Sunday Oct 24th I got to go with Fisher to release a red-tail hawk that had been a resident of the Feather Rehab Center for almost 1 year. I've been on several releases of birds back into the wild and every one of them is nothing short of a miracle to me, but this one really was the exception. Here is her story:

The Feather received this hawk on Oct 29, 2003 from Tom Freund of Princeton, Wi. He drove the bird there after he found her standing in his yard, he had no problem picking her up. Her weight was only #906 grams, not good for a female red tail. She was taken to see Dr. Jim Ziegler and Dr. Mark Baetke of Wolf River Vet Clinic, New London, WI. They did x-rays and the diagnosis was not good. It was determined she had been gunshot and the left shoulder was horribly shattered.

Fisher kept her in the house for about two weeks and then she was put in a medium cage for another two weeks and then put in a 40 foot flight pen. It was there that she started to fly .Fisher knew she was going to need more space than she could provide her, so she contacted a falconer, Bob Smead from Neenah, WI and he agreed to fly her on his license for a season. She flew for him, but always missed the target. On June 24 she came back to the Feather for the moult and then in early fall Randy Stoeger, a falconer, took her on Sept 5,2004 to try to work her again. She flew 80 feet on a line and hit the target and his glove every time. He worked with her just over one month and then brought her back to the rehab center. There she was put back in the 40 foot flight and killing on target for a week.

On Oct 24th, 2004,she was released in a marsh area, with plenty of water and rodents around. The landowner, Jim Lehman got to put her in the air. As he released his grip on her, she merely stood on his glove, her choice, while we took many pictures of her. Even with Fisher and I both moving around, shooting from all angles, she simply stood there. It was just amazing. Pat Fisher had the following to say:

She spent 360 days with humans and learned not to fear them. On the release day she stood on the glove of the landowner without jesses and just watched.
I have no doubt that she will be a wild bird again once back in her world. She is at least 3-4 years old and if she had not been shot she would never have had to put up with us. Rules are in place for as long as you can hold a bird before it is to be released. The only bad thing is that the bird can not read the rules and therefore the human being has to make the right decision for the bird. Holding her longer than she was suppose to have been held gave her the needed time to heal. Along with two very caring falconers that gave their time and energy only to put her back where she belonged.