Jessica's Friends
Jessica playing with Spooky a 7 foot Carpet Python from Australia. |
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| So I am sitting on the couch Friday night and Alex comes in and says there is an eagle in the neighbors back yard. I thought how strange and ran over to see. It turned out to be a young Red tailed Hawk we had seen around the house for a few months. It was standing on their A/C unit and had a broken left wing. Alex got me a glove and the cat carrier. I had been talking to the bird for a while and it was getting calmer. I put the carrier on the A/C and tried to get the raptor to go in. It had other ideas and jumped on top then flew over my head trying to take a chunk out of my skull at the same time. I had 10 or so spectators including the Sheriff and wanted to stress the bird as little as possible. As it went around the corner of the house I thought it was cornered but as I tried to grab it, it flew up to the window then back over my head. It was very fast, faster than a rabbit hopping and jumping away. It ran/flew to the corner of the yard and got behind the cable box when I went for it and grabbed and pinned it to the ground. I was worried about its slashing talons and large sharp beak so I folded its wings next to its body and held it like Jessica's pigeon. I felt the wing go into place and quickly put it in the carrier. | Saturday morning we took it to the SPCA and wild life rescue came to take it to rehab. We had been watching this bird and its mom and dad for months catching mocking birds and once saw this young one on our back fence watching Mr. Bunny and Pidgey. You could see it was trying to figure out how to get them out of their cage and have a snack. My friend Rick had seen one catch and eat a snake in his back yard a few months ago. |
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 Its beak was much bigger than the pigeon and more dangerous. |
 See the talons? |
 Sharon was very brave and said if the bird had not been injured it would have shredded my arms when I grabbed it. |
This lucky hawk will be treated for the
broken wing and rehabbed in a 50 by 50 foot enclosure, then set free in Columbus
where it will be watched after and given extra food till it is grown. I
hope it will someday fly free and have babies of it's own.
MARK |