PORTLAND, Ore. – One of KGW Raptor Cam’s hawks was being treated for a serious infection Thursday.

Employees at Northwest Natural in downtown Portland said they saw the sick bird perched on their second story before it then fell to the ground.

KGW-TV

Audubon Society of Portland vets said the bird was likely suffering from an infection in the mouth and throat that many times affects pigeons, and birds that eat pigeons as prey.

“The prognosis is looking pretty poor,” Audubon member and Raptor Cam blogger Bob Sallinger said. “The infection fills most of the mouth extends up thru the roof of the mouth & all the way up into the eye socket.”

Vets were able to examine, feed and stabilize the bird and said it would be treated in the intensive care unit Thursday night.

The bird was unable to eat because of the infection and had lost a quarter of its body weight. 

“Usually they'll just fight it off just like we fight off various kinds of infections but sometimes they don’t,” Sallinger said. “Sometimes they're immune compromised or sometimes the infection just takes hold.”