Wounded Kestrel (day 86)

I came across a wounded American Kestrel this morning.

I woke up late thinking, "Why'd I hafta wake up late?" then headed to work by bike. Bout 15 minutes later I was coming up on the Manhattan Bridge bike path when I saw a bird the size of a pigeon flapping its wings but not flying off. I could see it was wounded in its left wing, bloody and loose feathers, then I realized it was a falcon of some sort by the spotting and hooked beak. Beautiful!

I spent the next two hours getting it to safety. The bird had been frightened to death whenever a cyclist or jogger passed by, so at one point I got down on the ground with my business jacket, nestled it around the little bugger, and walked him and my bike to a nearby bench where we would call various bird rescues, watch groups, and vet hospital.

There's a vet hospital in the Upper West Side that is the only bird rescue safe haven in Manhattan. They said I'd have to deliver it myself. The awesome Rivendell could unfortunately not transport the bird in a jacket through morning traffic and noise--too dangerous for the bird. So two illustrious friends Jody and Alex came and got my bike to bring it home to my apartment. What heroes! Jody identified it as an American Kestrel cos its his favorite animal. Wish I had a video of Alex carrying his track bike on his back while he rode the Atlantis away (Alex was notably on the phone with me earlier to help track down a bird rescue).

So this description is hella longer than the actual vid. Sorry I didn't take much video--it really wasn't a priority at the time. The kestrel and I had a peaceful $30 cab ride uptown and the director/bird rehabiliator said it was going to be fine cos it could still flap its wing despite the injury.

Hopefully she calls with an update. All thanks to the beautiful Rivendell and two favorite people that guided the kestrel to safety this morning!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• american
• kestrel
• on
• manhattan
• bridge
• new
• york
• city
• wounded
• male
• kesterel
• raptor
• rescue

[Julina64163]

Here's the trick. You can connvert this vid to an audio mp3 file at a web site called easymp3grab daht cahm. (This wouldn't post here unless I misspelled daht cahm).

[pamelapy]

Well done! Thanks for sharing your story, and for doing a good deed.

[SomebodyIusedtoknow]

What a story! you did a beautiful thing ♥

[bwhahrhr]

I like people that resuce helpless animals.