Miss Piggy's Rescue

Thought a blog would help everyone catch up with today's (June 6) events.

In a nutshell, one of the female nestlings - the consensus is that it was Miss Piggy - left the nest sometime last night and couldn't get herself to a safe place. She was dramatically rescued this afternoon by the amazing Rick Schubert from Schuylkill Center’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic.

She was seen down on Winter Street early this morning, and hopped/climbed her way into a tree. Then she glided down onto some railings right outside the Fels Planetarium main entrance. Passersby were only about four feet from her. She was becoming stressed by all the attention, and flew over to a ground floor window ledge. Her instinct was to try to get up higher and she tried to climb up the glass - not a good idea.

At this point, Gene Mancini from the Franklin Institute realized she was in trouble and wisely called the Wildlife Center. While waiting for Rich Schubert to arrive, Miss Piggy flew low to the ground across Winter Street and landed clumsily on the plinth of a statue alongside the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, near the overpass for the Vine Street Expressway - a really dangerous place for a young hawk with poor flying ability

She was fairly content there but kept looking over to the Franklin, getting into a launch position then pulling back. Throughout this time, the parent hawks were flying in the vicinity, and were perching on nearby buildings and lamp posts.

Rick had a 30 foot net but was hesitant to try to net her because of the awkward spot on which she was perched, and because if he scared her and didn't successfully catch her, she could panic and fly right into the nearby heavy traffic.

So we were all standing at a distance - Kay firing away with her trusty camera - when Miss Piggy suddenly took off toward the Franklin. She tried to land back on the railings, but couldn't get high enough and crashed into them, trapping her head, a wing and a leg in the railings.

Rick then SPRINTED right across Winter Street, oblivious to the traffic, and launched himself at her - almost like a football tackle - and grabbed her before she could escape. He extricated her carefully and then cradled her against his body. She was completely calm, no flapping or struggling whatsover. He examined her and noted that her flight feathers had not sufficiently developed to fly strongly, so she never would would have made it back to the nest on her own.

Rick took her back to the Center where she will live with a surrogate hawk for about three weeks. He will ensure that she can catch her own live food, then will release her in a remote area where she will not have to fight for territory.

Kay took amazing pictures of the rescue which she will post later today.

It was great to meet so many hawkaholics today! I will never forget our spontaneous burst of applause for Rick as he secured the bird carrier with our girl inside. Though it's sad she is no longer with her sibs, she had to be rescued because with the huge bike race tomorrow and attending crowds, she would have been in danger. Miss Piggy is now in the best possible hands.

While all this was going on, we hardly paid attention to the nest, but Portico was flying in and out really strongly. As I drove up the Parkway and was stopped at a light three or four blocks from the Franklin, I looked up and saw three hawks lazily circling - Mom, Dad and maybe Portico? They looked great!

When I got home, there was a call from the Philadelphia Inquirer who had picked up some of the Twitters. They had already interviewed Rick and Kay, so look out for an article tomorrow about Miss Piggy's Excellent Adventure!