Just Another Saturday Morning Run, Rescuing An Injured Hawk

We may now have a deputy BRC Mascot on the remote chance that Miller the (what I think is a) Yorkshire Terrier is ever unable to fulfill his obligations in this important role: this (what I think is an) adolescent Red-Shouldered Hawk.

As we came around the bend on Pleasant Street approaching the Stevens Pond beach on this morning’s run, we encountered this little fella, in a blind corner of the road and with a clearly-injured right wing (likely clipped by a car). The group — along with a few concerned passers-by — redirected traffic around him while we made multiple phone calls to the North Andover police and wildlife rescue volunteers.

Eventually, after a detour to the Woburn Animal Hospital, we were able to get in touch with the Mass Environmental Police, who brought the hawk back to their Topsfield location for rehabilitation.

Hopefully he’ll make a full recovery; if not, he may have a future in an educational program. He definitely has a future in the annals of the BRC. I’ve named him Red.

Special thanks to Don Chapelle for abandoning his long run to get the hawk to safety and to Rich Conrad for riding shotgun in Don’s car and making sure the hawk didn’t go berserk and attack Don while driving to Woburn.

A couple of other pics from the morning:

UPDATE (9 Jun 2016): We got some good news on Red’s recovery! And it looks like he was a red-tailed hawk, not a red-shouldered hawk. It wouldn’t be the first time I had somebody tell me I didn’t know one body part from another.