Earlier this week the one remaining fledgling was spotted on campus with an injured eye. It also appeared that he was no longer accepting food.Earlier this week the one remaining fledgling was spotted on campus with an injured eye. It also appeared that he was no longer accepting food.
Tim Gallagher, falcon expert from Cornell's Lab of Ornithology, kindly agreed to come to campus to assess the bird. Upon his assessment he felt it was necessary to take the hawk to the wildlife clinic for a full evaluation. At the clinic, the hawk was found to be severely underweight, dehydrated, and suffering from an eye injury. We later learned that he has a detached retina and the same eye was beginning to atrophy, rendering him permanently blind in the eye. This was likely due to trauma, perhaps when he was attempting to fly. If it were an adult hawk that was capable of hunting they might have considered release, but since it is a juvenile his chances for survival would be very poor. Therefore, he will not be returned to campus as we had hoped.
The next step will be to try to find an acceptable captive home for him. Tim feels this hawk would make a good education bird for a nature center (or similar place). One raised in captivity would "tame down" well and be a great bird for taking to schools, etc.
Lastly, after discussing it with John Confer in the biology department, a decision was made by the College to remove the nest from the side of Peggy R. Williams Center. Removing the nest won't cause any problems as they can always build a new one if they nest here again next year.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20100624093216379