FLEMING ISLAND – Clay County Fire Rescue got a call from a resident in Eagle Harbor with a request they said, "honestly we've never had before."

Recently, a storm blew a baby hawk out of its nest in their yard, which caused some injuries. So, the resident called a local wildlife rehab organization to nurse the baby hawk back to health.

The baby bird was ready to be returned to the wild, but the resident couldn’t figure out how to get it back into the tall tree. 

"In a last-ditch effort, he called us. We checked to see if it would be safe for our crews to help, got a quick education from the organization on handling the bird safely and what to do, and used Ladder 20 to get our crew high enough to return the baby bird safely.

"In the meantime, we had other crews step up to handle any calls that might come in. Not only could we help this baby hawk get back into the wild safely, but we also used this as a basic ladder training refresher for our crew," a spokesperson from CCFR said. 

Contrary to popular misconception, you absolutely can and should return a fallen bird to its nest. Birds will not reject a baby that’s been handled by humans. If the baby bird is injured or weak, or the nest is destroyed, you should contact a wildlife rehabilitator for help.

"We didn’t have ‘helping a baby hawk get back to the wild safely’ on our bingo card for this week, but we were so proud to be able to help! Thank you to our resident and his family for saving this baby hawk," CCFR said.