Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Mystery flies with Homer hawk

Mystery flies with Homer hawk

by Jason Moore
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The Bird Treatment and Learning Center is searching for the owner of a red-tailed hawk.

The center received the hawk Dec. 31 from a bird specialist in Homer and thought it might be sick or injured since it didn't display any signs of being skittish around people.

"That's when I went and got my falconry glove and I held the glove out to him and the bird jumped happily onto the glove," said Cindy Palmatier, an employee at the center. "I thought, wow, somebody's been training the bird. He really doesn't like people behind him."

The hawk seems to be in good condition and spirits even though it does not like people coming up from behind.

Red-tailed hawk owners are required to have the birds banded with special identification. This one isn't.

But from its behavior the Bird TLC believes it belongs to someone and they'd like that someone to come forward to retrieve their bird.

Contact Jason Moore at jmoore@ktuu.com

To see KTUU news video ( Mystery flies with Homer hawk) Click here.


From tonights news on KTUU Channel 2.

3 comments:

Meggie said...

I sure hope the hawk's owner comes forward to claim him. Don't ya wonder just what happened...how he got away? What happended to its owner? Maybe forever a mystery....

Susan Gets Native said...

Shoot. OUR red-tailed hawks don't "jump up" on our gloves!
What a nice bird!
Maybe an escapee from someone who wasn't supposed to have him, hence no band?
A bird who had previously been rehabbed? (though that doesn't really explain the manned-down behavior).
We have an RT in our care right now that was found AT our center. One of the rehabbers walked around the barn and there was this juv RT jus sitting there, thin and pitiful.
I hear that this sort of thing has happened before. How do they KNOW?
Anyhoo....hope this mystery gets solved.

Dave Dorsey said...

Meggie - you may be right.

Susan - Sounds like your RT got itself to the right place.