What Time is it in Nature?

On Wednesday, January 23, Dr. John Cooper discovered what appeared to be an injured Red-tailed Hawk during his morning walk around Prairie Ridge.  Dr. Cooper, a research scientist with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, immediately contacted Prairie Ridge staff to inform them of the injured animal.  Brian Hahn, a natural resource specialist with Prairie Ridge, was able to capture the hawk and transport it to the Piedmont Wildlife Center, a local wildlife rehabilitation hospital.  Initial tests by the center show that the hawk has a fractured keel bone, the bone that the wing muscles are attached to, and severe bruising.  These injuries, along with the hawk’s location next to Edwards Mill Road, may indicate that the hawk was struck by a car.

The Piedmont Wildlife Center will treat the animal’s injuries and then send it to the Carolina Raptor Center where it will be re-learn how to fly before its eventual release into the wild.

The injured hawk amoung the grasses at Prairie Ridge

The hawk attempts to hide

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