Syracuse, NY -- Van Duyn Home and Hospital had an unusual visitor Tuesday when a Coopers hawk crash landed on a roof at the facility. A social worker spotted the bird out a window around noon, said Roberta Sprague, commissioner of the county Department of Long Term Care. Van Duyn’s superintendent of hospital maintenance got on a ladder and –...
Syracuse, NY -- Van Duyn Home and Hospital had an unusual visitor Tuesday when a Coopers hawk crash landed on a roof at the facility.
A social worker spotted the bird out a window around noon, said Roberta Sprague, commissioner of the county Department of Long Term Care. Van Duyn’s superintendent of hospital maintenance got on a ladder and – with gloved hands – retrieved the bird.
After a couple of phone calls to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo and Beaver Lake Nature Center, Sprague said the bird was taken to animal rehabilitation expert Cynthia Page, in Manlius.
Page said the bird was a female in its first year that had suffered trauma, but no broken bones. A likely cause of its injuries, she said, could be flying into a window.
Coopers hawks are predators that feed mostly on other birds, she said. That means they sometimes crash into windows while chasing their prey.
The bird is on medicine to help with its pain and swelling and, Page said, improving. She expected the bird would be released, but couldn’t say when.
Coopers hawks are not endangered, Page said, but are on New York State’s list of “special concern.”
With a body length of 15 ½ inches and a wingspan of 28 inches, the bird rescued at Van Duyn has reached adult size, but its plumage hasn’t reach maturity. Neither has its eye color, Page said: The bird’s eyes are yellow. Adult Coopers hawks have red eyes.
Sprague said residents of Van Duyn didn’t see the bird during its brief stay. “We were more concerned with getting it help,” Sprague said.