Rescued Young Hawk Reunites with Family
Published: June 18, 2007
It wasn’t five minutes before the bird’s family was welcoming it home.
Looking fatter, fuzzier and eager to stretch its wings after three days in hawk hospital, a young raptor that had apparently drifted down from its nest too soon was returned to its Salmon Creek neighborhood a few days ago.
Set on its spiny feet, the red-tailed hawk fledging made a quick dart around the Van Allen family’s fenced-in backyard and let out a few high-pitched cries.
An answer from the other side of the fence came almost immediately.
“The two babies are talking back and forth,” said Deb Sheaffer, the staff veterinarian for the Audubon Society of Portland who had dropped the bird off.
The fledgling that Sheaffer had taken in over the weekend seemed to be a different bird than the one that had spent a week in the Van Allens’ backyard earlier in the month. That one, it turned out, had successfully learned to fly after clearing the fence and was now living in the woods beyond the fence.
This one seemed to be a younger sibling who had left the nest too early and run into trouble on the ground, Sheaffer said.
Sheaffer, who had arranged with the Van Allens to give the younger animal a few days’ recovery in their yard, asked The Columbian not to immediately report its Monday return, to lower the chance that any curious birdwatchers might disturb the scene.
As Sheaffer and Audubon volunteer Carol Mitchell prepared to leave, an adult red-tail glided low over the yard. The fledgling, safe behind the fence, was still calling.
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