When the starving hawk was rescued in Morgan Hill back in May
2009 and brought to the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation
Center, it was at first thought to be a fledgling red-tailed hawk.
But as soon as the young raptor was removed from its carrying box,
it emitted a screaming
”
kee-ahh
”
and so, before even physically examining the bird, we knew that
it was a less common red-shouldered hawk.
When the starving hawk was rescued in Morgan Hill back in May 2009 and brought to the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center, it was at first thought to be a fledgling red-tailed hawk. But as soon as the young raptor was removed from its carrying box, it emitted a screaming “kee-ahh” and so, before even physically examining the bird, we knew that it was a less common red-shouldered hawk. Unlike the much less vocal RTH, which ranges across most of North and Central America, the RSH is a resident only of western California and the eastern United States.
For the first few days at WERC, the hawk was extremely weak and needed to be hand-fed several times a day. After a week of this intensive care, he finally became strong enough to eat the small rodents by himself. The now-feisty bird was transferred to a large flight cage in order to build up his muscles and get him acclimated to the outdoors again.
Under normal conditions, the bird-of-prey would have been released in early autumn, but because this hawk’s tail feathers had all broken off due to its original condition of stress and starvation, he remained at WERC for 16 months – over a cycle of seasons: summer, fall, winter, spring and summer again – until he had molted and grown out new feathers. Good tail feathers are important to the survival of a wild hawk because they serve as a rudder, helping the hawk to soar, swoop and accurately seize prey. It was an unusually long recuperation, but by September of this year, he was finally ready for his flight back to freedom in the wild – with cinnamon-red breast feathers and a perfect, beautiful tail.
The non-migratory hawk has apparently found the woods, fields and ponds near WERC fertile hunting grounds for rodents, amphibians and reptiles (red-shouldered hawks’ diets also include large insects and small birds) and has chosen to remain in the locality where he had spent the last year under WERC’s TLC. He has been observed perching in branches, looking plump and healthy, and can often be heard calling from the trees.
We have been rewarded for all the months of conscientious nurturing. Knowing that this animal has survived and prospered in the wild is the best gift that a wildlife rehabilitator could receive.
