There is a hawk on the telephone pole!

This post is about a Red-tailed hawk who is an educational bird living at the Clinch River Raptor Center.
                      Click photos for a larger view.

               This is Mildred and you may call her Millie.

                                                                           

She is a Red-tailed hawk who came to the rehab center in November of 1996.  She is now 16 years old, making her an elderly lady.  Her left wing was damaged and does not have full functionality, allowing her to take wing flap hops to a perch but she is not able to fly.  For most of her years living at the center, she has been a primary educational bird seen by countless children and adults over the years.  For that purpose, the handler wears a leather glove and Millie has jesses on her ankles. She stays on the glove while being a center of attention for her audience. The lady holding the hawk is Katie, a co-founder of the Clinch River Raptor Center. A mutual trust/respect has developed between the two, yet Katie must stay keenly aware of what is going on with the hawk and her surroundings at all times.  Audience members may believe the hawk is tame but this is not the case…her heart is still wild and this hawk is not part of a petting zoo.

                              

                                                                            

Baby hawks are little dolls. I have not hand raised and cared for fledgling hawks…I am saying they are dolls because they are cute.  Those caring for the birds everyday might think differently and put me to work with the little hawks. "Tom, now see how easy it is!" Actually, it is not easy and the little birds are still cute

Juveniles miss a lot of the color characteristics of the adults.  For Red-tail hawks, the youngsters do not have the rusty red tail feathers which develop some time later.  Juvenile birds also do not have the striking orange/brown eyes of the adults.  See these photos and pick the younger bird by the lighter eye color.

                                                                              

Red-tailed hawks are widely distributed raptors, with ranges from northern Canada across the United States and south into Mexico. Summer ranges are to the north, winter ranges to the south and year long residencies somewhere in-between. Red-taileds are Buteos, members of the family of soaring hawks. In the wild, these hawks will be seen soaring or often

perched on a high pole or tree, taking in a good view of their territory.

The eyes provide vision much more acute than ours, allowing a high flying Red-tailed to spot a rat or other tasty delight and swoop in for dinner. Despite their size, these birds weigh from about 700 gms to 1550 gms ( 1.5 lbs to 3.5 lbs ).  Larger Red-tails are seen but are not the average.  Generally, males are up to 1000 gms and over that are the females.  Females hawks are the largest of the sexes. 

The educational Red-tail hawk shown here was injured while doing what is natural in the wild or from unfortunate intervention by people.  Swooping down after a mouse or rat the hawk might strike a fence and break a wing.   If barbed wire, the injury may easily cost the bird its life.   People are a leading cause of diminishing numbers of certain raptors, somehow justifying setting up the extremely cruel elevated pole traps or using hawks for target practice.   They will call almost any hawk a “chicken hawk” and go after these birds.   I suppose it might be difficult to convince a chicken farmer that to loose a chick is far better in the balance of nature than to go after the hawks.  Many farmers appreciate the raptors, including hawks and owls.  When permission is given,  rehabilitated birds may be released on farmlands and hunt rodents there.  What is the normal diet of a Red-tail hawk?  A days meal might consist first  of rodents, then birds, reptiles or insects.  At the rehab center, the normal food is deceased mice. 

How do kids react when they first see this wonderful lady hawk brought out on a gloved hand?  Ooohh!  Wow!  She must weigh 10 pounds!  Kids do the same thing you want to do reacting to this fine part of nature.  I was dancing in my sneakers the first time I was close to a large hawk or owl.