The Florida Keys Wild Hen Rehabilitation Heart (FKWBRC) takes in roughly 1,000 injured or sick birds yearly. The birds that may be nursed again to well being are finally launched again into the wild. Normally, that’s the finish of the Tavernier-based chook heart’s interplay with them.
“Normally, in wildlife rehabilitation with the animals that we launch, particularly with reference to birds, we don’t at all times know the result, we don’t know the place they go, what occurs, are they surviving, so that is going to offer us with crucial knowledge on what occurs,” mentioned Erin Allison, government director of the middle.
In early January, FKWBRC partnered with Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, based mostly in Pennsylvania. Researchers from Hawk Mountain are finding out the migratory actions of broad-winged hawks from Florida. Most broad-winged hawks winter in Central and South America, however there’s a small section that prefers to remain proper right here within the Sunshine State.
“Biologists don’t know what they’re doing, the place they’re nesting, why they aren’t following the traditional migratory routes,” mentioned Allison.
Allison mentioned a couple of years in the past the chook heart was approached by Hawk Mountain, asking if they’d any hawks that will meet the factors for the research. On the time they didn’t.
Nevertheless, a couple of months in the past that each one modified. On two separate events, good Samaritans introduced two injured broad-winged hawks to the middle.
One got here in on Nov. 28, rescued by the facet of U.S. 1 in Key Largo.
A second hawk was introduced in on Dec. 21. It was present in a yard in Key Largo by somebody’s canine.
“We suspect that each of them had been most likely hit by a automotive,” mentioned FKWBRC operations director Bayleigh MacHaffie. “After they got here in, each of them had been dehydrated as properly. We handled them, getting them stabilized with fluids, and we began them on anti-inflammatory drugs.”
As soon as absolutely rehabilitated, the juvenile hawks had been wonderful candidates for the research. A workforce from Hawk Mountain got here down in January and fitted every chook with a little bit GPS backpack. The transmitters had been sufficiently small to not intervene with the birds’ habits and flight capabilities.
In addition they gave the hawks names, Largo and Massive Pine.
“I’ve by no means seen something like this backpack being match on a hawk or every other chook, to be sincere. I’ve seen plenty of banding, however that was a brand new one for me,” mentioned MacHaffie.
“It matches them identical to a backpack. It wasn’t too tight; it wasn’t too unfastened. They sutured the fabric collectively so it wouldn’t come undone,” added MacHaffie.
As soon as fitted with the monitoring gadgets, Largo and Massive Pine had been pushed as much as Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead and launched into the wild.
One different rehabilitated hawk from the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station in Miami was additionally fitted with a GPS backpack and launched.
On its web site, Hawk Mountain said, “to guard these three birds as they reorient again into the wild, we’re going to preserve their monitoring knowledge non-public. As soon as they provoke spring migration, we are going to share public maps on our web site.”
“It’s very particular to have the ability to collaborate with researchers who might help give us info that will probably be useful for us and likewise for the species,” mentioned Allison.
To observe the hawks being monitored by the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, simply go to
https://www.hawkmountain.org/birdtracker/.