On the afternoon of Dec. 12, a red-tailed hawk was released in Mesa Verde National Park, about a month after it was injured there.
In early November, it had “reportedly flew into a car,” so the park’s staff “assisted the motorist in capturing the hawk,” according to an email from John Livingston, Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s public information officer in its Southwest region.
From there, the hawk was taken to the Durango Animal Hospital, where Dr. Emily Haag examined it and took X-rays.
Haag found no broken bones, but she did find “some soft tissue damage,” like bruising, and “possible head trauma,” Livingston said.
CPW Wildlife Rehabilitator Michael Sirochman got involved and worked in conjunction with the animal hospital, as Sirochman works at a center that “rehabs more than a dozen raptors every year,” Livingston said.
On Nov. 8, the hawk was in Sirochman’s care. Before long, it was “flying beautifully,” Livingston said.
Since the hawk recovered quickly, they were able to return it to the wild quickly.
On the morning of Dec. 12, Livingston picked it up from Pagosa Springs and coordinated with a Mesa Verde park biologist to find a good release location.
“Once the crate was open … it flew perfectly a few hundred yards to a nice perch where it took in its surroundings,” Livingston said.
“We have full confidence this hawk is completely healed and healthy and will continue to contribute to the ecosystem here in Southwest Colorado and within the national park,” he said.
Red-tailed hawks might be the most common kind of hawk on this continent, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
They also make the kind of “shrill cry” you’d expect of a hawk, so their sound is almost always used in movies, whether the bird on-screen is a red-tailed hawk or not.
If you come across an injured animal in the wild, do not try to rescue the animal yourself! Contact state or federal wildlife officials instead.
