Red-tailed Hawk #20-1294 was found down on the ground in Staunton, Virginia, at the end of May 2020. The bird was unable to fly, and a rescuer was able to safely contain the bird and transport it to the Wildlife Center.
The veterinary team found that the bird had a right-wing fracture; the ulna bone was broken, and required surgery. On June 2, the veterinarians took the hawk to surgery to place a pin through the fractured bone. The bird was housed indoors during the month of June as it slowly healed; the pin was removed on June 30 after radiographs confirmed that the bone had healed and was stable.
The bird went through several weeks of physical therapy, and on July 15, was moved to an outdoor flight pen. Rehabilitation staff have been exercising the bird during the past couple of weeks; the hawk can fly an average of about 10 passes from perch-to-perch in its flight pen. The rehabilitation staff note that the bird is fairly stubborn during daily exercise sessions, and also sometimes has an intermittent right-wing droop. The team decided that a larger space would be ideal to observe the hawk's flight and wing position during resting periods. The hawk will be moved to A2 to on August 11 -- watch for the hawk on Critter Cam!