Young Red-Tailed Hawk Struggles To Eat

The following story about a red-tailed hawk was submitted by World Bird Sanctuary in Missouri.

Meet red-tailed hawk 21-241. We’re not sure if 241 fledged early from her nest and got lost or if something happened to her parents. She was definitely not old enough to be hunting on her own when she was found too weak to fly outside a hotel valet station in St. Louis.

Upon exam at the World Bird Sanctuary’s rehabilitation hospital, 241 was found to be very emaciated and suffering from a heavy load of blood parasites. She was started on a four-times-per-day tubing diet of EmerAid IC Carnivore and chopped rat.

Normally, young birds like 241 are able to easily process solid food even when emaciated. That was not the case with 241, who continuously regurgitated any solid food given to her. A blood transfusion was given to help with the anemia and blood parasite load that she was suffering from, as well as with the regurgitation issues.

She struggled to gain weight from her intake weight of 941 grams (about 2.1 pounds) with a body condition score of 1 on June 6, 2021. She remained on four-times-a-day tube feeding for a full 10 days. While still struggling to process solid food, she continued to handle her tubing diet well and was up to 1,224 grams (about 2.7 pounds) by June 23.

After three weeks of tubing diets, she finally processed solid food consistently enough to come off tube feeding. From there it was a quick turnaround. She readily passed live prey training and flight conditioning. We released her July 27 at 1,362 grams (about 3 pounds) and a 3.5 body condition score.