"Let's do something different today."

"Let's do something different today." That was my suggestion as my wife and I left the house to enjoy our last weekend off before the start of school. Different? Different I guess!

We were riding south enjoying the start of fall and the appearance of early fall colors when Mrs. Shutterwi noticed a hawk standing on the side of the road. I caught a quick glimpse in my rear view mirror, slowed down, swung around and went back to take a couple of photos. When we approached the hawk in the truck it didn't show any signs of alarm in fact it just sat there while I took several photos from across the highway.

I decided to get out and try and take a couple of closer shots fully expecting it to take off the moment I stepped out of the truck. It just sat there watching me. Something didn't seem right. I walked right up to the bird. It moved it's head tracking my approach. By now I was within arms reach. I noticed it's left eye had been injured and my first reaction was it had suffered a partial enucliation of the eye (sorry...the old military medic in me pops out from time to time). It suffered an eye injury.

It was evident that this bird was injured and needed help. I went back to the truck and grabbed my jacket (no gloves) then went back to the hawk and approached it from the backside. I dropped my coat over it and tried to wrap it up so as not to injure the wings . After one brief but memorable encounter with two sets of talons (don't try this at home especially with a fleece jacket .Fleeces is NO match for talons) I managed to get the bird safely controlled. My wife and I then managed to get it into one of the cardboard boxes I had in my truck.

At this point I'm going to leave the story. I will return later today (or tonight) and finish the story but ...the sun is out and I want to go do something different today. ;) Stay tuned.

Update: I'm sorry to report that the young female broad winged hawk in these photos had to be euthanized. It had suffered severe damage to it's left eye and and the surrounding bony structures.

Thanks to Ryan Brady and Duluth's Hawk Ridge for assistance in finding a wildlife rescue center.

Stay tune for and update on the rescue center and it's great work.