I settled into my stand Saturday morning and at first light I noticed a redtailed hawk sitting on a branch about 4 foot off the ground 20 yards from me. Kind of odd I thought but I just watched him for the next hour. At one point he jumped down on the ground behind a tree, so I forgot about him as a few deer moved through. An hour later I caught movement and he was walking through some low grass in the woods hunting for field mice....again, pretty odd I thought.
On my way out as I walking along the edge of the alalpha field and this same hawk stood up and spread his wings, mouth open about 10 feet from me. He made no attempt to fly, just stand and fight. I approached him to about 4 feet and noticed his wing was broken. My wife and daughter came over and we took some photos and called a local bird rescue. About 2 hours later a volunteer came and we helped catch him, which was fairly easy as he didn't put up much of a fight....maybe because he had a sheet over his head :( . I was told he seemed very weak and was possibly starving.
The volunteer was fantastic. We were told his wing would be set that afternoon and they'd nurse him back to health over the next several weeks. She said they'd give us a call when he was ready to go and they'd bring him back to the same spot and we could release him. Pretty cool stuff....
Hats off to Tri-State Bird rescue in Delaware!