Baby hawks of all species pretty much look the same, so rehabbers go by weight, eye color (sometimes), leg and foot structure (for some species) and, if they’re vocal babies, by vocalizations, to nail down exactly what species a downy baby is. So based on weight, etc., my colleagues and I were pretty sure we had LWR’s hatchling hawk labeled correctly...
Yeah, umm, about that...seems that as the rascal matured into a pre-brancher, we all began second-guessing our first guess; as colleague Steve Hicks is fond of saying, with downy hawks we always know their last name; we’re just unsure about the first name. And our “baby red tail” is actually a baby red shoulder!
This is based on skinny legs and toes, dark eye color, rusty-looking feathers on the shoulders, and a weight that’s pretty much plateaued at 480g (a pound, give or take an ounce).
Yeah, umm, about that...seems that as the rascal matured into a pre-brancher, we all began second-guessing our first guess; as colleague Steve Hicks is fond of saying, with downy hawks we always know their last name; we’re just unsure about the first name. And our “baby red tail” is actually a baby red shoulder!
This is based on skinny legs and toes, dark eye color, rusty-looking feathers on the shoulders, and a weight that’s pretty much plateaued at 480g (a pound, give or take an ounce).
And what’s so funny to me is when game warden Rodney Horne texted me about him back in April, I initially told him it was most likely a red shoulder, but then we all started theorizing about what he “might” be...
ANYway, the red shoulder continues to mature beautifully, although he has hit that developmental stage where he just looks scraggly—an awkward teen!
I’ve started offering bits of food for him to learn to self-feed in between hand-feedings; so far he gives it the same perplexed look he did the low perch I placed in his box. He’ll figure it out...eventually...
The adult red shoulder recovering from the wing fracture is flying fairly well but not well enough for release yet. Maybe another week or so...
A second adult red shoulder came in Friday, unable to move his legs. We’re trying meds for the weekend, with some slight improvement, so it might be just nerve inflammation. If the improvement slows, x-rays are in order, although pelvic fractures don’t always show in x-rays. We’ll see.
The adult barred owl with the lingering head tilt still isn’t fully recovered but is very clear he’s not happy at being confined. Sorry, bud, only two flights at LWR and both are currently occupied!
And the brancher barreds are just nosy goofballs!
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