Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Red-tailed Hawk

Why do more raptors end up in wildlife hospitals during winter?

This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk is recovering well after a vehicle collision resulted in a fracture of the bird’s left ulna.

Fortunately, the radius (the other bone of the forearm or wing that runs parallel to the ulna) was intact. In cases like this, the intact radius essentially serves as an internal splint, which allows our team to stabilize the fracture with bandaging rather than surgical repair.

This young bird is otherwise healthy, alert, and eating well!

Over the next few weeks, our team will sedate this patient every few days for bandage changes and physical therapy so that normal range of motion is maintained at all of the joints.

Once the fracture is fully stable, this hawk will move to our pre-release enclosures to rebuild flight muscles and allow continued healing. If recovery goes as expected, we hope to return this bird home within the next six weeks!

Why do vehicle collisions increase for raptors in winter?

During winter, natural prey can be harder to find.

Small mammals may come closer to roads to forage for anything available, including trash or food scraps. Some are drawn to road salt, which can also attract them to the edges of highways.

Raptors follow their prey and hunt or scavenge near the road surface.

Red-tailed Hawks are also year-round residents in Virginia, and many northern individuals migrate into our region during winter.

This means more hawks on the landscape at a time when food is less abundant.

When raptors focus on prey or roadkill, they may not register an approaching vehicle in time, and collisions become more frequent.

You can help protect raptors in winter by avoiding litter, since trash attracts rodents and draws hawks closer to roads. Slowing down when you see roadkill also reduces the risk of injuring a bird that may be feeding or preparing to swoop in.

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