Life Is Hazardous for Urban Raptors. These Women Offer Hope.

It’s quiet on the back roads of Boyds, Md., where a small compound studded with bird feeders breaks up the monotony of the surrounding cornfields.

Suddenly, a souped-up Toyota Tacoma kicks up a cloud of dust as it pulls into view on a gravel path. It slows to a halt. A figure steps out of the truck: a woman with a glove covering one arm and a sleeve of hawk tattoos covering the other. Reaching into the passenger seat, she pulls out a box, one that seems to be fighting her back.

This one, I knew, would be headed for the I.C.U.

Nancy McDonald is a volunteer rescuer at the Owl Moon Raptor Center, an organization based in Boyds that helps rescue and rehabilitate injured raptors — including hawks, owls, eagles and ospreys — before returning them to the wild.

The word “raptor” derives from the Latin verb “rapiō,” meaning “to seize.” All raptors have four characteristics: a hooked beak, sharp talons, keen eyesight and a carnivorous diet.

In some respects, birds of prey that live among human populations have a fragile life cycle. The threats they face include rodenticides (pesticides that kill rodents), entanglement with fishing lines and wires, car strikes and collisions with windows.