A young red-tailed hawk was released on Sunday back into its territory on Syracuse University’s campus.
On July 21, two passersby, Anthony and Mary, found the hawk sitting on a concrete stoop in Thornden Park. They knew something was wrong when the bird didn’t fly away as they approached it.
“We wanted to take a picture and we noticed it’s just not scared,” said Anthony.
“It was about as afraid of us as a house cat,” Mary said. “We could’ve reached out and patted him on the head, which is definitely not a good sign.”
The pair called for help, eventually reaching Anne Marie Higgins, administrator of the Red-tailed Hawk Tales Facebook group. Higgins has rescued injured hawks from SU’s campus many times over the years.
We wrote last week about Higgins work with red-tailed hawks.
Higgins immediately recognized the injured bird in Thornden Park as one of two juvenile offspring that she has been livestreaming on YouTube since the birds were hatchlings. The hawk is a direct descendant of SU hawk royalty and had fledged the nest only weeks earlier.
Higgins transported the hawk to Cornell University’s wildlife veterinary hospital for evaluation, and then to Page’s Wildlife Center in Manlius where it was rehabilitated prior to release.
The hawk had blood behind its eye, indicating potential rodenticide poisoning, said Cindy Page, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
Anthony and Mary were given the honor Sunday of releasing the hawk on a hill overlooking Walnut Park.
“It was beautiful,” said Anthony. “Breathtaking. It was an awesome experience.”
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Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.