Volunteers help red-tail hawks beat the odds
(Photo by KEITH KINNAIRD) The healthy raptors showed no signs of their ordeal.
(Photo by KEITH KINNAIRD) Don and Janie Veltkamp prepare to release two red-tailed hawks that were blown out of their nest and came perilously close to starving to death.
(Photo by KEITH KINNAIRD) Paul Herndon (left) takes a photo of his family and Birds of Prey Northwest volunteers and staff.
(Photo courtesy MYA LUNDAK) This image shows the birds upon their rescue and their prior to their release.
SAGLE — Two young red-tailed hawks who were given low chances of survival after being blown from their nest were helped into the sky on Friday.
The pair of hawks were discovered on the road leading to the Pleasant Meadow Creamery on June 14, a week or so after windstorm blew through Bonner County.
The birds were young enough that their species wasn’t immediately evident, said Debra Herndon, who found them in her driveway. A bit of research revealed them to be red-tailed hawks. The raptors moved into the grass overnight.
“But then the next morning they were right back in the middle of the road. They wouldn’t move. Nothing deterred them,” said Herndon.
It turns out the very youthful raptors, renowned for their hunting capabilities, were dangerously emaciated and at risk of being picked off by opportunistic prey.
“They’d been grounded for over a week and were starving to death. They were quite near death when we got them,” said Janie Veltkamp, director of Birds of Prey Northwest.
Veltkamp noted that the hawks’ chances at survival were grim when she first assessed them. She placed their odds at survival at 20 percent.
“They were half-dead,” said Judi Lundak, a member of the network of local Birds of Prey volunteers which spring into action when injured raptors are found.
But Veltkamp’s husband, Don, said they were brought back from the brink through a five-day stretch of round-the-clock treatment.
“We did triage treatment every three or four hours through the night with an alarm clock,” he said.
When the hawks were removed from the travel cases, the mottled, dusky raptors with piercing eyes and powerful talons showed no evidence of their ordeal. They ate well while during their recovery, however. They were fed the finest mice, which retailed for 75 cents apiece.
“Hundreds of dollars to get these birds back on the wing, just in food costs,” Janie Veltkamp said.
Janie Veltkamp estimated that the hawks were about 10 weeks old.
“They are of the natural age to take their first flight. That’s why we wanted to get them back,” she said.
Don Veltkamp wished the hawk luck and released it into the air. Janie Veltkamp followed suit.
Both hawks ably made their way for trees off in the distance.
“It’s not the flying that’s tough. It’s the landing that’s tough,” said Don Veltkamp.
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.