Feb. 3—He wasn’t expecting to get hit by a truck when he went to grab a bite to eat on a snowy day in early January.
But that’s what happened to a rough-legged hawk released this week by Blue Mountain Wildlife of Pendelton, Oregon.
While eating roadkill along Highway 395 near Eltopia, the hawk was caught in the grille of a southbound semi and carried nearly 30 miles to Lineage Logistics in Richland. The driver believed the bird of prey was trapped there for an hour before he saw it.
Michelle Rosenkranz, a volunteer with Blue Mountain Wildlife, says the bird was less than pleased to be taken on the unexpected journey.
“He was pretty miffed,” she said.
The truck driver was able to carefully remove the bird from the grille and place him safely in a holding cage until a Blue Mountain volunteer could pick him up and take him for another ride to Pendleton for care.
An examination showed he suffered no broken bones.
The nonprofit rehabilitates animals with the goal of releasing them back into the wild. While they have helped thousands of animals, their main focus is raptors.
A network of volunteers in Washington and Oregon help transport birds down to the Oregon headquarters, coordinating drop-off and pick-up points to help with the long drives.
Rosenkranz recently joined the team and was put in charge of releasing the rough-legged hawk because of his proximity to the Tri-Cities.
On Tuesday, she drove down to Umatilla and back up to Tri-Cities to release the bird just north of Pasco.
“We try to release them as close to the place they were picked up as possible,” she said.
After scouting out suitable locations with nearby trees a good distance from the main road for the bird to perch on, Rosenkranz picked the parking lot of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Eltopia in Franklin County.
Rosenkranz placed the cardboard pet carrier on some rocks outside the chapel and carefully opened the top.
In a blur, the hawk hopped out and took off, soaring past the church before disappearing altogether among the brown stalks of a neighboring field.
