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Autumn

Red-tailed Hawk
Admission Date
History

Autumn, a Juvenille Red-tailed Hawk, was rescued by our volunteers on Sept 18, 2022. She was found to be emaciated and dehydrated. She was most likely born a few months early and hadn't learned enough from her parents to take care of herself, so she was diagnosed with being "young and dumb." Not the nicest of terms, but it is used in the raptor community for first-year birds who are left on their own before they have the skills they need to survive.

Once brought into our ICU, we are not really sure if these young birds will survive. And its quite sad for our ICU staff to see these raptors pass from starvation because they came to us too late and we couldn't save them.


But Autumn has a different story. She came in weighing 800 grams with a keel of 1 (both extremely low for a female Red-tailed Hawk). We gave her fluids and tube fed her, and then she began to eat on her own. She was moved to an outside mew and did well out there. She continued eating and gaining weight.

An eye exam showed that she is blind in one eye and, because of that, she could not be released. It was decided to keep her as an educational bird! She is now going through PRT training and is up to 1531 grams. She is a beautiful hawk and will make a wonderful addition to Soarin' Hawk! She is doing wonderfully with her training and especially enjoys her enrichment!