Sunday Stills

The challenge to photograph birds was most fortuitous for me......
I was following the mares out to their pasture the other day when I spotted a young hawk on the ground- I froze and got my camera ready to catch a photo of it when it flew away.... only it wasn't inclined to fly at all. Huh? What's up?

I slowly made my way closer and it didn't move.

Foose, my black cat, had followed me out to the pasture, and when he spotted the bird, he went trotting over to it, but scrammed outta there when it rared up and spread its wings.

But it still didn't try to fly away. It kept hanging its head down....

I got to thinking that because it was a juvenile (Red Tailed Hawk) it may have been diving for a mouse in the freshly plowed field- yes, the hayfield that I normally ride on is now plowed under- and being young and ignorant probably misjudged its impact point and hit the dirt hard. He tried to look all fierce:

but I could see that he wasn't going anywhere, so I approached him from behind , and saw that he was able to turn his head all the way around so he wasn't too injured in the neck. When I touched him he didn't try to peck, so I got ahold of him by the legs and carried him out of the pasture to a place where he could recover in peace- the dog run. I also locked the cats and dogs in the house so they wouldn't pester him. He used his wings for balance as I was carrying him, so I could see that they were functional, no injuries there.

In the kennel, he stayed quiet, and did that funny thing with his neck again.

I called the local bird expert, and she suggested taking him to the vet, and if he was able to travel they would ship him down to OWL, the bird rehab place in the Vancouver area.

I figured I'd wait until I got home from work around noon, to see if he was going to make it- and he did, so I took him up to the vet's.

He was easy to handle, not aggressive at all. They checked him out and said he was emaciated and full of lice, but they did get him to eat a little. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as he did pass away the next day.