Pets of OMP: The Hawk Who Came to Dinner

Editor’s Note: If you have a pet or animal story you’d love to see featured in Old Mission Gazette, contact our Pets of OMP columnist Paula Kelley, [email protected], or me, [email protected], and I will pass your info along to Paula. Read on for her note about a warm summer evening in Old Mission when an unexpected encounter with a hawk led to a sacred experience. -jb

Hello, Old Mission!

As I am sitting in my office listening to the wind roaring like a freight train and the sleet hitting my window, I realize that it is long past time to get back in the groove of highlighting the Pets of Old Mission. Attention all you animal lovers out there – reach out to me so we can highlight your own pets or even the local wildlife that inhabits your world. I can be reached at [email protected].

This story takes place back in the sweltering days of July. You’ll soon understand why I don’t have any fabulous photos, but I will try to verbally paint a colorful tale. By way of background, my chicken habitat, also known as Alcatraz, is part of the fenced-in area around my green outbuilding. The chicken coop is doubly reinforced with 1/4″ hardware cloth around the sides and heavy duty knotted nylon netting over the top. The foundation also has hardware cloth buried a foot deep with heavy boulders over the top. 

Up until the snow starts, I also have a temporary area marked off in the yard outside the door to Alcatraz with snow fencing and bird netting loosely tossed over the top. The chicks greet me every morning all standing, waiting for me to prop open the door so they can wander out in the “playground” to peck at the grass. They especially like hanging out under the big pine tree and scratching up the loose soil to see what interesting bugs can be found for a snack.

Around 7 p.m. on this hot and humid July evening, I let Roxie and Dash out for a quick bathroom break and was doing some small chores in the garage when I heard the dogs go crazy with barking. From Roxie, this is not an abnormal occurrence, but since Dash rarely barks, I looked out in the yard, and both dogs were trying to tell me something was wrong in the chicken’s playground. In fact, Roxie had somehow managed to climb over the small decorative fencing around some new shrubs and was doing a good job of trampling the hydrangea.

I could hear a lot of squawking going on from the chicks as well, so I ran out there to discover that an extremely large bird had managed to find an opening in the bird netting of the playground and had swooped in and killed one of my chickens. With Roxie and Dash barking at this bird from the other side of the fence and myself running outside, the bird decided it was just best to leave his dinner and swooped up to leave. Unfortunately, he did not exit the way he entered, but instead flew directly in the door to Alcatraz and perched on top of the chicken house there. To be clear, I don’t know if the bird was male or not, but it makes for easier reading.

I had no good ideas at this point how I was going to get this bird, and still had no idea what it was. I had been thinking maybe some type of owl. I knew I didn’t want to be prancing around the chicken habit in my crocs. Racing back to the garage, I grabbed my grub jeans from the pegs and tossed them on over my shorts, threw on an old sweatshirt I also keep in the garage over my T-shirt, jumped into my muck boots and raced back.

I dashed into the green outbuilding to grab some elbow length chemical gloves I wear when I clean out the chicken poop and went back inside Alcatraz. A small spade and yard rake live in the habitat for doing chores, and I was thinking I would try to shoo this bird out the door of Alcatraz and then hopefully out of the playground area. All the while wondering how long the raptor rehab center would take to get out here before it killed the rest of my flock.

When I went inside Alcatraz, I soon discovered this was not an owl at all, but a very large, absolutely beautiful hawk. He saw me coming and gently flew up towards the roof of Alcatraz in an attempt to get away but weirdly fell down and was lying on the ground of the habitat quietly looking at me. At first, I thought he might have been injured in the bird killing activities, but I didn’t see any blood on him so I figured he must have hit his head on some support beams for the roofing structure and was stunned. 

Going back inside the green outbuilding, I grabbed a 6’ x 6’ extra swatch of the heavy nylon netting and went back into the habitat. By this time, the hawk had flown up to the side wall of the habitat and had his claws attached to the hardware cloth.

To this day, I remember thinking how very calm this hawk was – or maybe still badly stunned. At no time did I feel afraid. He just looked at me with soft eyes, with no beak thrusting or ruffling of feathers. My only thoughts were to attempt to get this critter out of Alcatraz or to leave him and call the raptor center. 

I walked right up behind him and tossed the nylon netting over his head and wings without any trouble. I gently tucked his head down to his chest and folded his wings in tightly to his body, the same way I carry my chickens if they need transporting. Mr. Hawk was now swaddled up inside the knotted nylon. I pried off his talons from the hardware cloth – again, with no problem from him – held his feet together and quickly walked him out to the edge of the woodlot outside the Invisible Fence line. 

Of course, the dogs were still going insane, and I remember thinking, “Please don’t let this bird get agitated from the dogs!” He continued to exist in a peaceful state, and the last challenge would be to set him down and get the nylon netting off in one unwrapping. That process went without a hitch as well, and Mr. Hawk just lay on the ground and looked at me.

Back to the green outbuilding I go, grab the dog poop shovel and scoop up the poor dead chicken. Another trip to the wood line to bury her and check on the hawk. He wasn’t there anymore and had obviously flown away. I did see him the next day perched on the phone pole in the back field. No doubt scoping out the chicken playground. 

After dealing with the dead chicken, Roxie had to be untangled from the hosta and hydrangea and led out of the decorative fencing area. Then I had to get the remaining chickens back into Alcatraz. The playground area was obviously off limits until I could fix the holes in the bird netting. Normally, when it’s time to put the chicks in for the night, they just wander in. Sometimes I might have to shoo them out from under the pine tree with a small broom.

Unfortunately for me, the chicks were not interested in going back into Alcatraz because they knew the Big Scary Thing had flown in there. Back to the green outbuilding for the small broom, but those silly girls just played ring around the big pine tree, squawking like crazy. Another trip to the outbuilding for a section of snow fence, which I used to block off one side of the pine tree; thus, the only option for the chicks when I got behind them with my broom, was to run directly into the door of Alcatraz. 

I had four of my big chickens left after the traumatic event, but during the chaos, I never saw my little silkie chicken, Waldo the 2nd (aka W2). I searched the playground again, but didn’t see another corpse, nor did I see her when I opened the back door of the chicken house. Finally, I found her cowering behind the food tub, and all was well with her.

In talking over this event a few days later with my friend Maria while getting a massage (Old Mission Massage), she actually stopped working on the knots in my neck and shoulders and did some squawking of her own. “WHAT?! You actually TOUCHED a HAWK?!” 

She and I were discussing what type of hawk it might have been, and I did some research on the internet for hawks in northern Michigan. Although I wasn’t sticking around to measure and take notes of coloring, by process of elimination, I am fairly certain that Mr. Hawk was either a broad winged hawk, a northern goshawk, or a northern harrier.

To this day, I am filled with wonder and joy at this incredible experience. Having lived in rural areas all my life, I have a healthy respect for wildlife and normally would never dream of infringing on their personal space. The fact that Mr. Hawk allowed me to get so very close in order to assist him and place him out in the woods is something sacred and awe inspiring that I am going to remember for the rest of my life.

– Paula Kelley, OMG Pets Columnist

Also Read…