The report and photos were sent by community naturalist Kersti Muul:
At 1:26 PM, I received a call from concerned West Seattleite ‘Lee The Gardener’ regarding a ‘hawk’ that didn’t look well. It was grounded on the parking strip next to Lowman Beach.
Luckily I was able to respond quickly; was on scene within 10 minutes. Quite a little crowd had gathered around this beautiful bird. Initially it was standing with one leg up, which could be thermoregulating, or it could be an injury. I assessed the situation and captured the bird quickly.
It was very alert, but not as reactive as it should be, and not flighted. It later put weight on the leg that was previously up.
My first thoughts were, that it was one of our local Merlin pair, however after looking at the size and markings (malar stripes, etc.) I determined it to be a juvenile Peregrine Falcon. The fastest animal and bird on our planet! Quite a humbling feeling to be of assistance to such a rockstar bird.
I transported the falcon to PAWS and hope it recovers quickly.
Photos by me and Trileigh Tucker, who happened to be at Lowman looking at other birds!
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