FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) -
"Oh my gosh, everybody's so excited," Gloria Jenkins, a Fiscal Services Technician with Fresno Unified, said.
In her 12 years with the district, this was a first for Jenkins.
"It's just amazing to see this, Red-Tailed Hawks in the city of Fresno," she said.
It wasn't just in the city, but outside the kitchen window of her office building.
"When I went to the window to look at him, he had cobwebs all over his head. He just had no fear. He came right to me," Jenkins said.
His nest was at the top of a communications tower at the Fresno Unified building downtown, about 200 feet up.
"He just looked so helpless. He needed some help," Jenkins said.
She called the folks at the Critter Creek Wildlife Station.
They took the bird, had him checked out and gave him a clean bill of health.
Then they constructed a makeshift nest out of a laundry basket and some tree limbs, hoping to lure the bird's parents back.
"We're going to put our makeshift nest in a spot that's very close. And the parents should recognize that it's there," Kathy Bolen, with Critter Creek, said. "Then we put the baby back in the nest. Then everybody steps away."
Then they played the sounds of a baby bird begging from a nearby stereo.
"It's been proven, if you set up the right circumstances, the parents will return and take care of them until they're ready to fly on their own," Bolen said.
And that's just what happened.
After a couple hours, the parents called out to their baby and he called back.
All three flew away.
Once the baby bird gets re-acquainted with his parents, they'll begin teaching him to hunt.
If you think it's rare to see something like this in the middle of the city, the people at Critter Creek say, not at all.
They say wildlife is all over Fresno, including possums, raccoons, owls and obviously hawks.
If you want to see for yourself, they say, go outside at night and look what's going down your street.
