20181230-Red-tailed Hawk - 1

Via volunteer Eric: Brigitte and I were at an Eagle Scout ceremony with Jefferson, our bald eagle, when Brigitte received a call from Lynn regarding a red-tailed hawk found on Coldwater Road by I69. Kaitlyn and Alex, two new volunteers who are working toward being bird handlers, came along for the rescue. The city police as well as the caller were on the scene helping divert traffic away from the injured bird. The poor fella was on his feet and alert. I was concerned for his safety because traffic was passing close by and I feared he may get hit again. Twice he rejected my attempts to capture him. The situation was too dangerous to keep chasing him in this manner. I decided to use my shirt as a blanket to try and catch him. Success on the first attempt!  I secured our patient in the van, thanked the caller and police officer, and went back to grab Brigitte and head to the ICU. Bridgette performed the initial physical. We found no broken bones and his spine seemed to be intact. The only issues we found was a little dried blood around his beak and he could not see out of his left eye. Bridgette informed me that his optic nerve may be inflamed and there is a chance he may regain his vision. Hopefully he just had his bell rung and makes a quick recovery. I have a good feeling about this guy.   01/17/19 This hawk is still in our treatment facility. He is recovering but not eating well on his own. We are hand feeding him but it is important he starts eating on his own. His vision seems to be improving.   01/24/19 This hawk was moved to our rehabilitation facility with the hope that a change in environment would encourage him to eat on his own. He is a healthy bird otherwise.   02/24/2019 This hawk is still in our rehab facility.  He is eating a bit better.  Once he is eating well consistently, he will be evaluated to begin creance flying, in which a bird is tethered to one of our trainers, and given progressively more line as he gets stronger and can fly farther. Tethering keeps birds safe, and allows them to gain flight strength, while assuring that they can be retrieved as they train.   03/25/2019 This beautiful hawk has begun creance flying, and is a strong flyer!  He just needs to gain a bit more strength, after which he will be ready for release!   04/10/2019 This beautiful hawk is still being creance trained.  04/25/19 This beautiful hawk has started creance flying to gain flight strength.  He has had mixed success with creance – some good days, some not-so-good, but he’s definitely not ready for release yet. 05/10/2019 - This beautiful hawk is still undergoing creance training to gain flight strength.  He has had mixed success with creance - some good days, some not so-good, so he's still not ready for release yet.