If you are interested in more wildlife rehabilitation, here is a video of the release of successfully rehabilitated Red Shouldered and Red Tailed Hawks in Northern California. Watch carefully! Red Shouldered Hawks have an incredible ability to accelerate, as seen in this one’s release.
Notice the difference in setting. With the first release of the Red Shouldered Hawk, we chose a wooded area near a creek with plenty of shade. Red Shouldered Hawks thrive in these areas with smaller prey and not a lot of flying space, because they have the ability to accelerate so quickly. We released the Red Tailed Hawk in a much less wooded area, with more grasslands in the surrounding area. The Red Tailed Hawk will hunt slightly larger prey, like rabbits and gophers, and flies high above in the sky, watching the landscape from above, view unabated by foliage.
Red Tailed Hawks are much larger and do not have the same capacity for acceleration. Furthermore, as their name would suggest, Red Tailed Hawks have a redder tail when they are adults, while Red Shouldered Hawks have redder breasts and backs.
In a rehabilitation setting, hawks are one of my favorite species. Once you learn how to properly handle them (wearing very heavy and thick leather gloves), covering their head to reduce stress, you can really appreciate their physique. They have massive talons that are incredibly strong. Even through thick gloves, their strength is obvious. Their beaks are also incredible. Sharp and made for tearing, hawk’s beaks are distinctly curved compared to many other birds.
As patients, hawks can be challenging because they often do not eat well when they are stressed. We meticulously log how much of their food they eat, and force feed them if it comes to that. As always, we try to minimize handling and only intervene when absolutely necessary to limit their furthered exposure to humans.
