This beautiful moment came after three months of specialized care at the Wildlife Care Center. The hawk had arrived after colliding with the glass side of a sporting goods store. The impact caused head trauma and damaged one eye. We weren’t sure the bird would make it: thin and dehydrated, unable to eat on their own due to the head injury. But after intensive care, including administering tube feedings multiple times a day, we were relieved to find the bird’s symptoms improving. Soon we were able to assist-feed solid food, and then they began to eat on their own.
It took nearly two months of steady improvement, but eventually the head and eye trauma healed and we needed to help the bird prepare to return to the wild, where they would need peak endurance and strength. The first step was a few days in an enclosure large enough for short flights, but where we could easily monitor them and quickly intervene if needed. After that, a 100-foot-long flight enclosure for about a month to regain the important muscles that would allow the bird to soar and hunt, and then a trip to Whitaker Ponds to reclaim their rightful space in the sky.
This story could have ended very differently—millions of birds hit windows, and many don’t survive, or they sustain injuries they can never fully recover from. Some make it to a wildlife rehabilitation center, but tragically, many aren’t ever found. Here at the Wildlife Care Center, we often hear from folks bringing us birds that have hit their windows how a bird had never hit their window before, but when a bird hits a window once, there are always others that have hit, but no one was there to know. So in honor of this lucky hawk, go out today and make one window in your life bird-safe, at home, at work, or at school. Share this story with one friend who might not know how dangerous windows can be, and together we can work to make the world a safer place for birds.
