Cooper's Hawk patient 22-459 arrived at ORC back in June with severe facial swelling around his right eye caused by infraorbital sinusitis and conjunctivitis (last two photos). Due to the close anatomical proximity of birds’ sinus cavities to their eyes, sinus infections in birds can easily lead to infections around the eyes and vice versa. Infections in birds also don’t typically drain as well as mammals because they lack an enzyme which makes their pus more solid rather than fluid, so there was concern that this young hawk would require surgery. Luckily, radiographs showed no presence of infection in the bones of the skull and this young hawk responded extremely well to a combination of both oral and ophthalmic antibiotics. The swelling and infection completely resolved after a month of treatment and patient 22-459 was eventually released after spending time gaining strength and skills for survival with our other Cooper’s Hawk orphans from this nesting Season. Cooper's Hawks are medium-sized hawks found throughout North America from southern Canada to Mexico. They are actually a very difficult species to rehabilitate successfully as they are extremely energetic birds, prone to stress and self-injury. In the wild they are amazingly agile in flight and tend to hunt small birds in wooded areas. They unfortunately have had a poor reputation due to their diet preferences with some ornithological writings from the 1920s and 30s describing them as "noxious," an "avian outlaw" and "a relentless tyrant and murderer of small birds." If you see a hawk stalking your backyard bird feeder it is most likely a Cooper's Hawk, simply doing what they do best to survive! #CoopersHawk #Hawk #Raptor #BirdOfPrey #WildlifeRehabilitation #AvianMedicine #Ojai