I've been working with Soarin' Hawk less than a year and it's been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. That said, I haven't really gotten to do a lot. You go in every weekend and do some of the less glamorous tasks and it's something to be excited about because most people will never know these animals the way we get to see them. So, there I was Sat morning doing my volunteer shift as I try to do every week. I was greeted by Kim and Barb and Hot Dog. Barb was explaining how we had a few releases to accomplish that weekend and she was worried there weren't enough people available to do them. So, I asked what I could do. "Can you go to Bluffton today with this hawk and let it go?". What do you say to something like that???? I'll tell you "no" is simply not the answer. I called my girlfriend and asked if she had time to join me and if she wanted to go and she excitedly agreed.
So, I finished my shift and took Hot Dog home. After a brief lunch and wait, we hit the road on the way to Bluffton. We were greeted by an older gentleman name Greg. He and his wife and dogs were very inviting. He gave us the story of how he came to this tale. He was called one evening by an elderly neighbor who had notice Hot Dog sitting in the rain for two days on her driveway. He was cold and wet and weak. I feel this is a great time to make a PSA. If you read this and ever notice a bird down, please approach with caution and try to shew it away. If it doesn't flee, it is sick\weak\etc. Please contact appropriate people to come handle the situation. Anyway, Greg came and picked him up and brought him home. Since he seemed hungry, he fed him a hot dog, hence the name :). Then he called our team to get him.
We drove about 4 miles down the road back to the farm where he was found. As you can see from the video, Hot Dog seemed to be a little confused. He hops out of the box and sits there for a minute. Again, very very rare in a release I'm told. Lacking gloves to handle him, I decided to chase him off with the box. You can see in the video he rounds the shed and flies up to a tree. We believe that's the tree he was raised in. He sat there for no less than five minutes watching us watching him before we all departed.
It was great to see him return back to the wild. God Speed Hot Dog and thank you for sharing your time with us!