As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday, 1 February 2019

Hawk duo has sent more than a dozen hotel guests to the hospital


January 15, 2019 | 10:18am
 It’s a real-life version of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”
An attacking pair of hawks hiding out in the parking lot of a Florida hotel have sent more than a dozen people to the hospital, according to a report.
One of the birds “just swooped down and attacked my head,” Cyndi Mara told News 13 in describing the terrifying incident that took place last week.
“[It] jarred me, and I looked up and saw a bird flying away,” Mara said. “I went inside, touched my head, washed my hands, and they were bloody.”
The hawk attack happened in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn in Brevard County where several similar attacks have occurred, according to the news outlet.
The culprits are a breeding pair of hawks that have built a nest in a nearby tree, News 13 reported.
A wildlife trapper said the hawks have already attacked 14 people, who were all hospitalized, including one man who needed 17 stitches.
“The Holiday Inn here, safety of their guests is their No. 1 priority,” James Dean of the animal removal service On Point Wildlife Removal said, according to the news outlet. “And that’s the reason we got on it quickly like we did.”
The trapper has destroyed the hawks’ nest, but on Monday afternoon at least one of the birds was spotted flying around nearby, the report said.
According to News 13, the red-tailed hawks are protected under federal law, but the trapper said he has permission from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to capture and release the birds into a wildlife conservation area.


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