A young red tail was stuck in an air shaft between apartment buildings in NYC. The story of the rescue can be found at the
Palemale Irregulars blog
But I enjoyed this quote from the rehabber Bobby Horvath...
"I'm sure he didn't have many more days left in him with no food or water and would have eventually ended up grounded and possibly too late to save.
I'm pretty sure its a boy and as Cathy [Bobby' wife and fellow rehabilitator. D.B.] will tell you that's the sex we seem to get in the most this time of year. Of the 8 redtails we've gotten in the past month, 6 were juvenile males.
She strongly believes that all "silly" males ,animal and human alike, get into trouble without their mom, and the young females do much better on their own early on. She may have a point. I cannot win this argument and I cannot vouch for other rehabbers numbers either. In any event we'll do our best and hopefully this one can go back but it probably won't be released until it molts because of the damaged primaries, due to confined space."
Ei