Hungry Hawks (and a Falcon)

Posted on March 23, 2019March 23, 2019 by Monte Merrick

Late Winter storms were tough on our region. Rain seemed to fall for days without ceasing and many of us suffered from chronic wet socks and an unshakeable chill. And that endless rain was tough on more than the human community.

In the last two weeks of February, Humboldt Wildlife Care Center admitted 8 birds of prey who were found struggling, their hunting grounds covered in water, or other challenges that caused more than a few area raptors to go hungry.

Young Peregrine Falcon found near Crescent City, mildly anemic and thin. Two weeks of domestic quail (purchased frozen from a supplier in Southern California) and a safe place to recover and he was ready to get back into action

A Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) was found struggling near Lake Earl outside of Crescent City, too weak to fly, as well as two Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) from the same area, Crescent City and Brookings, Oregon, just north of Crescent City.

Found in Ferndale, covered in mud and with a deep cut on one of her toes, this Red-tailed Hawk gained over 300 grams (approximately 25% of her body mass) in the month she was in our care. That’s a lot of rats. (about 60 of them actually)

Red-shouldered Hawk, found in the middle of a gravel road near Ferndale wastes no time leaping back into his wild freedom after a little bit more than a week in care.

This adult female Red-tailed Hawk, found in Crescent City grounded with her feathers caked in mud, was a fierce and formidable patient. She refused to eat for the first few days, so un-accepting was she of the indignity of captivity. So we cut her rats in half and she was appetized beyond the reach of her principled disgust with all things human. She started eating. She was released after 10 days in care.

As the Eel River began to flood we admitted five hawks, four Red-tailed Hawks and one Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), from its bottom lands, all of them displaced, wet, cold and hungry.

We can only surmise that there were other wild neighbors who didn’t survive the drenching storms of this winter. The last two weeks of February, during the rains, we admitted 31 wild animals for care, including several songbirds, ducks and gulls. During storms, simply because fewer people are outside, fewer struggling wild animals are found.

Another adult Red-tailed Hawk, found in Brookings after the storms. He was so thin and anemic at the time of his rescue that we weren’t sure he would recover, but here he is a month later, healthy, whole and back at home in the wide sky.

Right now, we are preparing for our busy season, yet also having a busy winter. Already our caseload is up 20% over last year, which was our busiest year so far. We need to raise $50,000 by April 30 to be able to stay open, with our staff and housing ready to meet whatever comes our way. These are trying times for many, and it’s no less true for our wild neighbors. We need to be here for them when they need us. Only your support will make that happen. Please donate today. Thank you for your love of the wild!! DONATE HERE

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

The Luckiest Hawk…

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Monte Merrick

Sometimes you get a lucky bounce. One of the best places to hunt, especially if rodents and other small animals are your favorite, is the edge of highways… mowed shoulders and medians reveal the little ones’ movements. Light posts and wires afford good perching to watch, wait and swoop down for the meal.

Hawks, especially Red-tailed and Red-shouldered, are often seen this way – perched above our freeways.

Obviously, such a strategy carries a horrible risk. During 2013, Humboldt Wildlife Care Center/BAX admitted 9 Red-tailed hawks, 2 Red-shouldered hawks and 1 Sharp-shinned hawk that had been hit by cars. None survived.

Last Sunday, we took a call from a woman who was driving between Eureka and Arcata on US 101, near the Farm Store. She’d just seen a hawk get hit by a car. She stopped and found the bird lying still in the grassy edge. The hawk wasn’t moving except to take an occasional breath. She scooped him up in her jacket.

Our clinic isn’t far from this spot and she soon came through the door with the bird in her coat. She thought he might have a broken wing, a highly likely outcome. When we moved him to our holding incubator – something we usually do first since most injured animals are in danger of shock – the bird’s wings were held in an awkward position. It seemed as if indeed a wing had been fractured.

We gave him (on the small side for their size range so probably a male) some time in the incubator to calm down and gather his wits. After 20 minutes or so, we performed his admission exam.

He greeted us at the door of his incubator, on his feet, alert, ready to face what comes. In short, he was back.

Not a single bone was broken. There was no visible bruising – not a scratch.

We did find a brood patch, a bare area on the belly of many birds during breeding season that allows the warm skin of the parent to come in direct contact with the eggs so they stay at the right temperature. It meant this hawk is an expecting father, if his chicks haven’t already hatched. No doubt he’d been hunting for his family when he was hit by the car.

After some fluids for his dehydration (stress can make a person want a drink!), we tested his flight in our raptor aviary. He passed with flying colors, as they say.