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Injured redtailed hawk rescued from tracks

Taken to Tufts for X-rays, loving care

Mike Brammer of the Animal Rescue League handled the hawk after it was scooped up from the tracks at North Station.Animal Rescue League

A red-tailed hawk was recuperating Friday after it apparently hitched a ride on a commuter rail train on the ­Newburyport Line into North Station.

The Animal Rescue League delivered the hawk, common to Massachusetts, to the wildlife clinic at Tufts University’s ­Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine just before noon Friday. It was to be X-rayed there and kept through the weekend as it recovers.

A Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co. crew saw the hawk clinging to the outside of the ­Newburyport inbound train, which arrived at North Station at 2:15 p.m. Thursday.

The bird tried to fly away, but fell onto the tracks and perched on one of the rails of Track 3, said ­MBCR spokeswoman Rhiannon D’Angelo, prompting officials to contact the Animal Rescue League.

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Brian O’Connor, Tufts’ rescue services manager, was sent to assist the injured hawk. Railroad officials shut down service on the line as O’Connor and his partner worked to catch the hawk in a net.

“We could see the wing was a little bit droopy,” O’Connor said. “It didn’t fly away on ­approach, so it’s clear he couldn’t fly.”

O’Connor is not sure what was preventing the bird from flying. He said he did not observe any obvious breaks or fractures. The bird also had some blood on its beak. No further information was available on the hawk’s condition.

After working with the ­Rescue League for the last 13 years, O’Connor is familiar with these kinds of rescues, though it is not often that a bird rides a train.

“We get a lot of hawks in ­urban situations,” he said. “We’re used to seeing wildlife in and around Boston, with the ­injuries that come with being around trains and cars and tall buildings.”

The red-tailed hawk is common throughout North America and is often known as the chickenhawk.

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Lauren Dezenski can be reached at lauren.dezenski@
globe.com.