Alaska

Alaska is a male Swainson’s Hawk who weighs about 1 3/4 pounds and has a wingspan of 4 feet. He was shot in northern Utah (near Paradise), in 1994 and part of his left wing had to be removed, he has no primary feathers on his left wing and is not able to fly more than a few feet. He was a full adult when he was shot so he was at least 2 years old in 1994. Alaska was named because Swainson's Hawks may migrate to Argentina from as far north as Alaska making a yearly roundtrip of approximately 14,000 miles.

Read about Conservation Issues for Alaska:

• Hunting Raptors is Illegal
• Flight Mechanic

Calurus

Calurus is a male Western Red-tailed Hawk who weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and has a wingspan of 4 feet. He got caught in a barbed wire fence in California in 1992. He had broken his left wing and it failed to heal properly so he is now unable to fly. He was an adult when he was injured so we believe he was hatched in 1990, if not earlier. Calurus was named for the subspecies of Western Red-tailed Hawks, Buteo jamaicensis calurus.

Read about Conservation Issues for Calurus:

• Human Created Dangers

 Yaki

Yaki is a female American Kestrel who weighs about 4 ounces and has a wingspan of just over one foot. She was found on May 20, 2002 and left on the doorstep of a rehabilitator in Holladay, Utah. Yaki had injuries to her left humerus in her wing, which unfortunately did not heal correctly. She was transferred to HawkWatch on August 29, 2002. Yaki's name is a reference to the HWI research site on the south rim of the Grand Canyon and commemorates the Sept. 18, 2000 flight of 396 American Kestrels at Yaki Point.

Read about Conservation Issues for Yaki:

• What to Do If You Find an Injured Raptor

 Kotori

Kotori is a male Great Horned Owl.  He was found as a nestling and taken to a wildlife rehabilitator.  During his first few weeks there, he developed an eye infection requiring him to have human interaction several times a day.  For this reason, Kotori is known as a human imprint.  Imprinting is a term that describes how many animals decide ‘who they are’.  It is a critical behavioral process in a growing animal and occurs during a period in which the young establish the concept of “parent” and “self”.  Taking place early in life, it is an irreversible process.   Since Kotori spent much of his critical period with humans, he never realized the concept of being an owl and was unable to be released into the wild.  The name Kotori comes from the Hopi word meaning owl spirit.

Read about Conservation Issues for Kotori:

• Imprinting