10/14/08

Cooper's Hawk Rescue in Port Angeles 

Merle Pender, of Port Angeles spotted this Cooper's Hawk capture a small bird in his yard.  The hawk appeared to have an injured wing  because she left it unfolded on the ground after capturing her prey.  After eating her breakfast, she got as far as the top of the fence in his front yard and stayed their the rest of the day.  When she didn't fly away when Merle approached her, he contacted the Northwest Raptor Center.

When Steve, the volunteer from the Raptor Center, arrived she let him get within 3 feet of the fence she was perched on.  A healthy raptor would never let a human get close and would simply fly away.  You'd think that getting that close would make it easy to capture her, but she'd hop or try to fly a few feet along the top of the fence; just enough to stay out of reach.  Merle and his neighbor, Joe Jensen assisted by keeping track of her.  Once she was on the ground it was easy. 

Cooper's Hawks are very aggressive raptors and pursue their prey through the vegetation that small birds often hide in.  The result is that Cooper's Hawk are frequently injured.  It's been reported that almost 25% of all Cooper's Hawks have broken bones from this crazy lifestyle.  She is the third Cooper's Hawk this year at the Raptor Center.  The other two were released back to the wild recently.

The Cooper's Hawk was transferred to Greywolf Veterinary Hospital, where she is now under the care of Dr. Jennifer Tavares, VMD.  We hope to know the details of her injury within a few days.  Once she is stabilized, she'll come to the Raptor Center for rehabilitation.

You can see in this photo how her left wing isn't folded correctly. 

Thanks to Joe & Amy Jensen and Merle Pender of Port Angeles

Another photo showing her injured left wing.

More about Cooper's Hawks can be found at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

What to do if you find an injured animal . . .

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The Northwest Raptor Center is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit organization whose work is the rehabilitation and release of wildlife.  The Center's mission is threefold:

• Rescue, rehab & release of injured wildlife.
• Presentation of environmental education programs using live birds of prey.
• Public outreach to individuals and organizations to appreciate wildlife in order to conserve it.

Freddie, a male Bald Eagle that we released a few years ago found a mate and they built their nest just north of Highway 101 on the Dungeness River.

Donations - the Northwest Raptor Center survives on donations.  Please click on the Donation button to the left or here to make a donation