"Keeeee-eer!" I could hear the classic Red-tailed Hawk call from my desk in the Museum as it echoed through the backyard. I couldn't help but smile at the call rarely heard from Carson, a sure sign of spring nesting season:
Carson was originally found in 2013, grounded on the side of a road in Illinois when she was just a few months old. She was likely hit by a car. When admitted to a rehabilitation facility, she had a broken humerus in the left wing that had healed improperly. This injury restricted her wing movement and she is unable to fly. Once deemed non-releasable, she was placed at the Museum as an education ambassador and arrived in July 2014.
Carson is one bird that we are certain is female. In most raptors, males and females look the same except that females are larger; most of their genders need to be guessed based on their size. Red-tails can range between 690 - 1460 grams. Carson is 1500 grams on average. She is a big Red-tail, so she must be female!
When I moved to Cable in 2016, Carson really made me work for her trust. Over the first few weeks, she ran away anytime I asked her to step on my glove. Instead of chasing her, I decided to start over from the beginning, slowly building trust one rat tidbit at a time. Since then, she has become a solid bird that will reliably step on my glove, as long as she's not fed up* or busy building a nest in the spring.
*This phrase is adapted from falconry: a bird that has eaten too much is “fed up” and lacks the motivation to hunt or work for the falconer, just like a person that is fed up and unwilling to cooperate.
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