Red-tailed hawk earns its wings
After months of training, the rescued bird is set free in W.V.
The hawk soared over the Lee Kay Ponds wildlife reserve in West Valley City, getting its first taste of freedom since it was found in June behind a Utah Department of Transportation office after falling from its nest atop a steel power line tower.
A windstorm had blown the fledgling hawk from its post. It was the only survivor from its nest behind the office at 2700 West and 2100 South.
"Oh, that just gives me goosebumps every time they fly," sad Mark Bain, a volunteer with Wilderness Rehabilitation. "This one was fun, she ran me pretty good."
Bain spent the summer teaching the young hawk to fly using a method much like a kite where the bird is tied to the end of a string and has to use its wing muscles to stay afloat. After three months of that exercise the hawk was ready to fly on its own.
"It takes a little longer for us to teach them than their mothers," Bain said. "There's a communication gap; we can't quite speak their language."
The hawk's pre-wilderness training also included instruction on how to hunt prey. Luckily, however, the hawk had been 6 weeks old when it was found and had been around its mother long enough to pick up on some natural hunting instinct.
"The first thing that we put in there was gone within a half hour."
Jim Burruss, environmental analyst for Pacificorp, said finding birds like the red-tailed hawk in power lines is not uncommon and usually doesn't cause a problem unless the nests catch fire or impede the power lines.
Utah Power officials always coordinate with Utah Wilderness Rehabilitation when birds are found injured or stranded on power lines, Burruss added.
"Because we live in the arid West and there are a lot of power lines, these birds of prey use the holes for nesting and for hunting," Burruss said.
But finding a bird that is in good enough condition to eventually release back into the wild like "UDOT" is particularly rare, he said.
E-mail: estewart@desnews.com
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