Red Tail Hawk

 I went out to give the chickens a treat and found a red tail hawk in the coop. The chicken run has a fence around it and net over it, but the hawk must have made his way in through a gap and had actually gone into the coop to kill a hen.  (He got one of the old, slow Cochins.) But he was trapped in the coop and couldn't get out.  In his panic he banged into the chicken wire walls of the coop and got his talons stuck in the chicken wire.  This is a picture of the hawk hanging upside down by his toes. We corraled all the other hens to safety and called Gus Ben David, who is licensed to deal with birds of prey.  He came over and thought he could walk up to the hawk without using a net and free him. (Hawks are a protected species.)

 This is Tom on the left watching Gus disengage the hawk from the coop's chicken wire.

 Gus said the hawk was a male red tail with a very full crop.

Gus checked the hawk out and it was fine.  It had not damaged its wings or feet on the wire.  So he released the hawk, who flew off heavily.  We will plug up the gaps in the wire, because this hawk will be back.