Hawk in pretty good shape after run-in with RV along RAGBRAI trail

CEDAR FALLS --- A hawk is expected to make a full recovery after completing a wild RAGBRAI ride of its own. Denise Warns, an animal control officer, helped rescue the hawk from the grill of a Winnebago recreational vehicle Wednesday on the University of Northern Iowa campus. The Winnebago rolled into town from Hampton as part of a caravan of RAGBRAI (Ragbrai is a 5-day bicycle ride across Iowa for the past 35-years http://www.ragbrai.org/) support vehicles. Those driving the RV said they likely hit the hawk somewhere near Dumont."When I got the call I didn't expect the end result to be very good. They told me he was still alive, but I didn't expect him to be in very good shape," she said. "He wasn't a very happy bird. He was very scared and using his talons to grab a hold of me. It's a hawk and they aren't used to being that close to humans.
"After removing the bird from the grill Warns turned it over to Terese Evans, who heads up the Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project. The raptor, which was determined to likely be a female Cooper's hawk, was examined by veterinarian Lori Cherney and said to be in pretty good health."Lori said there was no major injury, other than some bruising and maybe a couple broken feathers," said Linda Nebbe, a Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project rehabilitator. The bird is staying with Nebbe until it can be released back into the wild. Nebbe said it could be anywhere from a two days to two months before the bird is ready to be released."Yesterday she sat quite stunned, but she isn't stunned at all today. She doesn't want me in her flight cage at all," Nebbe said. "She is especially anxious to get going." Nebbe and Warns both said this rescue ranks up there in terms of one to remember. "It's a pretty good story and it feels like it could have a good ending," Nebbe said.