"Nyol hik`eh ko" (Apache for "Wind and Fire")

Foster Mother / Education Animal

Nyol hik`eh ko was a Red-Tailed Hawk who was used by MWR to educate children and foster baby hawks. She was shot in 1989 and illegally kept in a cage for 13 years. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service confiscated her, turning her over to MWR in 2002 with the hope for rehabilitation and release.

Dr. Lynn Cox of All Animal Hospital in Olive Branch, x-rayed her and found that the injury to her spinal cord had fused perfectly. However, in consultation with Knox Martin of the Memphis Zoo and experts from NWRA and IWRC, it was determined that she was too old to be put through the required conditioning. Plus, she had developed arthritis in one of her wings. MWR could not return her to the wild with confidence that she could survive. USFWS permitted MWR to use her as a 'foster mom', caring for baby red tails. She fostered many young hawks who successfully were rehabilitated to the wild. Sadly, the excessively warm weather during the summer of 2006 was very difficult for Nyolhikehko, and she passed away. She was much loved and admired by all.

"Binaiadee" (Apache for "Spirit")

Education Bird / Not Released

Binaiadee was imported from California as an immature bird. He was hatched in a 50' high tree and before he had any feathers, he fell from his nest into an elderly couple's back yard. They brought him into their home, feeding him for a week, not knowing one wing was broken and that it was unlawful for them to keep him.

Because the break was not repaired in time, it never healed properly. With his wing permanently damaged, Binaiadee can fly but not very well. He cannot maintain any height in flight so he could never be an effective hunter, a skill he would need to be released into he wild. The State of California was going to euthanize him.

Director Valery Smith read about him on the Internet and felt he could be put to productive use at the Mississippi Wildlife Rehabiliation Center. Because Binaiadee is already "manned" (i.e. has flown with and been trained by a falconer so he will sit on a person's fist and eat from the hand), she decided to try to use him as an educational bird. Binaiadee has a wonderful temperment and is otherwise very healthy. He is not tame, but he allows people to see him, sitting calmly on Valery's hand and is not scared of the loud noises children might make unexpectedly.

Red-Tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) are the most common hawk in the Northwest Mississippi area. They are a "raptor", which is a bird of prey. The word "raptor" comes from the Latin root that means "to seize and carry away", and is a term assigned to any bird that kills with its feet.

Most adults have a rust-red tail, with a white chest which has a streaky brown "belly-band" while juveniles have brown tails with white stripes, and streaky brown chests. We have many pictures of the Red Tailed Hawks we have rehabilitated because they are one of the easiest birds to care for. Most have an easy, laid back temperament, and for the most part are non-aggressive.

Red-tail hawks may be recognized in flight by the massive, muscle-bound appearance of their wings, the leading edge of which shows a dark crescent-shaped streak of color contrasting with the general pale wing color. These hawks are adapted for soaring and will spend long periods riding thermals, looking for prey or migrating.

Red-Tailed Hawks use a sit-and-wait style of hunting, scanning for prey from high perches. They prefer to live in open rural areas and woodlands where mice, rats and rabbits, which are the Red-tail's preferred food also live. Red-tails also eat birds, squirrels and some insects. The Hawks call is a harsh, dropping keeeeer.

Adult Red-Tailed Hawks remain within their territory all year round. They are easily seen soaring in the sky or perched on power poles along the road hunting for a meal.

Red-Tailed Hawks are monogamous, remaining paired with their mate throughout the year. At the beginning of the breeding season, these Hawks will perform impressive aerial courtship flights to win their mate. The newly-mated pair will build its nest in a tall tree - often the tallest tree in a cluster - or on cliff ledges, towers, nest platforms, or even occasionally on tall buildings.

Both sexes help build the nest, a bulky collection of sticks lined with bark and other fine material they grab with their powerful talons. Both parent Red Tails help incubate the two to four white eggs spotted with brown. Eggs are laid in sequence, yet incubation commences with the first egg. This results in asynchronous hatching over a period of 28 to 32 days.

The female, which is usually the larger bird, will stay on the nest and brood the young for the first 30 to 35 days until after they hatch. During this time the wonderful Daddy Hawk brings food, which the female tears up to feed the babies. The older nestlings will be larger than their younger siblings and these smallest nestlings frequently perish. In some years only a single nestling may survive. Of those that survive to fledge, more than half will not survive their first year, many succumbing to starvation.

At 42 to 46 days, fledgelings may leave the nest, but they really can't fly for another two to three weeks. Babies that fall out of the nest are more work for the parents to find and feed until they can fly and catch their own food, but the parents are able to do so and should be allowed without human interference.

The majority of juveniles don't start catching their own food until six to seven weeks after they leave the nest, although starvation may motivate them sooner. Some juveniles may continue to associate with their parents for up to six months before they strike out to establish their own territory. Juvenile birds are mostly brown and mottled white; the characteristic red tail of the adult is acquired during their second year of life.