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Buffy the red-tailed hawk
USA
Red tailed hawk
yes
- off-site education animal
- static display animal
wild reared
Adult, approx 2 years
This hawk was still in juvenile plumage when she was hit by a car. She suffered damage to her left eye resulting in natural evisceration. She has been fully trained as a falconry bird to establish whether she could be taught hunting skills, so she is sociable with humans and glove trained.
100
N/A
3
She can perform all typical behaviors except she has difficulty catching live prey in strong wind or when prey is too close to the ground.
yes
If it’s time for training/food she will approach and wait to be asked to step up. If it’s not training time she will remain in a perch showing comfort behaviors such as foot tucking and preening.
She will remain calm if a stranger approaches to a reasonable distance. If they enter her personal space she will move to a different perch or spread her wings if she cannot move farther away. She does will with humans approaching if her handler is also hear her (holding her on the glove or standing next to the perch).
alone
no
good life
good life
Buffy was being flown as a falconry bird to see if she could adapt to the lack of sight in her left eye. She was not successful enough to warrant release, but she still has an excellent quality of life. She is handled daily, including weighing, stepping onto the glove, flying to the glove, crating, etc. she has done a few small outreach programs and performed well. She is being trained using choice-based methods and performs many husbandry behaviors voluntarily (weighing, equipment changes, touching feet). She interacts with enrichment items and is overall a very solid bird for a handler willing to put in the time to keep up with her training.
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