I was washing my car in front of the house this morning about 8 AM when i heard this loud WHACK. looked over at the house where it came from and right there on the ground below the big picture window that he apparently thought he could fly thru was a bird....but not just any bird....this was a big ol cooper's hawk ! He was nose first laying there face buried in the grass, tail in the air and wings spread out and convulsing in what appeared to be his death throws. I gotta tell you, i felt so bad and so helpless ! Then his muscles seemed to stop twitching and it looked like he'd probably taken his last breath and his body relaxed as he died.............NOT! I had been standing over him watching and wondering what i should do now for a solid 1.5-2 minutes when in a split second he shot straight up just like one of those model rockets ! And i mean FAST. Darn near knocked me over from the surprise and huge flapping wings in my face ! He went up into the tree right above us and sat there looking drunk with one wing hanging down like it was broken and the other outstretched over a limb and he seemed to be using that wing to keep from falling because he was still very stunned. After maybe a minute the wings came in and he was able to sit on the branch as normal, but apparently nhe was still in shock and/or hurting because he stayed there for another 10 minutes with me watching him from 20 feet away, and i know a hawk won't usually sit that close to anyone if they are capable of flying. But finally he was and he took off flying as good as new up and over the hill. I gotta say, i was so relieved. He was a gorgeous bird !
What i figured must have happened is this. Theres a big window in front and the back of the living room is all windows too. So you can see straight thru the house. I figure he probably saw thru there and not realizing there was glass he decided to fly thru, possibly having seen some sort of prey on the other side of the house he was after. This is a fairly common occurrence with birds, but i have never seen it happen to a hawk. What a morning this was !
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What i figured must have happened is this. Theres a big window in front and the back of the living room is all windows too. So you can see straight thru the house. I figure he probably saw thru there and not realizing there was glass he decided to fly thru, possibly having seen some sort of prey on the other side of the house he was after. This is a fairly common occurrence with birds, but i have never seen it happen to a hawk. What a morning this was !
h:
