{"id":815,"date":"2016-02-28T23:08:25","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T03:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/?p=815"},"modified":"2016-02-29T22:42:04","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T02:42:04","slug":"journey-almost-to-holliday-lake-state-park-feb-28-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/?p=815","title":{"rendered":"Journey (almost) to Holliday Lake State Park – Feb. 28, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday, February 28, 2016 was beautiful and wonderfully warm, so we decided to go on an adventure. \u00a0Wayne suggested a trip to Holliday Lake State Park<\/a>, which would be a new park for us, given that\u00a0we have the goal of visiting all of Virginia’s State Parks. \u00a0I pulled up a Google map, plotted a “roads less traveled” route, printed the directions, and we pulled out of the driveway at 10:38 a.m.<\/p>\n

As we started the drive, I told Wayne\u00a0to keep an eye out for hawks, and said I thought it might be a “hawk day.” \u00a0He said that the day before he’d had a “hawk encounter” when a large one flew over the road in front of him. \u00a0Yes, we love our birds.<\/p>\n

The first part of the trip directions seemed simple enough: down Rt. 29 South, and then onto Rt. 6 East, and then a turn onto another road. \u00a0After a few minutes we realized that our printed directions were actually taking us in a loop! \u00a0Worthless! \u00a0We made another turn, wound up\u00a0on Rockfish River Road (always a pretty drive, so no worries) and returned to Rt. 29 South.<\/p>\n

We stopped in Lovingston to check a “real” map and adjusted our route. \u00a0Where we were and where we needed to be were quite some distance apart, and there was no particularly easy way to get there…<\/p>\n

\"01-Map\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After more than an hour of driving on unfamiliar\u00a0rural roads, we finally saw a sign for Holliday Lake and made the turn onto Rt. 636. \u00a0We’d gone a couple of miles when\u00a0I spotted something in the road up ahead. \u00a0It was a small\/young Redtail Hawk! \u00a0I stopped, and the bird didn’t fly. \u00a0Its head was up and it was looking around, but it was “sitting” on its rump, with its legs extended in front of it and sort of leaning towards its right side. \u00a0Not good, not good at all. It was about 1:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Wayne gave me his sweatshirt jacket, and I approached the hawk from the front and then moved behind it. \u00a0It was alert and moved its head to watch me, but seemed unable to move, otherwise. \u00a0I put the jacket over its head and body, and gently lifted it into my arms while wrapping it in the jacket. \u00a0Now what?<\/p>\n

We put it in the back of the CR-V and considered options. \u00a0We were smack dab in the middle of nowhere with an injured bird wrapped in a jacket. \u00a0If it roused up and\u00a0fought its way out of the jacket, it could be injured further, or it could potentially hurt us.\u00a0 There were no houses along the road. We had no cell phone service, and we still weren’t exactly<\/em> sure we were on the right road to the state park.<\/p>\n

We decided to keep going, however, because we figured they would have phone service at the park and might know of a wildlife hospital in the area. \u00a0We finally saw the park sign\u00a0and started down the long entrance, but there was no one at the payment booth. \u00a0A tornado had come through this area–in fact right through<\/em> this area–a few days before, and while the park was open, it appeared that no one was around.<\/p>\n

Just then a\u00a0female park ranger drove up from the opposite direction. \u00a0After flagging her down, we explained our\u00a0situation. \u00a0She said she’d go back to the office to check for a box (which we’d asked for–to put the bird in) and\u00a0she said she would\u00a0call the Wildlife Center of VA to see what they would recommend.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later another ranger drove up\u00a0with a large cardboard box. \u00a0As we gently lifted the hawk into the box, we unwrapped it slightly to make sure it was still alive. \u00a0It didn’t move, but it did blink. \u00a0So far so good. \u00a0We gently wrapped it back up, and put it in the box. \u00a0We had some duct tape in the car and used that to close the top, leaving a bit of an opening for air.<\/p>\n

The other ranger returned and said she’d called the Wildlife Center. \u00a0They’d checked and there really didn’t appear to be any wildlife facilities that were any closer than the center in Waynesboro, VA, which was 70+ miles away….<\/p>\n

We thanked the two rangers (one of whom, it turned out, is a friend of one of our friends!) and started for Waynesboro. \u00a0As we left the park, I snapped a few quick pictures with my phone to show some of the tornado damage….<\/p>\n

\"02-TornadoDamage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"03-TornadoDamage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"04-TornadoDamage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I’ve said, we’re used to taking “roads less traveled,” but in this case we really needed to get where we were going as quickly as possible. \u00a0The Wildlife Center had said they wanted us to call them as soon as we had a signal for the cell phone, but we were just east of Amherst, VA on Rt. 60 when I was finally able to make the call. \u00a0It was almost 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

The woman at the Center had checked–and confirmed–that they were probably the closest and best facility for an injured raptor, so we kept moving (quickly). \u00a0At 2:50, I heard the hawk make a sound–just a small, weak squeak–so at least I knew it was still alive. \u00a0We pulled into the parking lot at the Wildlife Center of Virginia<\/a> at 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

I asked the woman who met us if there was any way I could get a picture of the hawk, but she said not really, since she\u00a0didn’t want to open the box in the main area and needed to\u00a0take him or her back to the treatment area.<\/p>\n

While I waited for her to return, I filled out a report on the details of the rescue, and then one of the center “super volunteers” came out with “Gus,” a 22 year old female Barred Owl. \u00a0I remembered seeing this bird\u00a0when the Wildlife Center did an educational program at our school. \u00a0Gus is a permanent resident of the Center, and serves as one of their education animals. \u00a0You can read her story here<\/a>. \u00a0I DID take her picture. \u00a0So beautiful!<\/p>\n

\"05-Gus-Owl\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"06-Gus-Owl\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When the woman returned, she said that the hawk seemed to have “good energy,” but she cautioned\u00a0that\u00a0they wouldn’t know\u00a0the extent of its injuries until it had been examined by a doctor. \u00a0She said I could call on Monday to check on it, and I made a donation towards its care before we left.<\/p>\n

We realized we hadn’t eaten anything, so we went to a Chinese restaurant in Waynesboro. \u00a0We were seated in a booth, and this, “coincidentally,” was directly to my right:<\/p>\n

\"07-Eagle-Restaurant\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After we finished our meal, we walked out to the parking lot. \u00a0There were several buzzards in the sky, and then I spotted a bird–wait, four birds–with light bellies flying in our direction. \u00a0More hawks?! \u00a0No, they were …. seagulls! \u00a0Four seagulls in Waynesboro, VA, flying west…. That’s different…. \u00a0And they were quickly followed by two honking Canada Geese (which have special significance to me). \u00a0Pretty cool. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

But there’s even a bit more to the story… This evening Wayne called a musician friend to see how his show had gone the night before, and then he told him about our hawk experience. \u00a0The friend said that–“coincidentally”–the day before he’d found an old Canadian coin on the ground. \u00a0This morning when he really looked at it, he was said he was impressed with the image of a hawk<\/em> on the reverse side. \u00a0Interesting!<\/p>\n

Wayne then called one of his sons and started the conversation by asking if he’d had any hawk encounters in the last day or two. \u00a0His son said that indeed he had–this morning while sitting on his porch, he saw a huge hawk directly across from his house. \u00a0First time he’d ever seen a hawk there–in the city!<\/p>\n

I hope that these “coincidental” hawk stories are providing\u00a0of a circle of\u00a0healing energy for the one\u00a0that we found. \u00a0Please keep Redtail Hawk #16-0082 in your prayers!<\/p>\n

And here’s the route we took. Red markers for the trip to the park; green for our trip back to the Wildlife Center:<\/p>\n

\"00-TripMap2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s a link to an interactive map:\u00a0https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/edit?mid=zGp1A4BFNE3g.kBbV84Bd0U7I&usp=sharing<\/a><\/p>\n

UPDATE: Monday, February 29, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

I called the Wildlife Center to check on the hawk, and learned that it had been humanely euthanized due to the extent of its injuries. \u00a0I also learned that it was an emaciated adult Red-Shouldered Hawk instead of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.<\/p>\n

Rather than being struck by a car, they said it had possibly\u00a0been hurt by falling–from the sky or from a tree branch–after being SHOT. \u00a0They removed 18 BBs from its wing, head and body. \u00a0They estimated that it had been shot 5-10 days ago and had probably been on the ground since then (which led to its emaciated condition).<\/p>\n

One of the BBs broke the radius in its right wing and the ulna was probably broken when it fell. \u00a0Its right leg was also broken, it had multiple bruises, as well as head and eye trauma. \u00a0Due to the seriousness of its injuries–most likely all attributed to being shot–the Wildlife Center has reported this to the game warden in the area.<\/p>\n

I have no idea how it wound up in our path, given\u00a0how severely it was injured. \u00a0And while I am so very sorry that this beautiful bird could not be saved, I am still thankful that Wayne and I were able to get it to a wildlife facility where it could be evaluated and then released from its suffering. :'(<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday, February 28, 2016 was beautiful and wonderfully warm, so we decided to go on an adventure. \u00a0Wayne suggested a trip to Holliday Lake State Park, which would be a new park for us, given that\u00a0we have the goal of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[96,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-animals-wildlife"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=815"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":832,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions\/832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}