Rehabilitating a red-tailed hawk

Every once in a while you win one. Such was the jubilant occasion when a severely injured red-tailed hawk with a broken wing was repaired, rehabilitated and released last week back to the wild.

That may sound easy, but it wasn't. Not by a long shot.

Scott and Cecelia Granger, who live on Reif Road out in Powell Butte, discovered the injured adult, female red-tailed hawk. After carefully picking up the hawk - "carefully," meaning not to injure the hawk any more than it was, and "carefully," so as to not be injured themselves, - it was found that the right wing had a transverse fracture of the humerus, between the shoulder and elbow.

The hawk was taken to Gary Landers, who with his wife, Kellie, operate a raptor rehabilitation center near Sisters. Gary couldn't find any signs of gunshot wounds, which leads one to believe that the adult red-tail may have been a victim of its superb eyesight.

That may sound strange, but raptors have the uncanny ability to "zoom in" (as in eyesight) on the prey they are after. Once that part of the chase has been locked in, however, the bird will not see anything small between itself and prey, such as wire. If it happens to be a guy-wire supporting a power pole or a fence, powerline or other similar obstruction the raptor will run right into it and never see it.

I observed a bald eagle do precisely that down near Astoria when pursuing waterfowl; it was locked onto a mallard duck, which flew away on the other side of a guy-wire. The eagle hit the wire with such force that it all but tore the wing off.

Because of a bird's natural movement during the healing process, the nature of the break in the hawk's wing created a serious problem stabilizing the bone to prevent rotation. Enter Dr. Little Liedblad of Broken Top Veterinarian Clinic. Because the red-tailed was otherwise in excellent health, Little performed surgery the same day it was found and, as usual, donated her time and skills to the welfare of our raptor treasures.

In order to prevent rotation of the bone at the fracture site, Little used two pins inserted through the hollow canal of the humerus bone. (Wing bones of all flying birds are hollow.) Wedging the pins tightly in the canal allowed the fracture to remain aligned, as well as preventing the bone from rotating at the fracture site. The wing was wrapped, and pins remained in for three weeks.

During this time the hawk would not self-feed, due to the wing wrap disturbing her balance. Therefore, it was necessary to hand feed the hawk twice a day. Enter Kellie Landers, who says venison and mice were the hawk's favorites.

After the healing period the pins were removed, but the hawk's wing movement was limited for another week - another week of free venison and mice, thanks to the TLC provided by Kellie and Gary.

The hawk was then graduated to a larger flight cage where it could exercise and be kept under close observation by Gary and Kellie, who by this time were joined by Bill Gawlowski, a fellow raptor rehabilitation worker. Gary and Bill spent several hours carefully stretching the right wing on a regular basis to gain full extension.

Then came the strengthening flights at the Sisters airport on a creance, a strong fishing line that allowed the hawk to exercise without injuring herself or escaping.

Six weeks after the hawk was brought into the rehab center, she was taken out to Powell Butte and released back into the wild, healthy and sound again.

Thanks to the efforts of caring people, the hawk is ready to take up her role in the interactions between man, wildlife and the ecological relationships of this grand place we call home - our Earth.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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