CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Andy O'Neill and his coworker were working at the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant on Tuesday afternoon when they found an unexpected visitor who got stuck on top of one of their tanks.
"We saw a red tail hawk on one of our towers and he was dirty and stuck. We're not sure how he got there. He maybe got into one of our tunnels and got messed up," O'Neill said.
O'Neill said the bird was in distress and was tangled and covered in gunk.
"We had a water spray bottle and we tried to get some water on him, to clean him up, but it wasn't working. We got a garbage can and put him in there, put a painter's tarp over there, called our boss and our boss called Animal Welfare," he said.
O'Neill said rarely to do they find any birds or animals on the plant. He was just glad he and his partner were in the right place at the right time.
O'Neill has been a pipe coverer for 20 years and has never come across something like this.
"All of a sudden you come up on something like that and you're more freaked out than anything. Then you're like, jeez what do we do? What are you going to do? We couldn't let him sit there and die. You try to do the right thing. I'm glad we were there for him. I'm hoping the little guy will be okay," he said.