Three hawk success stories by Wanda D’Agostino
1. I received an injured sharp shinned hawk that was very malnourished and w
eak. After 3 1/2 weeks of forced feedings and Nutri-Cal(R) supplements, it was strong enough to be released.
2. An East Hartford resident called to say she had a hawk that had been hit by a truck. The bird turned out to be a coopers hawk. During its recovery I found it was damaging its feathers on the cage so I transferred it to a flight cage at Wickham Park in Manchester. After about a month (and about 100 mice) it was strong enough to fly well. The hawk actually ‘escaped’ during a feeding. It flew fast and far, well able to take care of itself.
3. I received another coopers hawk from a woman on Edgewood Street in Hartford. The hawk was showing signs of a head injury, but after just a week of force feeding (it downed 4-6 mice a day), it was released about a month later.
It is always rewarding to see any animal released back into the wild, and I feel especially good about the coopers hawks since they are on the ‘threatened wildlife’ lists and are somewhat rare.