On June 13, three young Cooper’s Hawks were found after a heavy storm rolled through Roanoke, Virginia and destroyed their nesting tree. The hawks’ mother was killed in the storm, so the local Animal Control officers took the three young hawks to the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center. Permitted rehabilitator Sabrina Garvin hydrated and fed the young hawks, and two days later sent them to the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
Admitted as patients #13-1494, 1495, and 1496, all the chicks were found to be healthy. The staff settled the three birds into the Center’s holding room and offered them a diet of chopped mice. In the wild, Cooper’s Hawks primarily eat medium-sized birds, small mammals, insects, amphibians, and reptiles. When the Wildlife Center receives adult Cooper’s Hawks, these picky eaters are typically served a diet of chicks or quail. Because these three young birds were not yet particularly finicky eaters, the rehabilitation staff offered a more calorie-dense meal of chopped mice and rats.
By early July, the three birds were living together outside in an intermediate-sized C-pen enclosure. On July 28, the siblings were moved to A3 – the Center’s largest flight pen. The rehabilitation staff began a daily exercise program for the raptors on August 4. Once all three are flying well, they will be split up into different flight pens for live-prey testing. This live-prey testing will consist of “chick school”, in which the young raptors will learn to hunt for their own food for the first time. All three hawks will need to “pass” five days of live-prey testing before release is considered.
Watch the Cooper’s Hawk family on the Center’s Critter Cam!