Courtney Douds, a falconer living in West Philadelphia, is looking for her missing bird, a red-tailed hawk (pictured). The bird lived behind a row home in an outdoor aviary, and sometime on Sunday her tethers broke and she flew out.
“While she is fully capable of surviving in the wild, I am predictably distraught,” Courtney wrote in an e-mail. “The bird is a red-tailed hawk, and she’s wearing very loud bells (that don’t interfere with her ability to catch food for herself) that can be heard from quite a distance away.”
So if you hear bells above you or see a red-tailed hawk wearing bells please let Courtney know of the bird’s general whereabouts. Please don’t try to catch the hawk, Courtney says, and it’s unlikely she will come down to anyone. But narrowing down the range of where the bird might have flown to might help Courtney recover her. By the way, Courtney is one of three falconers living in Philadelphia County.
If you spot the hawk, please email: courtney.douds[at]gmail.com
September 14th, 2015 at 3:32 pm
Pretty sure I heard bells late last night (11:00 or so) around 46th and Spruce. I thought it was someone making an unnecessary racket on their bike, but maybe it was the falcon?
September 14th, 2015 at 4:02 pm
Or better yet, if the hawk is perfectly capable of living free, just ignore the sound of bells.
September 15th, 2015 at 3:32 pm
Is the bird banded?
Have you contacted local wildlife rehabilitators, specifically the Wildlife Clinic at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philly or TriState Bird Rescue and Research in Delaware to be on the lookout for her?
September 16th, 2015 at 6:14 pm
Also check with the folks at Tinicum/Heinz Wildlife Refuge and Bartram’s Garden
September 24th, 2015 at 10:29 am
9-24-2015 i saw this hawk this morning in clark park chester av side she/he was trying to swoop down and get a squirrel that was on the telephone wires on chestnut street but the wires got in the way and the squirrel took off and the hawk flew into a tree in clark park A hope this helps
i have to say i was surprised to see it only having seen hawks in jersey. good luck