BANGOR – A young hawk likely hunting for food near downtown Wednesday instead ended up getting a trip to an animal hospital after crashing into the Bangor Daily News building.

Sometime around 3:15 p.m., a juvenile Cooper’s hawk slammed into a window in the BDN’s photography department. The bird fell facedown onto a gravel roof on a lower part of the building and was motionless for several minutes.

By the time two biologists from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Bangor office arrived about 20 minutes later, the hawk was standing upright but still obviously dazed from hitting the thick window pane.

Brad Allen, who heads DIF&W’s bird group, said he was originally concerned the bird might have been one of the endangered peregrine falcons recently spotted hunting pigeons in a downtown square. But after examining the bird, which was carefully netted by biologist Kelsey Sullivan, Allen determined it was a young Cooper’s hawk.

Allen said the bird likely had a serious concussion judging by blood around one eye and its dazed demeanor. The hawk, nicknamed “Coop” by some at the BDN, was taken to Avian Haven bird rehabilitation center in Freedom.

Diane Winn and Marc Payne, Avian Haven’s co-founders and managers, said head and shoulder damage are the most common injuries from window strikes. The hawk, which they said was a young female, was given pain medications and put on “cage rest.” Center staff will monitor the bird’s condition.

Jerry Smith, a lifelong bird watcher and past president of the local chapter of Maine Audubon, said Cooper’s hawks used to be relatively rare in the Bangor area. But the hawks have begun moving northward in recent decades.

Smith said several adult Cooper’s hawks frequently perch on the Bangor Auditorium just across Buck Street from the Bangor Daily News. He had not seen any juvenile Cooper’s hawks in the area, however.

Like peregrine falcons, Cooper’s hawks are bird eaters. The growing popularity of backyard bird feeders likely explains why more of the hawks find Bangor a good place to stick out the winter, he said.

“If you want to find a Cooper in the winter, you go near a bird feeder,” Smith said.