Red Tailed Hawk Rescue
On the afternoon of December 29, 2006 Tena Lemmers saw a Red-tailed Hawk sitting on Betty Sheaff's fence. The bird was soaking wet. When approached, the bird was too weak to fly.
Frank and Tena captured the hawk and called Raptor Recovery Nebraska. Betsy and Doug Finch from the Center, asked them to bring in the hawk. Raptor Recovery Nebraska is located right here in Cass county, 2 miles west of Elmwood.
Betsy Finch examined the Red-tailed Hawk in the emergency care building at Raptor Recovery Nebraska. Betsy said the hawk was a juvenile and was hatched this past spring. The hawk had not been injured. Instead it was severely malnourished. The hawk had been unsuccessful in hunting this fall, and today it ran out of energy, crashed, and could no longer fly. Betsy said the mortality rate for Red-tailed hawks before their first year of age is 70-75% due to becoming prey to animals, or from lacking skills in hunting.
The Red-tailed Hawk devoured pieces of rabbit fed to it. The hawk will be treated, fed, and nursed back to health at the Center. After several days to a week when it has made a full recovery, the hawk will be released near our lake.
Also being cared for in the emergency care building at the Raptor Recovery Nebraska were two adult Bald Eagles. Both eagles were rescued from parts of Nebraska this past week. Both are suffering from lead poisoning. The eagle in the pictures below is blind and was rescued near Norfolk. Blindness is a symptom from lead poisoning in eagles. The eagle is being fed pieces of rabbit, fish, mice, and rats (the mice and rats are housed in the tubs behind Frank in the photo below). The eagles are being treated with antibiotics and a treatment to flush the lead from its body. The blindness is reversible. When the eagle has regained its sight and is healthy it will be released back into the wild.
Betsy told said that lead poisoning of eagles is a big problem right now due to the 8-year cycle of drought in Nebraska. Lead shot has not been used for many years by waterfowl hunters, but lead shot still remains at the bottom of lakes and wetland areas from years of hunting. Lead shot laying on the bottom of Nebraska waterways that might be up to 100 years old is now exposed due to the low water levels. Ducks feeding on vegetation occasionally consume the lead shot. Most-likely, the eagle in the Recovery Center ate a piece of lead shot while feeding on a duck who had consumed a piece of lead shot. That one small piece of lead shot was enough to poison the eagle.
The facilities at the Raptor Recovery Nebraska, Inc are amazing. Below are cages used to acclimate raptors before release.
The mission of Raptor Recover Nebraska is to provide care and support for injured and orphaned raptors in preparation for release; to assist in the management of raptor populations and raptor research: to enlist public support for raptor conservation through educational programs, displays and special events utilizing live raptors as ambassadors for their kind.
The Red-tailed Hawk brought to the Center today was the 396th raptor they've treated so far during the year of 2006.
Raptor Recovery Nebraska operates with a statewide volunteer network that picks up injured or orphaned raptors and releases those successfully rehabilitated. Founded in 1976, Raptor Recovery Nebraska to date has rescued and treated over 5000 raptors from across Nebraska. Nearly 50% have been released back to the wild. This is one of the highest success rates for release of any program in the nation.
Raptor Recovery Nebraska operates completely on donations and are constantly in need of volunteers to help in the recovery and the care of raptors. They are a 501c3 corporation----gifts to Raptor Recovery Nebraska are tax-deductible. Their address is 27320 Adams, Elmwood, NE 68349. Their phone number is 308-233-2695.
In addition to financial and volunteer needs, the Center is constantly in need of donations of rabbits and fish. If you harvest rabbits (without using lead shot) freeze the rabbits in bread bags without cleaning them, and drop them off at the Center. Another way here at North Lake that we can help Raptor Recovery Nebraska is by saving Skip Jack (White Perch) caught in our lake. Freeze the fish whole without cleaning them.