Miracle bird back on the wing

Red-tailed hawks can make fatal mistakes: They perch on power poles and get shot by people who just have to shoot something. They can be electrocuted when they perch on electrical transmission pole cross-arms. Sometimes they swoop down on a rabbit or rodent crossing the highway, and are smacked by motor vehicles.

Gary Landers, operator of Wild Wings Raptor Rehab facility in Sisters, shared an adventure he had with a red-tail that crashed through a window at Culver Marine, just south of Madras.

"Crashing" is an understatement. "Hey, that was a shotgun blast!" Paul Haynes shouted to his coworker Todd Curtiss, in the far back of the Culver Marine shop. They ran out into the display room at the other end of the building and found glass all over the floor, covering the deck of a brand spanking new fishing boat.

Then they spotted the cause of all the commotion, flat on its back next to the boat, covered with shards of glass, and out like a light: an adult female red-tailed hawk.

The two men were joined by Geoff Wollaston. After carefully lifting four-inch shards of glass from all over the bird's body, he slowly eased the hawk's wings open and inspected it further for injuries. Miraculously, there was no blood. The hawk came through the crash apparently uncut.

Geoff then called for help: first to the Humane Society, who sent him to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, who sent him on to Gary Landers, who advised Geoff to place the hawk on a blanket and continue sifting through the feathers for any more glass. Geoff moved the bird outside, and after about 20 minutes had passed, he began folding the blanket over the hawk. At that moment the hawk's eyes snapped open and it reached out with both feet to grasp Geoff's hands.

"No you don't!" Geoff said out loud, jumping back out of range of those lethal talons and powerful grasping feet. ("Raptor" is Latin for "to seize.") The hawk quickly thrashed its way out of the blanket and began hopping toward the road in front of the showroom.

The driver of an approaching car spotted the hawk on the road, stopped to let it pass, and everyone sighed in relief. When the hawk hopped into a cultivated field across from the shop; it made an attempt to fly, but flopped onto its left side, unable to leave the ground. It was at the moment that Geoff called Gary again.

"It's awake, and trying to fly!" he exclaimed.

Gary told Geoff the hawk had to be captured, placed in a cardboard box, and brought into the shop for safety. "This is no time for show-and-tell," Gary said.

Geoff and coworkers Paul and Scott formed a triangle around the hawk, and Geoff carefully dropped a box over the hawk from behind, then slid a piece of cardboard under it, turned the whole shebang over and brought it into the shop.

Phase I of the hawk's miraculous recovery was underway.

When Gary arrived at Culver Marine, he took possession of the bird and headed back for Sisters. He found the hawk had recovered from the initial shock of crashing through the window, but had a slight concussion. It was also bleeding from the esophagus (which suggested internal injuries), and it had a dislocated left shoulder.

"I'm just amazed the bird didn't die from the impact of crashing through the window, or speared by flying glass," he said.

Concerned about the possibility of internal infection if he started feeding the hawk, he began the healing process by carefully re-hydrating it. Satisfied there were no holes in it from flying glass, he set the shoulder and bound the wing against the hawk's body so it couldn't move. Now all it would take was time and a lot of Gary's TLC.

Gary's good at what he does, and 16 days after the hawk went blasting through the showroom window, Gary took it back to Culver to release it. After instructing Geoff how to handle the hawk safely, he carefully passed it into his hands for release.

They planned a Grand Release, with cameras clicking and speeches, but the hawk wanted no part of it. She suddenly jerked her feet out of Geoff's hands and swooped away from everyone at full-throttle.

All Gary's TLC and expert care came into focus as the hawk climbed for altitude, then flew to an out-of-reach perch in a tree close by the shop, and shook her tail - as red-tails are wont to do when they're happy. After a little cheering and back slapping, everyone returned to the shop to discuss how Gary brought the injured hawk back to health.

When asked what this interruption meant to getting things done in his business, owner of Culver Marine, Don Lee, said with a big smile, "I have a great crew of very conscientious people working with me, and this is just another good example of what kind of people they are."

If you should come upon an injured raptor, call Gary at 541-408-0863.