Please don't be alarmed by this post's title: White Nite is still alive in the Airstream. Having said that, I will tell you that he has been on my mind a whole lot lately. Two mornings ago, I got a call from Marlene, Jenna's caredgiver, who told me that a Cooper's Hawk had flown smack into Jenna's window and hurt itself. Since I had gotten snowed into Hot Springs the night before, I was right down the road at Mom and Dad's so I hurried over to check the scene. Marlene had gotten the bird and put it into a box inside, and sure enough, it was a gorgeous Cooper's Hawk. Well, didn't you know I wished I had White Nite to feed it (even though CM, the expert who I consulted for the care of the screech owl a few weeks ago, told me that injured/traumatized birds will not eat.) I had the best time carefully handling the hawk to assess it for broken bones and equilibrium and such. By best assessment was that it didn't have any broken bones but was suffering a head trauma (CM directed my assessment over the phone.) Marlene and Jenna and I talked about too bad White Nite wasn't there. Well that ole White Nite must have felt something in the air because when I got back to the Airstream that night, shore enuff he had escaped from his cage for the first time ever and was sitting in my Crock shoe. Again the next day he got out of his cage. I have had to really secure the lid tightly to prevent that. Last night he spent 4 solid hours trying very hard to leap out of the closed and secured cage. Today I held him and told him what a silly mouse he is and petted his soft coat, and he dropped 3 turds in my lap.
The hawk had not acheived equilibrium after 24 hours, so yesterday Jenna and her caregiver took him to the Sweeten Creek Animal and Bird Hospital (silly name because birds are animals...) I called today, and they informed me that he didn't have any broken bones but suffered a head trauma, and a volunteer had taken him over to Blue Ridge Wildlife Center in Boone. They are hoping to rehab and release him. As always, it was super exciting to be up close and personal with a wild predatorial animal. The talons cut my arm through 3 layers of shirts. He was very scared and defensive- I don't blame him. I will post pictures when I get them.
2 comments:
dana dee, you have the most amazing adventures. it has now become part of my daily routine to check your blog for new posts because I need the laughter therapy. you make me laugh like no other! please keep on writing!
I had a wild experience with a cooper's hawk yesterday. I was standing out in the field checking something out talking to myself when I turned around and saw flying very quickly directly toward me a small bird with a cooper's hawk right on its tail. the small bird flew right by me and the cooper's hawk, who i think didn't realize that I was there until the last second, flew right at me and then flew straight up into the air a split second before flying right into me. the little bird, the hawk's prey, got away.
we seem to have a pair of cooper's hawks who live right down here in the bottoms with us.
maybe we should name our farm "hawk bottom farm". we're still open to farm name ideas if you have any!
xoxo
Hawk bottom farm is awesome. So would be Cooper's Bottom Farm (basically I tend to favor anything followed by Bottom Farm...) But I really like the idea of naming the farm after a co-inhabiting species. Keep me posted and thanks so much for reading my blog.
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