A Hawk Discovers You Can Go Home Again

Posted on July 31, 2016August 1, 2016 by Monte Merrick

In mid-June, a very ordinary thing happened. Someone called our clinic to ask for help with a bird who’d fallen from a high nest. Typically, we’d like to get birds who fall from their nest back to their families right away. But this case had some complications. First, the bird was in Petrolia, which is part of the area we serve, but is a couple of hours away and second, the nest location wasn’t known.

[Thank YOU!! – We made it to $5000 by the end of July! And a few hundred dollars more!! your support makes our work possible! Our August goal of $7000 will allow us to buy fish to feed our growing seabird caseload, as well as continue providing care for all of this season’s orphaned wild babies – raccoons! swallows! hawks! jays! and more! Please contribute what you can! Every donation helps! Click here to donate now!]

The bird happened to be a Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), an easily recognized member of our community. These magnificent small hawks can be seen along almost any rural road, working over almost any open field, perched in nearby trees, hunting for primarily rodents along the edges of almost everything. Each year we typically raise at least one of these hawks, and sometimes more. This hawk was on the larger side so we imagined that she was female.

Without knowing the location of the nest, there was little chance for us to return this wayward nestling to her family. Even raising her until fledging wasn’t going to be enough, because these birds depend on their parents after they’ve left the nest for food until they are able to hunt. So we’d have to keep this bird in care until she was able to recognize and eat real prey. Fortunately, our patient was an older nestling, close to being ready for flight.

Immediately, the hawklet began to devour all the food we offered, thawed mice, thawed rats, basically any small animal we fed. And we watched as real world feathers grew in and the bird changed into a sleek, beautiful juvenile.

In the aviary with another young raptor, the Red-shouldered hawk (on the left) is alert and wary.

After 6 weeks, and after she demonstrated her ability to hunt, we returned the hawk to Petrolia and released her. Of course we hoped that she would find family members and remember enough of the area that she’d learned from the view from the nest, but in any case we were confident that this young raptor would be able to fend for herself.
Capturing the hawk from the aviary for her release exam. Every examination puts a great deal of stress on a patient. We reduce this handling as much as possible.
Keeping raptor feet healthy in an environment where they spend more than an ordinary amount of time perched in one location is important. After 6 weeks in captivity this hawk’s feet are in perfect condition.

Her eyes, mouth, hearing – every aspect of this hawk screamed “Release me!” So we did.

It’s a long and stunningly beautiful drive to Petrolia, the human capital of the Lost Coast.

Without knowledge of the nest location, a release site was chosen based on proximity to Petrolia and suitability of habitat – the presence of trees, open land, and the Mattole River made this a good site.

Release!

Our patient in flight, over the home she was meant to have.

Here is a very short video that really shows the explosive speed of this young hawk…

The story doesn’t stop here. Within a few minutes from release, the young former patient postioned herself on the highest tree in the area and began calling. Within a few more minutes, an adult Red-shouldered Hawk arrived on the scene.
Perched and calling, soon two other Red-shouldered Hawks, at least one of them an adult, arrived. Was the adult a parent to this youngster? Well, we can’t say for sure. We believe so. One thing we know with certainty: they left the area together. A re-united family is the likely explanation.

The last shot gotten as the young bird followed the adults into the trees beyond view.

This hawk’s return to freedom is one of the important outcomes of your support for our work. More than rehabilitation is needed, of course. These hawks still must live in a world where casual violence, habitat destruction, rodenticides, lead and myriad other non-natural challenges make life in the wild more precarious than it should be. Your love for the wild and respect for Mother Earth also goes a long way toward preserving the world and celebrating life.

Want to be part of our life-saving work? Please donate today. Your contribution goes directly to the care of injured and orphaned wild animals on the North Coast and beyond. Thank you!!!

all photos: Laura Corsiglia/ Bird Ally X

Re-united! Fledgling Hummingbird Back Home Again!

Posted on July 17, 2016 by Monte Merrick

Late Friday morning, a family walking the Hammond Trail in McKinleyville found a young Allen’s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) on the ground in the middle of the path. Unsure what to do, they picked the tiny bird up and called our clinic.

After asking a few questions to make sure that the bird needed help, our staff asked them to bring the bird to us.

Young hummingbirds, unlike many species of songbird, typically leave their nest able to fly. So a fledgling (a young bird just learning to fly) on the ground may be in trouble.

Upon examination, the 3 gram youngster had no apparent injuries and seemed in good health. That afternoon we attempted to return the wayward fledgling to his or her family, but an afternoon wind had kicked up and it became difficult to hear any adult hummingbird activity. This little one would need parents to survive, so the bird was brought back to our clinic for the night.

We help many orphaned young birds make it to independence, healthy and ready for the wild, raising them from hatchling to juvenile, but it is obviously true that all wild animals do better with their own parents, in a community of their kind. Aviaries are good in a pinch, but in no way do they replace the real world! So whenever possible, we re-unite uninjured, healthy orphans with their families, or at least foster them to a wild family who will do a good job as surrogate parents – hawks, geese, corvids, deer will all take on raising an orphan of their own kind.

So the next day, with calmer conditions, our crack re-uniter/photographer (and BAX co-founder, Laura Corsiglia) was available to make an attempt. Sparing the suspense, it was a wildly successful re-unite. Check out the photos:

In care, the fledgling Allen’s Hummingbird is a stranger in a strange land.

Rehabilitation staff prepares the Hummingbird for transport.

Walking the Hammond Trail, BAX co-founder, Laura Corsiglia, saw this patch of blooms, noting its perfection as hummingbird habitat… but they pressed on in search of family.

After searching along the section of trail where the young bird was found, they returned to this patch when they heard adult Allen’s Hummingbirds nearby.

BAX/HWCC volunteer prepares to place the tiny bird on perch among the flowers.

Even before the bird could be placed, a female Allen’s Hummingbird arrived on the scene and immediately began to hover about our little patient and offer food!

In the next sequence of photos, the adult female Allen’s Hummingbird makes several quick visits to the fledgling as the volunteer finds a place to set the bird down. This is one of the best “re-unites” we’ve done, with a parent arriving on the scene immediately, and in such a perfect setting… This is one of the many joys of our work, which we appreciate greatly against the equally many sorrows.

Find the mother! She’s right there, looking out at you!

In this shot, the mother, against the sky, zooms up to only return again to her youngster.
You can’t see them but they’re both there, fledgling and parent, in the safety of the wild, on the edge of North America, along a rural county’s popular walking trail, at the center of the universe.

Nature takes her course.

Your support makes our successes, like this happy wild family re-united, possible. Thank you! And if you can donate now, we sure could use it, here in the middle of our busiest season. Thank you again!

all photos: Laura Corsiglia/BAX

In an Infinite Universe, Size is Irrelevant (but you still need to find your mom and dad)

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Monte Merrick

A Young Hummingbird’s tale

A question we are often asked: The bird is so small, do you bother taking care of them? The universe is boundless, how can you tell what size anything actually is? None of us are any closer to the edges than anyone else, no matter our relative sizes! So, please, bring that injured hummingbird to our clinic!

Now in this particular case, it turned out the young Rufous Hummingbird was just that – young. She was still learning to fly. (click on the link to learn about this common bird who is also showing steep declines in population)

So we gave her some fluids to slake her thirst and packed her up and returned to the riverside trail in Orick (about 40 miles up the road) where she’d been found.

Re-uniting a songbird, or any animal, with his or her parents is a lot easier if you know what you are looking for – or listening for. “Please let the adults be present,” you wish fervently, “Please let our little guy cry for them so they know she’s around!” If the adults don’t come, the baby can’t stay. Re-uniting babies with parents can be a stressful operation.

When our team arrived in Orick and began to walk the levee along Redwood Creek looking for the best place to return this youngster, the sounds of adult hummingbirds filled the air.

After placing the bird on a blackberry leaf, no adults approached. Patience is important. These things, as they say, take time. And so our team waited.

Patience, yes, is a virtue. And so is action. So is believing in your own intuition. After several anxious minutes had passed, they decided to move the bird further from the trail into a more secluded location. Of course, as they approached, one of the fears of this kind of operation was realized – the bird flew on her own to a spot they couldn’t reach. Now it was up to the parents.

The team backed off and watched. The fledgling called. Adults circled above. Eventually one adult dropped down to the young bird. There was some conversation between them. The adult flew off to some nearby blossoms. Moments later, the adult returned to the fledgling. Feeding! The baby was back in her parents’ care.

An elated team drove home.

Your support makes efforts such as these possible. Keeping wild families together is the very heart of wildlife conservation. Wild families are the indivisble unit of wild populations. The seed, the growth, the flower and fruit of co-existence with – and embrace of – our wild neighbors, and therefore our own survival, is contained in the act of re-uniting a wild baby with her parents.

Thank you for supporting our work. To contribute to our August fundraiser (our goal is only $5000!) please donate here. Thank you!

Scroll down through the pictures of this bird’s return to her family.

Taking the young hummingbird, smaller than a human thumb, from the box.

Initially on this blackberry leaf, we waited, but no adults came near.

And then she flew deeper into the thicket, out of reach of everything but the lens.

A blur and blaze of beauty, the orange and green streak up and to the left of the fledgling is an adult Rufous Hummingbird who has just fed his baby. And so a small but mighty piece of the cosmos was restored. This is what your contribution supports. Thank you!

(all photos: Laura Corsiglia/BAX/HWCC)