Rediscovering home: A raptor on the mend

A bridge needing a facelift, a young man and an historic bar no more, and a couple more bird stories. 

Our place is becoming a raptor refuge. Not long after the osprey nest on the power pole next to our house was taken down, I was returning home and noticed what seemed to be a hawk hiding behind a small firewood stack in front of the house. I dropped the bike and went to look. A small hawk hopped from the wood pile and flew a short distance before landing on my bike. Though it could fly some, it was obviously injured. 

I took a photo and sent a text to local animal champion, Bessie Spangler, asking if she knew of a raptor rescue. She did, and sent the address of the website for the Wild Skies Raptor Center. 

 As it was 10 p.m., the center was not able to send a person out that night.  The hawk managed to fly over the Interstate 90 fence in front of our house. We hoped it would not try to cross before a rescuer from Missoula could arrive the next morning. Hopping the fence, I found the bird hunkered down in a  bush.  

Rob arrived and flushed the hawk back toward the house and away from the highway. It was able to fly some, and Rob chased it into the horse pasture, where he and bird were in a standoff.  

The bird then flew onto our roof where Rob netted it.   

About ten days later, Rob returned with the hawk. They heal “very rapidly,” he said. The young lady from last year’s hatch had an injury to the approximate equivalent of our collar bone, as well as to her head. She is a Sharp-shinned Hawk  Her shins are actually sharp. She hunts small birds. The Rescue likes to return injured birds to where they were found and likely knew the country. 

The slo-mo video he took of her zooming out of the carrier was awe-inspiring. We could not hear it live, but in his video you can hear her exclaim as she lit in the big fir tree in front of the main house. My grandson said the hawk shrieked “I’m free!” 

A couple days ago, an osprey and Bald Eagle were engaged in an aerial dog fight over the house. Eagles will go after the osprey chicks. As the osprey was sweeping down for an attack, the eagle turned upside down and pointed its talons toward off the osprey. They then flew out of sight. 

The Veterans’ Memorial Bridge in Superior badly needs painting.

The roadway is a patchwork of asphalt. Flowers pampered by volunteers once adorned the bridge. Time eventually depleted the ranks of the volunteers and no one filled their shoes.  

Simply put, the current condition of the bridge does not honor veterans. Maybe a group of concerned citizens ought to get together to see what can be done. 

The Department spokesperson said she would look into the matter after I sent an admittedly late in the week email on Friday to see if any money might be available for a facelift. I will follow up with her response in a future column. 

Last week, the old Montana Bar on the north side of Superior was torn down for the construction of the new food bank. The bar was the center of stories for many locals, and I am no exception. Warning (smiley face): We were young.  

My senior class was the first to fall under the reduced drinking age of 18 years. (It has since been returned to 21). When my friend, Brian Crabb, and I turned 18, we decided to step inside the Montana Bar. The bar was empty except for two elderly gentlemen contemplating their drinks.  They slowly turned to look in our direction. Brian and I quickly decided to find a party up Flat Creek where our friends and, of course, the girls would be. 

Some friends got together when a couple of us returned from college. We were talking outside the Montana, when I felt my leg getting wet. I looked down to see a friend (who shall remain nameless) laughing while relieving himself on my pant leg. Fortunately, the damage was slight. 

We went into the Bar, and, after a while, I nonchalantly borrowed the friend’s baseball cap and excused myself to go to the bathroom. The cap owner burst into the bathroom as I was filling his hat. Sorry, too late. 

    Wild Skies Rescue volunteer, Rob, is in a standoff with a Sharp-shinned Hawk he was trying to catch in a net