Hawk Day
Happy Hawk Day!
The 22nd anniversary of our own K family tradition. :)
The full story was originally posted here but in a nutshell (mostly quoting from last year's post):
Many Februarys ago we had a strong snow and ice storm (like you do) and just about every school in the district was closed. At some point during the day a red-tailed hawk hit our second story picture window and injured herself. We poked our heads out Mom and Dad's bedroom window and saw her on the ledge for a bare instant...and then she fell to the ground! Fortunately she survived that fall. We pelted downstairs and watched her flop across the yard to some of the bushes, one wing dangling at an odd angle. Oh no!
Mom called the Humane Society and they said they'd send someone around. The person they sent was a policeman. A plain, ordinary cop. No protective gear, no cage. Heck, not even winter boots. Mom gave him Dad's work gloves and a big, TV-sized box (a mid-1980's kind of TV), and he blazed a trail through the calf-high, ice-covered snow to the bush where the hawk had taken refuge. The poor thing was in shock. He simply scooped her into the box, put the box in his squad car and left.
Later in the day Mom called the Humane Society again. They said the hawk had been very lucky: her wing was only dislocated, not broken. They said she'd probably be released back into the wild in a few days.
There were other goings on, but that's the basic story. Melody and I watched everything from behind the front door. It wasn't actually that exciting, but it isn't every day such a huge bird hits your house and lives. :) Of course, we wanted to go to the Humane Society to visit "our" hawk but we weren't allowed.
For the next two years schools were closed on February 15th due to snow storms. Thus Hawk Day became our own family holiday. Too bad I can't have a snow day every year!
The 22nd anniversary of our own K family tradition. :)
The full story was originally posted here but in a nutshell (mostly quoting from last year's post):
Many Februarys ago we had a strong snow and ice storm (like you do) and just about every school in the district was closed. At some point during the day a red-tailed hawk hit our second story picture window and injured herself. We poked our heads out Mom and Dad's bedroom window and saw her on the ledge for a bare instant...and then she fell to the ground! Fortunately she survived that fall. We pelted downstairs and watched her flop across the yard to some of the bushes, one wing dangling at an odd angle. Oh no!
Mom called the Humane Society and they said they'd send someone around. The person they sent was a policeman. A plain, ordinary cop. No protective gear, no cage. Heck, not even winter boots. Mom gave him Dad's work gloves and a big, TV-sized box (a mid-1980's kind of TV), and he blazed a trail through the calf-high, ice-covered snow to the bush where the hawk had taken refuge. The poor thing was in shock. He simply scooped her into the box, put the box in his squad car and left.
Later in the day Mom called the Humane Society again. They said the hawk had been very lucky: her wing was only dislocated, not broken. They said she'd probably be released back into the wild in a few days.
There were other goings on, but that's the basic story. Melody and I watched everything from behind the front door. It wasn't actually that exciting, but it isn't every day such a huge bird hits your house and lives. :) Of course, we wanted to go to the Humane Society to visit "our" hawk but we weren't allowed.
For the next two years schools were closed on February 15th due to snow storms. Thus Hawk Day became our own family holiday. Too bad I can't have a snow day every year!