A window was its ending

Last evening this young adult Cooper's hawk was found grounded in my urban neighborhood after a window strike.  Cooper's hawks in my East Dearborn neighborhood are not common, but are becoming more so, and each year we have at least a couple of nesting pairs.  

Initially I thought the bird had been poisoned secondary to the propensity of my neighbors putting out poison to kill our skunks, raccoons, opossums, chipmunks, mice and rats.  The fact that there are no rats in the neighborhood doesn't seem to matter.  I guess they put out poison as a generalized method of dealing with wildlife they are unacquainted with and do not understand.  This has been confirmed over and over by the city's animal control division and, apparently, my neighborhood has the ignominious distinction of being the most generous with poison. 

But it was not poison.  When I observed the bird's behavior I then also considered that it was glanced by a passing car - which drive too fast in this residential neighborhood.  We have a lot of that, too.  Two very helpful and much appreciated bird rehabbers - one a specialist in raptor rehabilitation - suggested that it was a window strike.  True enough, a window strike should have been my first thought (instead of thinking the worst of my neighbors.) 

The bird flew briefly from the ground (first photo) to the roof of the house where it was found (second photo).  This house does have largish windows and I noted that leaves from the tree in front were reflected in them.  When I observed it fly and land on the roof I thought it might be recovering.  Because it was safe on the roof, from pedestrians walking their dogs mostly,  I continued on my walk.

After circling the neighborhood I returned to find the bird again in the grass.  It clearly wanted to fly but became terribly unbalanced and seizure-like with the attempt. 

Finally, I was able to reach an acquaintance from the Washtenaw Audubon Society who is a well-known and knowledgable bird rehabber in Ann Arbor.  She gave me the name and number of the raptor specialist and then guided me through how to handle the bird for its safety.  By now it was growing dark.  I followed her instructions and got the bird in a box and in my car and parked in my dark and quiet garage for its safe overnight rest.

I spoke with the raptor rehabber after this and gave her all of the above updates and we agreed for me to drive the bird to her in the morning.  She commented that I should check to make sure the bird was still alive before driving to her house.  Perhaps its head injury would be too much to overcome.  

This morning the bird was dead.  I feel terrible.  I wish we could have saved it.  Nevertheless, I learned a lot and will be better prepared if I come upon this situation again.  But hopefully I won't.

Wednesday, 10/05/22, 2:30 pm:  I called the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology - 734/764-0476 - to see if they would receive the bird as a donation.  Currently the bird is in my freezer.  I am hoping they will want this beautiful bird.  RIP fierce hunter.  This day comes for us all.

For a couple of weeks the above photo was my blog title photo, but I had to change it after making a couple of other posts.  Posting it here because I don't want to lose my memory of this bird.