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VIDEO: Red-Tailed Hawk Recovering After World Trade Center Rescue

By Ben Fractenberg | November 30, 2015 7:08pm | Updated on December 1, 2015 2:21pm

The hawk is on the mend. 

Firefighters rescued an injured red-tailed hawk near the World Trade Center Monday afternoon, according to the FDNY. The male bird, which is less than one year old, crashed to ground in front of a firehouse on Liberty Street near Greenwich Street at about 2 p.m. 

A lieutenant on duty called the department's wildlife rehabilitator, Bobby Horvath. 

Horvath was about an hour away from the station and advised them to try and approach the bird from behind and throw a blanket or jacket over him. 

"Five minutes later they called me up and said they had him," Horvath told DNAinfo on Tuesday. 

The rehabilitator then traveled to Engine Co. 10 to take care of the hawk. 

Luckily the bird had not suffered any broken bones, but was in a "weakened state" and covered in parasites, Horvath said. 

"He was kind of slumped over when I saw him," he said. "His head was drooping, one eye was closed."

Horvath thinks the hawk may have already been sick and then slammed into a skyscraper window after being chased by smaller birds.

The animal is now convalescing at his Long Island home. 

"He ate great last night, and is on pain medication on antibiotics," he said. "He’s a totally different bird today. He’s upright, he has a fierce look in his eye."

"To get to release them and give them a second chance, that’s the reward," Horvath said.