Unplanned Visitor

 

While sitting at the kitchen table, watching my chickens peck and scratch outside in their coop, I noticed some flapping, and struggling above the chicken coop. Within a few moments I realized that the patterns of the wings and tail, along with the size were unlike any that we usually have in our small birds that visit our feeders, or steal grain from our chickens.

I ran outside and realized we had a small hawk tangled up in the bird netting above our chicken coop that is used to keep out predatory birds. Here in the Central Mountains of New Mexico we live in a Raptor Fly-Way where predatory birds ride the thermals as they migrate north and south each year. We also have many raptors, including eagles, hawks, owls and vultures that live here year around.

Well, apparently the protective netting we use above the chicken coop works very well. We’ve yet to lose a chicken to any raptors. But small birds can and do still sneak in the chicken fence openings to steal the chicken’s grain. Which is probably why this little hawk decided to try his luck in catching some of them. He’s too small to be tackling a chicken dinner, though.

The little hawk was struggling to free itself after he got his toes stuck in the netting. With all his flailing, he only managed to get the netting twisted even more tightly around his toe. Eventually, he might have lost his toe. I went out there with a blanket, and placed it over his head. He lay very still and allowed me to hold him, while Ranchman John used scissors to cut him free from the netting. I brought the little hawk inside to check to make sure he wasn’t injured and used clippers to remove the last bit of netting that had twisted tightly around his toe. My kidlets were amazed to be so close to such a beautiful little creature and the hawk, although scared, just gazed at us, and didn’t offer to bite or flail in my hands.

After looking in my bird identification guide and online, I do believe this little guy is a juvenile Sharp-Shinned Hawk.

~Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)

The Sharp-shinned Hawk is a small Accipiter (about the same size as an American Robin) that breeds in North America and Winters from North America and South into Central America.

Length:
Males: 9-11 inches (24-27 cm)
Females: 11-13 inches (29-34 cm)

Wingspan:
Males 20-22 inches (53-56 cm)
Females: 23-26 inches (58-65 cm)

Weight:
Males: 87-114 grams (3-4 oz)
Females: 150-208 grams (5-8 oz)

Diet: Sharp-shinned Hawks prey almost exclusively on small - medium birds. They have very long toes with long spicules, which have evolved to help them hold onto the feathers of their prey.

Longevity Record: 19 Years and 11 months; based upon known age of a wild sharpie at banding and subsequent band recovery.

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Years ago, I my kidlets and I, along with our homeschool group, hiked up into the Manzano Mountains, just west of us at 10,000 ft to participate in Raptor Tracking/Hawk and Flammulated Owl Banding with Hawk Watch International. (Click on that link. Good stuff!)

During our time up there I was also able to catch and release a wild Swainson Hawk. You can see the photos and read about that day RIGHT HERE. That's a link to my old homeschool blog, that I started in 2006)

So, I know what a rush it is to release a wild raptor back into the sky. And releasing the little Sharp-Shinned Hawk was just as thrilling for me as the first time.