07 - The Dog Days of Summer are for the Birds 07 - The Dog Days of Summer... · The Dog Days of...
Transcript of 07 - The Dog Days of Summer are for the Birds 07 - The Dog Days of Summer... · The Dog Days of...
The Dog Days of Summer are for the Birds by Cindy Williams June was a hot month by Kansas City standards. I don’t know about you but I know I
suffered in the heat. And a lot of our wildlife neighbors didn’t fare too well either. Sometimes
birds like raptors who make their nests high in trees get too hot and leave the nest
prematurely. We’ve seen evidence of that recently.
On the small side of the spectrum, here’s an example of
some interspecies love. This nestling Robin and Mourning Dove
(yes, that’s “Mourning” Dove, not “Morning” Dove, named after
their mournful coo) were brought in (separately) when they were
found on the ground and their nests could not be located. Most
baby animals don’t like to be alone so we often combine babies
of the same species and similar ages. But these two look like they
are getting along just fine.
Moving up the size spectrum, this
nestling American Kestrel is North
America’s smallest member of the falcon
family. They aren’t much bigger than a
songbird but if you can see those talons that this baby is already
sporting you’ll know that this ain’t no seed eater. Here he’s getting a
helping hand/tweezer from one of our naturalists.
Next up is a fledgling Cooper’s Hawk, also known by some as
a chicken hawk, one of the smaller area hawks. They are fantastic
flyers, so good that they prey on other birds. You’d never know it to
look at this awkward little one. He’s been combined with another
Cooper’s Hawk his age, but he’s still learning to share – during one of the first feedings after
they were put together he was found “nesting” on the food, apparently trying to block it
from the other hawk. Not to worry, though, there were two sets of food in the cage.
Finally a personal story. Lakeside does not have the
resources to provide pick-up services for animals but
occasionally we receive calls about animals that are in trouble
but difficult/dangerous to catch or transport to the Center
(usually raptors) and if there is a volunteer available we have
been known to provide an assist to the general public. I
recently received such a call (third hand) from a person who
had a raptor in their yard near my house. It was reported that
the bird was hung up on their fence. By the time I got there
(one of the many 90+ degree days) the homeowner said she
had extracted the bird from the fence using a towel but it was
just sitting on the ground not flying. We went to her back yard
to find it but it was gone. There was a lot of brush so we started
looking around, then the owner went to get her friendly little
dachshund on a leash to see if he could track it down (like he had done the first time) but he
couldn’t find it either. Finally I suggested that we check the adjoining yards, that perhaps he
had gotten over the fence. Sure enough in the yard behind hers we found him just sitting
there watching us wondering what the heck we were doing and probably hoping we would
just go away. I’m no expert but it looked to me to be an older fledgling… something. It had
Robin on left, dove on right
Kestrel being tweezer fed
Cooper’s Hawk fledgling
the look of a Red Tailed Hawk but seemed too small. It was close to a Cooper’s Hawk size
but the legs and talons seemed too big to fit that description. I
caught him up (something that would be impossible with a
flighted bird) and tried to evaluate him. He seemed to have
decent hydration, nothing apparently broken or bloody, but his
keel (breastbone) was very prominent, making me wonder if he
was starving. The neighbors and the homeowner indicated they
had seen hawks in the area but I hadn’t seen any since I’d been
there. The neighborhood was full of huge, mature, towering trees,
but no nests jumped out at me. I was pretty sure I was looking at a
fledgling… something. But I couldn’t be sure exactly what, and
not knowing what it was I couldn’t be sure if I should leave it be or
bring it in. I finally decided to bring it in and let the experts do an
evaluation – if it was healthy I could return it back right away.
After an evaluation by the naturalists the next day, it was
determined that what we had was a fledgling Red-shouldered
Hawk, a smaller cousin to the Red Tailed Hawk. It was first identified as a Broad Wing Hawk
and if you look up the definition of Red Shouldered Hawk in
Wikipedia you’ll find that it actually says the juvenile is often
mistaken for a juvenile Broad Wing. Now that there was a
confident identification it was determined that the bird was in
decent shape but, given the heat and the skinny condition, we
would beef it up a little before returning it to its parents. So we
spent a week giving it fluids and hand feeding it twice a day,
and a little over a week after I removed it from its home I took it
back. I have to admit I was a little nervous – even though I
knew that the parents would continue to feed the bird (who
could now fly!) even a week later I couldn’t help but worry. I
placed the hawk in the yard of the people who originally
called. It immediately flew up to a window of the home and
sat precariously on the ledge, trying to balance. Eventually it
sort of hung upside down from the ledge – this did NOT inspire
confidence in me. If it fell straight down, it would be trapped behind a deck railing.
Suddenly I saw an adult hawk fly into the tree in the yard behind this one – the same
yard, under the same tree where I had caught it originally. Soon I saw another adult join it –
they were very interested in this baby and I knew the parents had arrived! I pulled the hawk
from the ledge and quickly placed it on the ground under the tree next door. The parents
watched the whole time, sometimes one would fly away from the tree and return but one –
let’s call her mom – stayed with the baby. I backed away and left them to their reunion,
secure in the knowledge that the family was whole again and the fledgling would be ok. In
last month’s article I talked a lot about reuniting and this month I got to put that talk into
action. It always feels good to return a wild animal to the place it belongs and this one felt
especially good. Please always make it the main priority to leave a baby with its parent(s) or
return it as soon as possible for a happy reunion!
Red-shouldered Hawk fledgling
Adult Red-shouldered Hawk