Hawks

Pierce
Red Shouldered Hawk
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Her wing was surgically repaired, but has a noticeable droop which hinders her flight ability. Even if the wing had healed perfectly, Pierce would have been non-releasable due to her other injuries. Due to her uncharacteristically quiet nature, it was felt that Pierce would work well as an education bird and she found a permanent home at The Avian Reconditioning Center. Young hawks are quite active, so during her recuperation period Pierce was often allowed to wander about in a specially prepared area. It was her habit of looking up with a "piercing" stare at anyone walking by that earned her the name "Pierce."

As with most raptor species, males and females look alike with females generally being the larger bird. As a young bird, Pierce was small and therefore assumed to be a male. However, in the spring of 2002, she laid an egg!

Pierce's lakeside mew is large and airy and whenever she feels a breeze, she extends her wings as far as she's able and glides in place. As the wind shifts, she firmly grasps her perch and leans forward into the rushing air compensating for gusts by adjusting her wing position. Pierce seems to enjoy this "virtual soaring" and it's quite entertaining to watch her fly without ever leaving her perch!
 

Darter
Cooper's Hawk
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One breezy, spring day in 2003, a young fledgling Cooper's Hawk decided to try his wings, probably for the first time. This inexperienced bird crash-landed and fractured her left wing near the elbow. As is often typical with this type of injury, the bones did not heal properly causing the wing to freeze at the joint.

At approximately 8 weeks of age, Darter was transferred to The Avian Reconditioning Center for a thorough assessment of his flight abilities. After extensive flight evaluation, our falconer determined the injury was permanent. Even with physical therapy, Darter would never regain full movement of his left wing and would, therefore, be incapable of normal flight.

Fortunately, ARC's staff falconer has extensive experience working with this quick, acrobatic species, and Darter has become a wonderful addition to our family of education birds.

When not working in education programs, Darter spends her days in a large mews where he enjoys basking in the morning sun and bounding from perch to perch for exercise. Darter was named to honor the mascot of the high school in our small town of Apopka (Home of the Blue Darter) where our center is located.

 

Miko
Short Tailed Hawk
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Miko, a dark phase Short-tailed Hawk, came to the Avian Reconditioning Center in January of 2009 as an immature bird. He had been found in the Miami area, in late December 2008 with a gunshot injury to his left wing. Short-tailed Hawks breed in tropical and subtropical America and are uncommon and local in most of their range. The majority of the Florida population migrates to the tip of the state, including the keys, in the winter.

X-ray examination revealed that the gunshot caused a fracture of the carpus (wrist) which had healed. This senseless injury also caused damage to the feather follicles on the tip of his wing which will likely never recover. This damage to the follicles prevents typical growth of feathers and compromises his ability for normal flight. Miko would not have the stamina required to hunt, evade larger predators or otherwise survive in the wild and, therefore, must live where we can provide food and insure his safety.

Miko was named for a Calusa Indian chief. The Calusa were a highly-evolved tribe who lived along the coast of Southwest Florida, the same region where the Short-tail occurs. Many of their ceremonial artifacts were decorated with the head of a hawk which bears a striking resemblance to the Short-tail.
 

Izzy
Red Tailed Hawk
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Izzy is a beautiful Red-Tailed Hawk, just finishing out her adult plumage and filling out a beautiful red tail. 

She was brought to the Avian Reconditioning Center by a thoughtful falconer, who rescued her from a shopping mall. Her left foot was badly mangled, and almost all the bones had been broken. It is thought that she had gotten her foot caught in some sort of a grate trying to grab prey, and had only managed to remove it after doing a lot of damage to the toes and leg.

It was many weeks before it was clear if her foot could be saved. Although she ended up losing one toe, Izzy is now able to stand on her foot, and even perch on the glove. Despite the sometimes stressful medical treatment Izzy had to undergo, she came out of it with a wonderful disposition and is a joy to have at the Avian Reconditioning Center.

Although she cannot be released, as her foot injury leaves her unable to hunt for prey, Izzy can still fly. She's currently going through falconry training, and is beautiful to watch. She's working on doing some short demonstration flights, and we all look forward to the time when Izzy is free-flying around the center!

Sable
Short Tailed Hawk
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Sable is our newest Short-Tailed hawk, named for the Sable Palm, a commonly found plant in Central Florida. She is a younger bird than our other Short Tail, Miko, and you can tell them apart by the light spots Sable has on her chest, which are found on younger birds.

Sable came to the Avian Reconditioning Center after being gunshot. Initially, it was hoped that she would heal enough to regain the full use of her wing, and be able to be released back into the wild. Since there are not many Short Tailed Hawks living and breeding in Florida, it's very important that the few hawks we have are allowed to live and thrive.

After some inital success with falconry training, Sable began to lose strength, and it was apparent that the strain of flight was too much for her injured wing. Since she was not strong enough to be returned to the wild, Sable has a home here at the Avian Reconditioning Center. On calm days, she is capable of short flights and jumps from one end of the display pavillion to the other, so she still gets a chance to stretch her wings.

Sable is roommates with Miko, another short tail who lives at ARC, and it's always enjoyable to watch the pair of them, and listen to their gentle calls.

 

 

Astro & Dino
Harris' Hawks
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Astro and Dino are Harris' Hawks, one of the few social bird of prey species. In the wild, Harris' Hawks hunt in a pack, and are sometimes called the Wolves of the Air.

They are a desert bird, and have long skinny scaled legs, perfect for perching on cacti while looking for prey. Their pack hunting methods come in handy in the desert, where a pack of five hawks can more easily take down prey, and sometimes catch larger prey as well. Sometimes, to get a higher perch, the more alpha bird will perch on the back of another Harris' Hawk.

Astro and Dino are at the Avian Reconditioning Center as falconry birds, and enjoy flying together in a cast. Astro is the more senior bird, and treats Dino much like a younger sibling. Sometimes when Dino is called to the glove, Astro will dive in and try to steal his food! These clownish antics make for a great display of flight, and they often fly in the afternoon at ARC, after the other birds are safely put away.

 

Adopting of one of our education raptors will help fund their care and feeding as well as to support our vital rehabilitation efforts. Please visit Adopt-a-Bird to learn more about this program and how you can help.