Hawk Crashes Through Apartment Window

HALF MOON BAY, CA — An adult red-tailed hawk was rescued —unscathed — last week by multiple agencies after it flew into a Half Moon Bay second-floor apartment window, shattering the glass and becoming stranded in the home's bedroom, according to the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA.

“Our rescue staff received a call from a man and his fiancée, who were outside with their 3-month- old baby on their way to get married in San Francisco, when they witnessed a hawk fly into a neighbor’s window at their apartment building and crash through the glass,” PHS/SPCA’s communications manager Buffy Martin Tarbox said. “The hawk was stuck inside the bedroom, and there was great fear he would attempt to fly out through the shattered glass and injure himself.”

The apartment's resident, who was out of town, was contacted Friday evening after the incident and gave permission for rescuers to enter the unit, according to Burlingame-based PHS/SPCA, which was assisted at the scene by the Coastside Fire Protection District and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.

“Coastside Fire Engine 40 raised their ladder to the second-floor broken window and safely removed the damaged glass. They then entered the apartment and unlocked the front door, where our staff were waiting to provide the hawk with whatever help proved necessary,” Tarbox said.

“We thoroughly examined the bird and discovered, happily and frankly surprisingly, that he had suffered no injuries. Our rescue officers, specially trained to help all animals including native wildlife, released him back into the wild.

"Bird strikes are a common call we receive, but we have never had a hawk entirely break through a window. It’s a miracle the hawk wasn’t injured," she said.

About 1 billion birds die each year in the United States from striking glass windows, the agency said, adding that window decals, stickers, sun-catchers, mylar strips or masking tape on the outside surface of the windows can help reduce bird strikes.

"Birds are sometimes attracted to whatever they see through the (for them) invisible glass surface, or what they see reflected in it," officials said. "Either way, such products applied to the glass surface act to break up the appealing illusion."

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