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

This hawk’s flight feathers were burned off – so we replaced them! Photos / BRWC

This Red-shouldered Hawk was found down and unable to fly at the Loudoun County Solid Waste Management Facility in Leesburg, VA, and was lucky to be rescued by one of the humane law enforcement officers of Loudoun County Animal Services.

On exam, the reason for this bird’s inability to fly was easily seen – all of the flight feathers on the right wing had been severely burned, leaving only the feather shafts on that side. Feathers all over the front of the body, the left wing, and the tail had also been affected to varying (but lesser) degrees.

We keep donor feathers from deceased individuals of each species for imping, using donor feathers to replace damaged feathers as in cases like this. Under anesthesia, each damaged feather is cut and joined to a donor feather. This was done for all of the primary feathers (and most secondaries) on this hawk’s right wing.

The top image is the right wing on admission. The lower photo shows this same wing after imping. Only primary and some secondaries were replaced. The goal in this situation is not immediate release as we would not want to release with this level of feather damage over the entire body. In this situation, flight feathers were imped to allow this bird to fly and do well in our outdoor caging so that it could have as stress-free a stay as possible and maintain body and flight condition while in care and awaiting molting.

After imping, you can see that this bird has two full sets of flight feathers. With these donor feathers, this patient can now fly again!

This patient’s newly donated feathers will allow for flight and a more comfortable stay in outdoor rehabilitation caging until this patient can be released.