Sometime either yesterday evening or early this morning, one of the Unisphere eyasses fledged. Francois Portmann spotted the fledgling on the ground beneath the Unisphere sometime after 8am this morning. Some dangers exist for the fledgling if it stayed below the Unisphere for long, so Francois contacted rehabilitators Bobby and Cathy Horvath to assist him in finding a better place to leave the bird. Bobby banded the bird, which turned out to be female(I chose to name her Sadie after Bobby and Cathy's daughter), then placed her in a Oak tree a short distance from the nest. Sadie stayed in the tree till around 5:40 P.M. when she fell out and began hobbling around on the ground with an apparent leg injury. I contacted Bobby about the situation and it was decided that it would be best that he take the bird and hold onto her until she can get a few good meals in her and see what the extent of her leg injury is. At this point she appears ok except for a minor limp in her right leg. It is not believed that the leg injury is to serious, fledging from a good height onto the concrete ground below is more than likely the culprit. Her talons were very blunt from perching on the metal Unisphere, and may have aggravated them enough to add to the injury as well.
I'd like to give a big thanks to Francois for watching after the hawks and assisting in helping Sadie, and to Bobby and Cathy for helping give another young, scared hawk a better chance of survival in this crazy, concrete jungle. We are very fortunate to have some great people in this city who care about these birds and their survival.
Say Hello To Sadie!
Caught her napping when I arrived
After the fall
The injured leg
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