starrsville

There's an injured hawk in my backyard.

Just got home from the mtns. Knew something was up because one of the labs was sniffing something unusual. Doing some chores and turned around and saw the profile of a red-tail hawk sitting on the ground. "What's a hawk doing on the ground?"

As a dog ran up, he hobbled over to brush under a tree. Called the dog off and kenneled everybody up. Have gotten the input from several people and it's ranged from "let him die in peace" and "call somebody". We've gotten within 10 feet and he's not a red tail, but is definitely a hawk. He was vertical for a while, but is now hunkered down.

I googled and got the hotline # for rehabilitation from a raptor center's homepage. Got two numbers. Called one - no answer. Called the other - Animal control opens at 9.

I've left a message for my country vet. Maybe he knows of a resource.

I'm certainly not going to tangle with talons. Unless someone calls me back, I guess it's "let him die in peace".

Any other ideas/ suggestions out there?

toedtoes

Keep calling and keep the other animals away from him in the meantime.

I agree, don't mess with the bird yourself. You don't just have to worry with the talons, but the beak also and those beaks are extremely strong.

travelbuff

It may be a young bird not that good at flying yet and just needs a little time to recover.

Not sure what hawks eat, you can probably google it, raw meat would be my guess and some water and leave it close to the bush for the bird.

You might call a local vet school for assistance and see what they suggest.

Also you might google organizations that work with injured birds in your area.

You don't mention where you are located but there is a rehabilitation facility on Long Island.

Also look up the Red Tail Hawk famous here in NYC Pale Male www.palemale.com and email the site for info and suggestions.

Good luck, hope the bird recovers.

OO

I wish we were all in Tampa Bay...I'd know just who to call: Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. They take all birds and rehab them for release if possible, not just sea birds. If they can't be released, they stay. They still might be able to give you some advice if you want to give them a call: 727-391-6211.

Good luck Starrs...that's the side of nature we hate to be part of.

starrsville

Thanks. Yep, I've googled everyone I can think of and used the numbers I found on the raptor center in the state.

The good news (I think) is that I just went back out to check on him, and he's gone. Maybe he wasn't in too bad of shape and he's moved on. At one time we thought he was dead, completely horizontal and shallow breaths, but watching us, ahem, like a hawk. There's an overgrown muscadine row that's about 20' x 40', so that gives him a lot of shelter if he's looking for a quiet place to hide. I'm going to wait about an hour before I let the dogs out again. I fell bad, they spent almost 3 hours in the car and now they are kenneled again - but it's better than an injured hawk encounter. Thanks again.

So far, NO one has called back

starrsville

sorry folks, I thought I posted this on the lounge.

OO

PS...we even brought them a baby pigeon, blown from its nest in the hotel's garage in one tropical storm. They accepted him graciously. We didn't know it was a pigeon...as a baby it looked pretty exotic.

Then there was the fledgling seabird, kept in our bathtub over night until we could bring it in the next morning. Wow, what a little bird, but what a big smell...thought that bathtub would never recover.

Now you all have something else to worry about in hotel bathrooms!

toedtoes

Starrsville - lots of times the hotlines aren't manned by folks round the clock. Sometimes they are checked at 4, 6 or even 8 hour intervals. Also, many of them are staffed with volunteers who have fulltime jobs. It's really hard to get through to them, but they're not just "ignoring" you.

If he's moved from his original spot (and you see no signs of violence), it sounds like he was able to get up off the ground. As Travelbuff says, it could have been a young bird who needed to "re-coup" a bit.

We have barn owls by our work and had two of them get stuck in a parking lot light fixture. The first one was caught by his foot and the fire dept. and rescue person were there to deal with him.

The second one was caught by his wing and although we got the fire dept. out, we couldn't get a hold of a rescue person in time. I ended up taking the owl to the "raptor specialist" vet myself. What was most irritating was that while there were about 15 people out there talking about "how we HAVE to save the owl", not one of them was willing to go with me to the vet so I didn't have to deal with driving on the freeway AND a wild bird at the same time. I finally got someone who hadn't been out there to accompany me.

P.S. According to the rescue person, barn owls don't use their beaks to fight. If you can hold their feet, and keep their wings tucked in, they won't hurt you.

LoveItaly

I don't know if any of you would approve but our office building had a lot of high plate glass windows. The street was lined with many trees. About once every 3 or 4 months a bird would fly into one of the high plate glass windows. My husband kept a bottle of cognac in his office along with a little eye dropper. He would go out and gently drop a tad bit of cognac in the birds beak. With one exception each and every little bird ended up flying away (it was 5
Star Hennesy so I am sure they were feeling quite pampered).

toedtoes

LoveItaly - birds get drunk all the time and I don't think your husband was trying to make them alcoholics.

If it works, don't knock it.

Fodorite018

LOL LoveItaly! A family member does a lot of volunteer at the Lindsey Wildlife Museum not far from you. She told me a story a couple years ago from near your area...some animal (can't remember what it was...something odd like an otter or something) was found on the side of the road in a sugar coma...next to an empty box of Krispy Kremes!

wliwl

Is it a rather small hawk? Some of the bird-hunting hawks (Coopers, Sharp-shinned, even Broad Winged) hit windows pretty often. They are also easily poisoned by lawn chemicals (or now many people even have trees sprayed). Your description of the birds behavior fits both. Probably his only chance is to get to a wildlife rehabilitator, but I also understand the sentiment of letting it be.

It's sad though, isn't it? Such beautiful creatures.

starrsville

No, it's a big hawk. It looked full grown with a wing problem. No inviting windows for it to fly into. (I've had small birds from the feeder fly into a big window at a former house). Your post made me think - maybe it ate a poisoned mouse.

PS - the vet just called and gave me another suggetion on who to call. I'm about to take the dogs on a walk, so I suppose they'll find its scent if he's around.

Thanks all.

starrsville

LoveItaly, I have brandy and bourbon. Which would you recommend (if I find him hunkered down somewhere)?

kealalani

Given that it is Sunday night, if I were in your shoes - godforbid(LOL) I'd call the police department/fire dept for suggestions and risk being called the hawklady.

starrsville

Thanks. Neighbor 2 share a story about seeing dogs attack chickens on the way to work. He pulled over and used ball bat and balls (I would have loved to see him in action) to scare the dogs off. There were about 10-12 dying chickens and he called 911. They said to call Animal Control - which didn't open for 2 more hours. He asked for someone to come out - and waited 20 minutes but no one showed. He was already late for work so he went on.

He did recognize the dogs and told the owners that he had small kids and it would be a good thing if those dogs didn't show up on his property. He hasn't seen the dogs roam since. The dogs had traveled 1.5 miles from their home to the chicken location.

If the hawk is still around in the morning I'll call the # the vet recommended tonight.

I like the sound of hawklady. Kinda cool!

They could call me Ladyhawke - especially if it made me look like Michelle Phieffer!

toedtoes

Or if you got to get together with Rutger Hauer??

starrsville

toedtoes
Wasn't Matthew Broderick a sweetie pie of a puppy?

toedtoes

Was Matthew Broderick in that movie?

Sorry, I never saw past those blue eyes...

starrsville

I went to imdb.com to make sure. MB was 23 - he looked like 13!