On Saturday, Sept. 5th, WCT Trustee Jen Elsenshon received a call from the Wellfleet police letting her know that some folks called to report an osprey or other raptor stuck in the mud by Uncle Tim’s Bridge. She and her husband Jon got some equipment and walked down to Duck Creek to see if they could spot it. They met a man named Doug who showed them where the bird was. Doug had tried to rescue him, too. At this point, the tide was coming in and taking the bird towards the Head of Duck Creek.
Jen walked as far as she could into the marsh to see if she could grab him while Jon went home to get their canoe. Jeff Kemprecos helped Jon get the canoe onto the car. Jen couldn’t get close enough to the bird before the mud became treacherous, so she headed back to Commercial Street. Doug kept an eye on Cooper (they called him that because he turned out to be a Cooper’s Hawk) while Jon and Jen got the canoe into the creek.
Jen contacted Wild Care, the police, and the Conservation Agent to let them know that they would be accessing the creek through a WCT property, the marsh to the right of the bridge. The tide took them to Cooper quickly, and Jen was able to grab him from the marsh grass that he was hung up on. He must have been exhausted because he didn’t resist Jen’s picking him up at all.
The Elsenshons paddled to the trail by Cannon Hill, and Doug helped pull them to shore. Jen disembarked with Cooper, and Doug gave her a shirt to wrap him in. Jen walked back to Commercial Street to meet Jon when he tied the canoe up at Party Duck’s house. They allowed Jon to keep the canoe there overnight.
Another volunteer from Wild Care, Jan, met Jon and Jen at their house on Main St. and took Cooper to Wild Care. She happened to be in the area to pick beach plums but ditched her endeavor to get Cooper. It had a small injury under his wing but seemed okay otherwise besides being tired and cold. He was doing ok as of Sunday. Jen will get an update this week on how he is recuperating.
This isn’t the first time the Elsenshons have encountered an unusual situation involving a juvenile hawk. I spring, they observed a young, red-tailed hawk visiting their house, contemplating how it might approach a squirrel sharing railing space on their deck. (See photo)
Jen and Jon are quickly becoming our resident hawk whisperers.
Wellfleet Conservation Trust 
You must be logged in to post a comment.