Bye bye, Coop!

I've said it before, but releases are the BEST!


I don't know the story behind this Cooper's Hawk, like its injury or where it was found.
So let's not dwell on my boring lack of details and focus instead on the happiness of the occasion.

The Coop was released by a new volunteer, and the woman let the bird go with joy and awe, a huge smile on her face. I think the bird was happy, too.


It happened so fast, in half a second it had cleared the barn....


...and sliced in between the mew gate and a parked car (and right by Dee, standing in the barn doorway!).


Another bird who needed help and received it. RAPTOR....it's just what we do.
:)

Releases are the BEST!

I wasn't present for this one, but I know the feeling of letting a bird of prey free.
A true sense of accomplishment...our rehabbers work unbelievably hard to turn these battered birds back into fierce angels of the sky.

This female peregrine was found in downtown Cincinnati in mid-July, with a wing injury. This was one of the PEFA hatched on the PNC Bank building this year.

After a few months of tender loving care, free meals and rest, she was released back to the wide open sky above Cincinnati.

Is it me, or does that toe crossed over the others make her look nervous?

Off she goes, back where she belongs...

Relent...um...recoil....oh yeah! RELEASE!

Today, I helped perform RAPTOR's ultimate goal: A release.

Three weeks ago, I got a call for an injured bird pick up during a very, very busy day. I'm glad I took the pick up, because after a nice rest and some good food and readily-available water, the red tailed hawk was ready to go home. Jeff (the Tree Climber) boxed the bird up for me and I picked it up and drove it out to New Richmond, where it had been found tangled in a fence. No real injuries, maybe a bit of bruising and dehydration (that was back when it was like a zillion degrees outside).

The home-owners were thrilled that it was back, and one of the ways RAPTOR likes to say "Thank you" to people who care enough to make a phone call (or seven) to help an injured bird, is to let them be the "releaser".


I took the hawk (formally known as RT 07-18, now known as a "free bird") from the box and handed it to the home-owner backwards, so that it was facing away from him, and instructed the neighborhood children to help me count to three.
I grabbed my camera and set it to "rapid fire" mode:

ONE.....

TWO.......



THREE!
RELEASE!!!!



And the hawk is going....



Going.....



Gone.

A nice, powerful lift, strong flight, and a very healthy bird is back where it belongs.
It. Felt. So. GOOD.