow for a status update.


In the meantime I had a chance to check on the falcon during lunch. As you can see it seems unfazed by the whole ordeal. Just another ordinary day in downtown Worcester!! ;o)

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

So sorry about the injury. I hope somehow he makes it.

Amy said...

Wow!! Good for you for taking charge and getting the hawk under control before MassWildlife got there. What an experience. I hope the prognosis is good for this guy. Again, wow! Funny, I just posted on my blog about window strikes.

nycnut said...

....so glad you were there! Great pics...I really love your local reporting....don't miss palemale today. Also the last pic is the bldg the nest is on ...see it?

Helen said...

It probably fell all the way to the pavement after hitting the building. It will be lucky if it makes it. I hope it doesn't have babies it is feeding somewhere. Good for you taking charge like that. Helen

A New England Life said...

Excellent photos Kim. It looks pretty alert to me since before it couldn't even open it's eyes. Hopefully you'll make that call soon so we'll all know what the end results are!

Beautiful bird. By the way ... I put the Fish and Game phone # on my cell phone! After finding a very sick Racoon a couple months ago I decided it was the thing to do.

Anonymous said...

No larger than he looks in the man's hands, I would guess it is a young male. I hope they can take care of him.

Heidi said...

Good job helping out and then documenting it Kallen! Scary, but exciting. I'm sure the hawk will be fine. It looked pretty well off and might even be released back into the wild. Call and find out!

Kim said...

Mildred, I hope he makes it too. It looked so scared that it broke my heart.

Amy I will be sure to check out your post tomorrow when I get some sleep, I am exhausted tonight. Window strikes are deadly for birds. Especially buildings with large windows such as this one unfortunately.

nycnut, I am so glad you saw these photos. I checked out Palemale and ALL of the photos are breath taking. That photographer is incredible. The nest shots were FANTASTIC!

Madco, I too was worried about nesting. I thought for a brief moment if we should just let it rest for a while and then see if it could take off just in case that was the fact, but I couldn't do it with downtown people looking at it, plus an enraged Peregrine! ;o)

Sharon, I have Fish and Wildlife on my cellphone now too. I also gave it to maintenance.

Abe, I so hope you are right and that it is a male just in case they are in fact nesting. The only problem would be that the female couldn't leave her nest while he was gone.

Red, he looked okay but from what I understand from other people he was like that for approx 2 hours before I got the phone call to get help. There were no signs of blood, beak looks okay, wings are alright, he was limping a little though. I am going to call them and ask that the release it closer to the Registry of Motor Vehicles. There is no way the Peregrine will tolerate a release where it was as that spot is one of the falcons favorite perching spots.

I will keep you all updated.

Leedra said...

Very interesting story. Hope the Hawk has minor injury.

Leedra’s Photos For FunLeedra’s Greeting CardsPhotography By Leedra

Samuel said...

That is an amazing story. Keep us posted on his recover.

Dawn Fine said...

Kim,
Wow..serendipity...If it wasn't for you as a birder...and the maintenance men knowing about you..Well who knows what would have happened to the poor coopers..
Let us know how it goes...
Great job

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

YAY Kim!! You are the "go to" gal for raptors! It's unfortunate that the Coop was injured, but so neat that you and so many others (especially the kids) got a close-up look at that magnificent hawk. You did your best by that bird- no matter the outcome.

Andy said...

Lot of activity in Worcester!

Good job too!

Let's hope all is well.

Susan Gets Native said...

Good job, girl. You did it all right.

Blunt head trauma to a bird can go either way.
If they don't hit TOO hard, they can shake it off and be on their way soon. This guy looked like it hit VERY hard.
If there aren't any fractures, he might be lucky to just have a concussion.

And I think a release to another site would be best for him. Of course, birds do what they will, so there's nothing stopping him from returning. Cities are good hunting grounds for bird-eating raptors like PEFA and Coop's, aside from the huge obstacles they have to maneuver around.
Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Kelly said...

...thank goodness you were there! You guys did a great job with the box!! Very interesting post. I hope he recovers. I know you will keep us posted!

Rick (Ratty) said...

The hawk was lucky to have someone like you around, who knew how to handle the situation. Hopefully everything turns out alright for the poor thing.

Anonymous said...

You are amazing!! Not everyone would have tried to help, let alone known who to call. You are a true birder and an inspiration to the rest of us birders. Keep your fingers crossed for him and keep us updated on the progress.

Anonymous said...

Any updates on the injured Coopers Hawk?

Jayne said...

Thank goodness you were there Kim, or else the outcome could have been very different. So impressive that the wildlife people responded so quickly. I do hope he does well. Such excitement for a day at work!

A Scattering said...

It's the Curious Birder to the rescue! Good for you. Have my fingers crossed. Our Mourning Dove chicks are getting quite cheeky and restless, won't be long now before they fledge. My cousin thinks they need their own reality show. Have a great weekend.

Rich said...

Great work in helping the hawk. I hope it pulls through.

Ginnymo said...

I feel so sad for the hawk but am sure glad you were able to get help and maybe he will be okay. Quite a story you got here!! I hope it has a happy ending... I'm surprised the guy didn't even have gloves on and the bird didn't bite him. Unless he was so out of it that he couldn't move. Poor thing. Great post though!!!

Tina said...

Gee that is some story and with pics to boot! Really glad you were there..that poor guy really did look like he was pretty stunned..hopefully he wasn't seriously hurt and needs only some tlc.
Great pics of your palm warbler..I saw my first one thru binos this morning..didn't have my camera with me..pretty cool and like you I'm anxious now to see more warblers!
Keep us posted on coop's progress.

SweetAnnee said...

You are my HERO..
And I love the pics!!

deena

Larry Jordan said...

Brava Kim! Great job helping to save the stunned Cooper's Hawk. Hopefully he makes it. Excellent photo journalism. Your photos are awesome!

Keep us updated on the Coop's fate will ya? And keep up the good work.

Not just a typical day at the office obviously ;-)

Shelley said...

So glad you got involved to help this poor Hawk! He's so beautiful and I'm so sad that he got hurt~!

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