The Dog Days of Summer are for the Birds by Cindy Williams June was a hot month by Kansas City standards. I don’t know about you but I know I

suffered in the heat. And a lot of our wildlife neighbors didn’t fare too well either. Sometimes

birds like raptors who make their nests high in trees get too hot and leave the nest

prematurely. We’ve seen evidence of that recently.

On the small side of the spectrum, here’s an example of

some interspecies love. This nestling Robin and Mourning Dove

(yes, that’s “Mourning” Dove, not “Morning” Dove, named after

their mournful coo) were brought in (separately) when they were

found on the ground and their nests could not be located. Most

baby animals don’t like to be alone so we often combine babies

of the same species and similar ages. But these two look like they

are getting along just fine.

Moving up the size spectrum, this

nestling American Kestrel is North

America’s smallest member of the falcon

family. They aren’t much bigger than a

songbird but if you can see those talons that this baby is already

sporting you’ll know that this ain’t no seed eater. Here he’s getting a

helping hand/tweezer from one of our naturalists.

Next up is a fledgling Cooper’s Hawk, also known by some as

a chicken hawk, one of the smaller area hawks. They are fantastic

flyers, so good that they prey on other birds. You’d never know it to

look at this awkward little one. He’s been combined with another

Cooper’s Hawk his age, but he’s still learning to share – during one of the first feedings after

they were put together he was found “nesting” on the food, apparently trying to block it

from the other hawk. Not to worry, though, there were two sets of food in the cage.

Finally a personal story. Lakeside does not have the

resources to provide pick-up services for animals but

occasionally we receive calls about animals that are in trouble

but difficult/dangerous to catch or transport to the Center

(usually raptors) and if there is a volunteer available we have

been known to provide an assist to the general public. I

recently received such a call (third hand) from a person who

had a raptor in their yard near my house. It was reported that

the bird was hung up on their fence. By the time I got there

(one of the many 90+ degree days) the homeowner said she

had extracted the bird from the fence using a towel but it was

just sitting on the ground not flying. We went to her back yard

to find it but it was gone. There was a lot of brush so we started

looking around, then the owner went to get her friendly little

dachshund on a leash to see if he could track it down (like he had done the first time) but he

couldn’t find it either. Finally I suggested that we check the adjoining yards, that perhaps he

had gotten over the fence. Sure enough in the yard behind hers we found him just sitting

there watching us wondering what the heck we were doing and probably hoping we would

just go away. I’m no expert but it looked to me to be an older fledgling… something. It had

Robin on left, dove on right

Kestrel being tweezer fed

Cooper’s Hawk fledgling

the look of a Red Tailed Hawk but seemed too small. It was close to a Cooper’s Hawk size

but the legs and talons seemed too big to fit that description. I

caught him up (something that would be impossible with a

flighted bird) and tried to evaluate him. He seemed to have

decent hydration, nothing apparently broken or bloody, but his

keel (breastbone) was very prominent, making me wonder if he

was starving. The neighbors and the homeowner indicated they

had seen hawks in the area but I hadn’t seen any since I’d been

there. The neighborhood was full of huge, mature, towering trees,

but no nests jumped out at me. I was pretty sure I was looking at a

fledgling… something. But I couldn’t be sure exactly what, and

not knowing what it was I couldn’t be sure if I should leave it be or

bring it in. I finally decided to bring it in and let the experts do an

evaluation – if it was healthy I could return it back right away.

After an evaluation by the naturalists the next day, it was

determined that what we had was a fledgling Red-shouldered

Hawk, a smaller cousin to the Red Tailed Hawk. It was first identified as a Broad Wing Hawk

and if you look up the definition of Red Shouldered Hawk in

Wikipedia you’ll find that it actually says the juvenile is often

mistaken for a juvenile Broad Wing. Now that there was a

confident identification it was determined that the bird was in

decent shape but, given the heat and the skinny condition, we

would beef it up a little before returning it to its parents. So we

spent a week giving it fluids and hand feeding it twice a day,

and a little over a week after I removed it from its home I took it

back. I have to admit I was a little nervous – even though I

knew that the parents would continue to feed the bird (who

could now fly!) even a week later I couldn’t help but worry. I

placed the hawk in the yard of the people who originally

called. It immediately flew up to a window of the home and

sat precariously on the ledge, trying to balance. Eventually it

sort of hung upside down from the ledge – this did NOT inspire

confidence in me. If it fell straight down, it would be trapped behind a deck railing.

Suddenly I saw an adult hawk fly into the tree in the yard behind this one – the same

yard, under the same tree where I had caught it originally. Soon I saw another adult join it –

they were very interested in this baby and I knew the parents had arrived! I pulled the hawk

from the ledge and quickly placed it on the ground under the tree next door. The parents

watched the whole time, sometimes one would fly away from the tree and return but one –

let’s call her mom – stayed with the baby. I backed away and left them to their reunion,

secure in the knowledge that the family was whole again and the fledgling would be ok. In

last month’s article I talked a lot about reuniting and this month I got to put that talk into

action. It always feels good to return a wild animal to the place it belongs and this one felt

especially good. Please always make it the main priority to leave a baby with its parent(s) or

return it as soon as possible for a happy reunion!

Red-shouldered Hawk fledgling

Adult Red-shouldered Hawk