Great news for this Red Tailed Hawk, who was given some brand new feathers at our of his center this week. Yesterday, he tried them out for the first time. We test flew him on a ‘creance” which is like a long fishing line.
And he flew.
This hawk has had a tough time. He was hit by a car, and in addition to the injuries he sustained to his body, many of his important feathers were badly damaged, including his tail (his steering and brakes!) and some primary flight feathers on his wings (what gives him the ‘lift’ he needs to fly).
At PMWC we performed an implant procedure called “imping” (short for implanting) where we took feathers from a deceased bird of the same species and sex, and gave them to the live bird.
By doing this, we can release the patient earlier, and he won’t have to spend months in a cage waiting for the feathers to grow back. (And, when his body is ready to grow new feathers, he will molt these out as though they were his own)
So yesterday, he flew in brand new feathers! And, the feathers of the bird who didn’t make it will once again be in the sky, helping our patient get back to his wild life. After about a week of flight conditioning, he should be ready to go.
