My day started out very slow and quiet and quickly turned into a very eventful experience that I will never forget.

I went out this morning in search of hawks and bald eagles to photograph, but I saw very little and what I did see was so distant. I decided to give up early and just go home. By the time I got home, the skies started to clear up and I felt guilty for not being out and so I headed into another direction to go scope out an area where I usually find bald eagles.

On my way out there, I drove past an immature red-tailed hawk sitting on the ground, at the very edge of somebody's property and in the road. I quickly pulled my car over and grabbed my camera for some pictures. As I was getting pics, I noticed something didn't seem right about this beautiful hawk. It just looked at me all fluffed up in a defensive way. I was very nervous for the hawk and immediately put my camera to the side of the road and walked towards him. As I approached, I soon realized it couldn't fly and needed my help. I thank god I went that way and found this guy.

My first reaction was holy crap, what do I do. But, within seconds I gained some smarts and I immediately contacted my friend Justin because I knew he knew a rehabilitator who could possibly help. Then I called my friend Janice and asked if her husband, Gregg could come and help. Everybody was so amazing in responding so quickly. Justin immediately sent me the number to the rehabilitator and I called her to make arrangements. As I waited for Janice and Gregg to arrive, I stood between the hawk and traffic and used hand gestures to ask people to slow down. Everybody who went by and saw what was going on was so good about being slow and respectful.

When Janice and Gregg arrived, they came well equipped with a box, gloves and something to put over the hawk. Gregg was amazing and handled the situation like a pro. He first put the blanket over the hawk, then he used one hand to gently hold down the hawk and his other hand to grab the hawks legs. He very carefully lifted the hawk and placed it in the perfect sized box that he brought. After he got the hawk safely in the box, he placed the box on the floor behind my passenger seat of my car so that I could keep an eye on it while driving to go meet Annie, the rehabilitator.

As soon as I got in my car, I turned the radio off so the ride would be as peaceful and quiet as possible. My ride to meet Annie was only 20 mins long, but I was a nervous wreck the whole time. When I arrived at our agreed upon location, I waited for her to arrive and greeted her so thankfully for being able to come and help with the rescue of this beautiful bird. She was professionally equipped with a proper carrier, gloves and a heating pad. She put the carrier in my car and very carefully moved the hawk out of the box and into the carrier. Her initial observation of the hawk is that it is very thin, it has an infection and a broken wing. 

Annie has since gotten home with the hawk and given it a proper exam. Unfortunately, things are not looking good as he has an infected compound fracture of the right wing. She currently has him comfortable and will be getting him to the vet to see if pinning is possible.

I want to first thank everyone who assisted in the rescue of the Immature Red-Tailed Hawk: Justin, Janice, Gregg and Annie. It was a team effort and I could not have done this without all of your help! I'm very thankful that I have such amazing friends in my life. 

And now I want to ask all my blog followers to please pray for the Hawk! He's in pretty bad shape and needs all the prayers he can get. Also, when your out and about in your travels, please keep your eyes peeled for animals that may need your help!

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read my post. I'm very sad to have come across an injured animal today, but so thankful that I took the route I did and with the assistance of friends I was able to get this animal to the right place for help!