Raptor Revenge

A couple of weekends ago, I was driving home and saw something out of the corner of my eye falling from a telephone line. My first thought was 'owl' so I turned around, parked and went to make sure it was OK. It wasn't. Turns out it was a beautiful Red Tailed Hawk and though I tried to revive it, it was DOA.  I know it's illegal to take possession of a raptor, but I just couldn't leave it there so I put it in the car headed off to the police station. I thought maybe they could get it to the DNR, the Ho-chunk nation or the UW or something, I don't know. I just couldn't leave such a beautiful thing there in the road. 

As I was driving, I turned the heat on in my car and apparently the vent was set to blow under the dash because all of a sudden, the hawk's feathers ruffled and I did a fancy bit of driving for a few moments thinking that this huge thing with sharp talons had just come back to life in my car! Don't get me wrong, I would have been ecstatic, terrified, possible on the sidewalk and probably bleeding from a lot of different places, but ecstatic. But it was not to be. 

I took it to the police and by then I was crying. I'm sure the two officers, whose combined age couldn't have been more than 25, questioned their career choices when this sobbing woman came stumbling towards them, babbling about 'knowing it was illegal'....(actually it was a dead hawk not an ill eagle-see what I did there?) and thrusting the heap of feathers at them. But they took it and told me that it was OK for me to bring it to them. They got some information about where it was found etc. and send me on my way. I then contacted the power company because I don't know if it got zapped on the wires or flew into them and broke it's neck, but wanted them to check so it didn't kill any more birds! 

Here's where things get a little weird. I know, like that wasn't weird enough, but you guys know how my life goes by now! I found the hawk on Sunday. On Monday, I went out to get in my car at work and this Cooper's Hawk was sitting in the bushes right in front of my parking place. It just sat there looking at me the entire time I was getting ready to go. I left the lot before he did.

On Tuesday, I was going to the barn after work and a Red Tail Hawk flew over the hood of my car the entire length of Woods Road-about 1-2 miles. He was about 10 feet above the hood and he just stayed there the entire way, leading me across that road.

On Wednesday night, I walked Moose before bed and there was an owl in the pine in  back parking lot. He/she and I hooted at each other, back and forth, for over 10 minutes before I got so cold I had to go in. 

I'm wondering if the raptor community knows I took one of their own and is keeping a close eye on me-waiting for the perfect time to take revenge? If you find me in a heap, all scratched up with my baby blues missing, you'll know what happened!