Rare Hawk Rescued From Portland Park During Storm

A great black hawk that made itself at home in Portland’s Deering Oaks Park was rescued during Sunday’s storm after suffering from frostbite. Two volunteers came across the bird on Sunday morning, and the raptor was on the ground and unable to stand under its own power, according to Avian Haven, a wild bird rehabilitation center in Freedom. [Rare hawk’s survival in Maine ‘shocking,’ bird expert says] The two handed off the injured hawk in Topsham to Avian Haven volunteers, who brought the bird the rest of way to the rehabilitation center, Avian Haven said in a Facebook post. “The hawk seemed nearly dead when it left Portland, but was provided with plenty of heat for the trip and had its eyes open when checked at the Topsham hand-off,” Avian Haven wrote in the post. Native to Central and South America, the great black hawk is the first of its kind to be spotted in the United States, Doug Hitchcox, an Audubon staff naturalist, told the BDN in November.