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Cheating death

SandraK

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Since the weather's been so cr**ppy, I've been on my computer which faces a NE corner of the family room but has the sliding doors to the deck to the left and the bay window to my right. While wandering around AA yesterday, I heard a thud on the sliding doors and immediately went to check.

Saw what looked like some type of wren (or similar size bird) on the deck, flopping around and I was afraid it had broken its neck flying into the door. Opened the sliding door and was reaching for it just as a Cooper's landed on the deck too. Grabbed the birdy before the Cooper's and went inside.

The Cooper's hawk actually hung around the deck for a good 10-15 minutes waiting for the bird I was holding to show up. Sat on the railings, sat on the tree next to the deck, checked out the shrubs and hopped around until it finally gave up.

I held the little guy cupped in my hands to keep him warm and in the dark. Dribbled some water into his beak and it took a good 45 min. plus for him to finally come to. He did get away from me and was able to fly to the top of the curtains in the family room before I could get him down.

I held him for a while longer to make sure he was completely awake and then released him in the evergreen hedge in the front of the house. I put him a foot below the top of the hedge so he was well hidden and protected from the weather.

When I checked on him about an hour later he was gone and I did check the ground under the hedge in case he'd conked out. But he was apparently happily gone in that he flew away.

It was either a wren or a warbler - so lightweight compared to even my smallest bird. Softbill with the longer beak like an insect eater not a seed eater. It's the second time I've been able to do this and it does feel good to save just one little feathered life.
 

rockoko

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Wow, so happy you saved him.
 

Lady Jane

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You are a brave lady. Cooper Hawks here are large and fearsome. Also quite a loud call and so pretty. Where i lived before one huge fella staked out the dumpster which has refuse from a commercial kitchen. This hawk had his own private feast.
 

SandraK

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Wow, so happy you saved him.
You are a brave lady. Cooper Hawks here are large and fearsome. Also quite a loud call and so pretty. Where i lived before one huge fella staked out the dumpster which has refuse from a commercial kitchen. This hawk had his own private feast.
The Cooper's around here actually watch my feeders to see when I refill them. And now the redtail hawks are showing up for nesting and breeding. There is a tree on the east side of our house - any hawk sitting in it has a perfect view of both the back garden and front garden feeders. I've started tossing my old bird seed into the evergreen hedges around the sides of the house and under the fir trees to give the smaller birds some chance of eating without being eaten.

A couple of weeks ago, Tikki, the sun was sitting on a perch in the bay window and a Cooper's actually almost hit the window trying to get to Tikki until he saw me standing there. If Tik had been outside he would have been a goner, no ifs, ands or buts to it.

Whenever I go outside I always look up to see exactly who is circling above scoping out the dining menu.
 

SandraK

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You are a brave lady. Cooper Hawks here are large and fearsome. Also quite a loud call and so pretty. Where i lived before one huge fella staked out the dumpster which has refuse from a commercial kitchen. This hawk had his own private feast.
Hubby has always said that I'm the idiot who can be found with my hand in any creatures cage but that isn't quite true. I don't take on carnivores and if a hawk has already taken something down (seen it happen) I don't mess with that - it's already a done deal. But a bird that hits our sliding doors, windows or bay window is fair game for me to save. And that's in spite of having the UV stickers and other things in the windows ...

I can at least try.
 

BirdManDan

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Good job. It is a great feeling isn't it? We have not done it with wildlife birds but he have rescued and rehabilitated dozens of parrots. It's hard to re-home them but it is nice that we do find good homes for the newly tamed and handleable family friendly parrots.
 

SandraK

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Glad you helped the little guy,,or girl! That hawk may have been chasing him, that's why he flew into the window.
I'm pretty sure that's what happened. The little guy looked like he was flying in to try and hide between a couple of things that were on the inside of the window. So I've put up more stickers/feathers on the doors to make them visible. I was more afraid of his having a broken neck.

At least around here there is the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors - https://www.birdmonitors.net/ - who will help if you have a wounded wild bird. Fortunately (for me) I know that there is at least one volunteer who lives near me. She's picked up a whole nest with chicks that had fallen out of a tree and was almost squashed by a parked car in a Walgreen's parking lot. A shoebox, old towel and heating pad later they were picked up ...
 
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