Yesterday evening I was walking my property to find out where the tree was that I'd heard falling down the night before during the incessant rain.
As I was walking along, I heard something behind me that sounded just like...well...sleighbells. I turned around, and I realized that it was coming from about thirty feet up. There was a hawk flying overhead, and with every beat of his wings, he made a "jingling" sound. It was low-pitched, and it sounded just like the sleighbells that my mother always hung on out front door during Christmas time. It looked as if the hawk had something in his claws, too.
He landed on a snag about 50 feet from me, and he was having an awkward time trying to perch. As I approached, he flew off again, still making his "jingle, jingle, jingle" sounds. Later in my walk, I was back near the first spot I'd heard him (I'd come full circle), and I heard him again.
I have a nesting pair of (Red-Shouldered, I think) hawks in that vague direction, and I've seen as many as 4 of them at once in the sky above my place. But the bells are a new thing.
He didn't look like he was trailing jesses, so I don't think he's an escaped falconer's bird, and I can't think off-hand of any reason why he'd have bells on, except that maybe he's gotten his feet tangled in something. Do hawks collect things the way corbies do?
I'd hate to lose one of my hawks because he got tangled in some heavy trash (and if it's jingling, it's metal). Does anyone know of anything I can do? Is there a "raptor rescue" group that can try and trap him to get whatever it is off his feet? I know there's nothing I can personally do for him, because I know nothing about birds of prey, so if I did try anything, I'd end up either injuring him or getting injured by him. Also there's probably some sort of federal zero-tolerance law about Looking Askance At Endangered Species, With Intent to Do Something Unspecified But Undoubtedly Bad.
Anyone have any ideas how I might proceed?
Thanks,
-BP
