On Friday, October 12th, something odd drew Kirk's attention to a large bush near the school's entrance. In the bush was a hawk looking just as surprised to see Kirk as Kirk was to see it. He walked towards the bird, but it made no effort to fly away. Realizing the bird may be injured, and that hundreds of inquisitive young children would soon be arriving, he quickly called Kelly Grinter director of the Marathon Wild Bird Center. Within minutes Kelly arrived and with Kirk's assistance they were able to corner the Coppers Hawk after it hopped out of the bush and ran across the school yard. Seeing Kirk make an initial grab for the bird as it tried to penetrate the chainlink fence, Kelly quickly yelled for him to stop. Surprised, Kirk soon learned from the bird expert that hawks have razor sharp talons that can potentially penetrate a human hand and that if he had simply grabbed the bird it may have done so in self-defense. Kelly carefully scooped up the bird and showed Kirk how to handle the dangerous weapons it was born with.
Three days later, on Monday, October 15th, Kirk Metzler was driving home to Conch Key when, at mile marker 59.5, a hawk flew into his windshield. After the initial shock wore off, Kirk debated with himself whether or not he should pull off US1 to check to see if the bird was alive. He didnt know how it could possibly survive such a collision, but there was that small hope otherwise which made him stop. To his surprise, there it was alive, but on its back in the grass. Cautious of the bird's talons, Kirk gently scooped up the injured bird and put it in the passenger seat of his car and drove the rest of the way home.
As it just so happens, Kirk's neighbor on Conch Key, Susie Ward, has been a volunteer with the Marathon Wild Bird Center since 2000. Susie received the bird, a Broad-winged Hawk, from Kirk and called Kelly Grinter for triage instructions. As an extremely active volunteer, Susie is listed on Kelly's state rehabilitation permit and therefore has emergency medications on-hand to administer to wild bird patients in such situations. An injection of dexamethasone was given to help reduce possible swelling caused by the impact to the bird's head from Kirk's windshield. The stunned hawk was placed in a quiet, safe cage for the night. We had hope, be it little, that the bird would survive.
On Tuesday morning the news was good! The hawk was still alive and actually quite alert. Susie drove the Broad-winged Hawk to the Marathon Wild Bird Center at Crane Point so that Kelly could give it a thorough examination. Impacts with vehicles cause injuries to birds eyes, heads, and shoulders. The retinas of the eyes can become detached permanently disabling a bird's sight. Kelly held a miniature flashlight to each of the bird's eyes and proclaimed they dilated just fine. She then proceeded to open and close its wings, carefully palpitated the shoulders, wings, back, and tail for any broken bones before announcing all was okay. Watching Kelly perform this examine without getting a talon in her flesh or bit by the bird's sharp beak, plus keeping the hawk calm, is truly an amazing sight. After the examine she said "I think we should go out back and release it!" So, off we went to a large clearing behind the Wild Bird Center. There, Kelly gently tossed the hawk into the air. It did what we'd hoped it would do, it flew straight up and landed on a very high branch. Moments later, after getting its bearings, it flew away to continue its migration south.
Still dropping its right wing a little, the Copper's Hawk that Kirk rescued the previous week was transferred to the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center in Tavernier for a few days of exercise in their large raptor flight cage. Upon arrival the bird swiftly zipped back and forth in the large enclosure as if to say, thanks but I think I can go now! The folks at the Upper Keys facility will release it in a few days after it has had a chance to exercise its sprained wing.
The Marathon Wild Bird Center sincerely thanks Kirk Metzler for getting involved and coming to the aid of two migratory wild birds that faced mishaps as they were moving through the Florida Keys. Kirk works for Monroe County, which fiancially supports the wild bird centers.
To learn more about migrating raptors in the Florida Keys, be sure to visit:
http://www.hawkwatch.org/keysmigration.
Story and photos by Susie Ward but editor's polishing by Kelly Grinter!