Gabby Bautista releases a falcon into the wild Thursday in Sheridan. The falcon flew into nearby woods and raised a ruckus among other birds. P-J photos by M.J. Stafford

SHERIDAN — A group that nurses injured birds and releases them into the wild sent out a red-tail hawk and a falcon this week, inviting the OBSERVER along to raise awareness of their efforts.

Tim O’Day, director of the Campbell Environmental Center, leads the group but is retiring soon. He sought to spotlight the work of what he called the next generation of bird rescuers.

O’Day listed the Bautista and Morse families, John and Beverly Ruska, and Domingo Cortes as local emergency bird rescuers. He called them “ornithological foot soldiers … in a poorly covered region of New York state.” They handle an area stretching from the Pennsylvania border to Wellsville.

Ike Bobseine and Russ Calanni “need a little kudos,” O’Day said. They are state Department of Environmental Conservation officers responsible for saving injured birds and transporting them to get emergency care. They have “travelled hours to get birds the appropriate emergency care during late hours and weekends.”

Thursday’s bird releases happened at a property fronting on Route 20, about a quarter-mile back from the road. There were some differences in the duo of releases, although both were done by young Gabby Batista with some assistance by O’Day.

A red-tailed hawk sits in a cage Thursday in Sheridan, seconds away from being released into the wild.

The falcon only needed a bit of gentle coaxing from Bautista before it soared out of its cage and into the nearby woods. The birds already there started squawking about the intruder.

Meanwhile, the hawk really didn’t want to leave its cage. It wouldn’t fly out the open cage door for about a minute, very slowly moving toward it — helped with some prodding by O’Day. When the hawk finally left, it headed not for the woods, but for grapevines in the other direction.

According to O’Day, both birds were rescued by the DEC. The falcon was rescued as a baby that could not return to its nest after it was disturbed by contractors.

The hawk was one of two red-tails that received serious injuries from vehicles. O’Day said the other red-tail hawk will be released in Cattaraugus County — a good distance from the one released Thursday, which it doesn’t get along with.

A falcon sits in a cage Thursday in Sheridan, just before getting released into the wild.