Whirlwind Trip, Part 3

I left the peregrine under the watch of my friend, Victoria, and headed to Raton, New Mexico, to pick up the red-tailed hawk. It was a pretty and uneventful drive that was shorter than I expected. With plenty of time to spare before our scheduled meeting at Denny’s, I decided to drive around the town. Well, that took about three minutes and I decided to return to Denny’s and read while I waited.

Soon a thunderstorm moved in and I sat enjoying the cooler air while I repeatedly had to roll my windows up and down due to the rain. Laurie, the woman bringing the hawk to me, called to let me know she was running quite a bit behind because she had already run into a couple really bad storms.

Eventually, she did arrive. What a gorgeous bird! We talked briefly about the hawk and got him transferred into my travel box for the journey back to Colorado Springs. This time I was the one who hit the storms, slowing us down just a little bit. We made it back safely and with plenty of time to take Victoria to a thank-you dinner for all her help.

After we had eaten it was time to offer the birds some food. Victoria brought out the falcon and I took out the hawk. Both were a bit nervous, but did very well considering they were in a strange person’s house with brand new handlers. The hawk had no interest in eating. I wasn’t surprised, I don’t know if he’s ever eaten on the glove before. I put him away so that he could enjoy his dinner in quiet and took the falcon from Victoria.

She continued to surprise me with her relaxed nature. She bated (tried to fly off the glove) a couple of times but was much more calm than I had expected. I decided to offer her food again. It didn’t take long this time and she was eating her quail! This was huge!!! She ate every bit of her meal and I put her away as a reward.

I could already tell that we were VERY lucky. We already have three amazing birds for our program and things were going smoothly!