East Village Hawk Returns To Wild After Injury

EAST VILLAGE, NY — A red tailed hawk that has called the East Village home for years was returned home on Monday after months in an animal rehabilitation center.

Dora, half of a hawk couple that lives in Tompkins Square Park, was found badly injured in November, and has spent months recovering at Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation, or WINORR, a Long Island nonprofit that supports sick wildlife.

The wildlife experts caring for Dora initially weren't sure she would be able to return to her East Village nest.

"Initially were didnt have much hope for release as she was barely flying at all," Cathy St. Pierre, the co-founder of WINORR, wrote in a Facebook post.

St. Pierre wrote that Dora later showed "great improvement" in their care, after which they decided to return her to the park. Dora was recuperating from her injured wing for about three months, and will likely have a permanent wing droop, St. Pierre said.

You can see a video of Dora's return here:

Since 2013, Dora and her partner Christo have lived in and around Tompkins Square Park, where the pair have hatched nearly a dozen young chicks. Local bird watcher Laura Goggin said on her blog that shortly after Dora was transported out of the East Village, a new female hawk appeared to take her place. Hawk watchers in the park have dubbed this new hawk "Nora" (as in, Not Dora).

It's unclear how the hawks will pair off now that Dora has returned home. Red tailed hawks usually mate for life, but it's possible that Christo found a new mate in Nora after Dora left the East Village.

St. Pierre said in her post that because Nora was not yet sitting on eggs, they decided to try and return Dora home.

"If the other female was sitting on eggs already we probably would not have tried this but we have heard their bond is not as strong as hers is," St. Pierre wrote.

Want to learn more about NYC's hawk population? You can read previous hawk coverage here:

• New Generation Of Red Tailed Hawks Fills City After Successful Breeding Season
• Rescued Hawk Released In Tompkins Square Park

Image credit: Courtesy of WINORR