Adopt Taken the Swainson’s Hawk

Description

Taken was rescued in December 2019, having been “found” in a driveway in Albuquerque. We received a desperate call on the Raptor Rescue Hotline about a hawk that could not fly. Upon arrival at the scene, our rescuers found a Swainson’s Hawk! The entire world population of Swainson’s Hawk migrates to Argentina where they spend the winter. So you can imagine our surprise at finding a very well-fed juvenile Swainson’s Hawk, with frayed wing feathers and absolutely no tail feathers, in the middle of winter. In fact, he was so well fed that before he was given his name, volunteers and staff nicknamed him Gordo. We believe someone had kept him in a wire cage, and then decided to “release” him back into the wild. But this young bird’s feathers were in such terrible condition that he could not fly at all. Not only that, he had become imprinted on humans, so it was already too late for him to learn to function as a Swainson’s Hawk. Because this bird was tragically deprived of his chance to live in the wild and be free, we gave him a powerful name: Taken. His chance to live free was stolen from him when he was taken from the wild.