Another Hawk Rescue

There was a posting this morning on the NYC Raptors discussion group regarding a hawk in distress.

Emily, of New York City Audubon Society, received a call about a hawk and posted the following:

From: Emily Loffredo
Subject: Hawk stuck in building air shaft
Date: Tuesday, January 4, 2011, 11:16 AM

Our office received a call about a Red-tailed Hawk that has been stuck in a building air shaft for about a week. The caller, Frank, said it's been fluttering back and fourth a lot for the past few days.  Please email Frank at [ ] for more details.

Folks in the group quickly mobilized and Bobby Horvath (Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation) rushed to the scene. Here is his follow-up posting:

From: Bobby Horvath
Date: January 4, 2011 3:57:06 PM EST
Subject: Re: Hawk stuck in building air shaft

I met James O'Brien at 70 East 3rd Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues at about 1:30pm and with his much needed assistance was able to grab this juvenile off a 4th story window sill just as he landed and couldn't see me from inside the apartment. It is not injured but starving from his week long stay and worse is his (or small girl) feather condition. The shaft it was confined to is only about 4 feet wide by 70 feet long and as the bird flew back and forth from window to window unable to get the necessary height to escape he damaged almost all of the primary feathers as he brushed the brickwork with outstretched wings so it will most likely be a long stay here until new feathers molt this summer. It is not Lola who many folks are concerned with and looking for. This system does work and many thanks to James this time for his sacrifices in this rescue.

For photos and a nice narrative, check out James' blog posting here.