This beautiful little hawk is a young cooper's hawk that had fallen from the nest tree during the start of the rainy season here in South Florida. Her sibling arrived at the Miami Science Museum just two days before. We were unable to return them to the nest immediately due to ongoing storms which put not only the birds, but the humans at risk. We nervously waited a week but when we arrived, we not only found both parents, but another sibling still in the nest tree. 
Remaining baby in tree.
Remaining baby in tree. All renesting photos courtesy of Richard Williams, the concerned resident who brought both birds to our center.
Parent in nearby tree
I prepare the youngster for the last leg of her trip home.
Once again Jeff Fobb is there to assist and he has positioned himself in the nest tree.
I climb up to make the hand off to Jeff. The young hawk is hooded to keep her calm.
Fortunately it was a success, but.....part of the story is missing in these photos. Would have been a great shot for a few laughs had Richard gotten the prelude to why I'm holding this young hawk who is now wet. Can't blame him though, we were all sort of in shock as the bird flew around from branches and towards the lake. She made a desperate attempt to grab at a palm tree that we all knew was a doomed effort, and fluttered into the lake, quite gently if I may say so! What happened next got me hauling my butt off the ladder rather quickly. A big black male muscovy duck made a beeline for our young friend and she desperately began to swim for the shore. As the duck gained ground I sprinted towards the lake, tossing my cell phone in the grass and heading straight into the lake with shoes, socks and all other clothing intact. Thankfully the lake was shallow, the hawk was within arms reach, and the only wet clothing I had to endure were the socks. The bird was safe.
Parent in nearby treeI prepare the youngster for the last leg of her trip home.Once again Jeff Fobb is there to assist and he has positioned himself in the nest tree.I climb up to make the hand off to Jeff. The young hawk is hooded to keep her calm.Fortunately it was a success, but.....part of the story is missing in these photos. Would have been a great shot for a few laughs had Richard gotten the prelude to why I'm holding this young hawk who is now wet. Can't blame him though, we were all sort of in shock as the bird flew around from branches and towards the lake. She made a desperate attempt to grab at a palm tree that we all knew was a doomed effort, and fluttered into the lake, quite gently if I may say so! What happened next got me hauling my butt off the ladder rather quickly. A big black male muscovy duck made a beeline for our young friend and she desperately began to swim for the shore. As the duck gained ground I sprinted towards the lake, tossing my cell phone in the grass and heading straight into the lake with shoes, socks and all other clothing intact. Thankfully the lake was shallow, the hawk was within arms reach, and the only wet clothing I had to endure were the socks. The bird was safe. On the third try of placing the bird in a tree farther away from the lake, the young hawk dried out a bit before flying about 10 feet across to the tree containing her siblings, and we all breathed in relief as she settled on a branch next to her other sibling and one of her parents. Too bad no one caught the more glamorous side of this story on film, but hopefully you got the gist of it and clapped just as we did at the happy ending to this story.
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1 comment:
You will be pleased to hear that, today, almost a week later, the whole family is doing fine. We pass by every other day or so, and stop for a quiet visit; if you're quiet, sooner or later the young get restles and start hopping from branch to branch, or even flying from tree to tree, very much aware of the audience below.
Whenever there, my Labrador resigns herself to a little break in her walk, sits down, and calmly
gazes out over the lake, to check out for other dogs she can maybe go sniff and intimidate, (by her size and presense...she is not unduly agressive, even though she is an alpha female) She is not interested in the goings on up the tree.
We never stop for long, not wishing to disturb the
birds' tranquil home. It really is a nice spot to raise a family...mom and dad chose well.
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