RANGE | The Red-tailed Hawk ranges throughout North America, from western Alaska east to the Yukon , and the Northwest Territories east to southern Quebec and the Maritime Province of Canada - through the United States and Mexico, as far south as far as the mountains of Panama and the West Indies.

FUN FACTS | The vast majority of their diet consists of rodents, particularly squirrels. Other rodent prey includes mice, groundhogs, voles, rats, gophers, ground squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and more. They will also eat snakes, birds, lizards, young turtles, quail, carrion and have even been seen eating crabs. Red-tailed Hawks, like other birds of prey, have amazing eyesight. Not only can they see the colors that we can, but also colors in the ultraviolet range meaning they can see more colors than us. They can also see better at greater distances, able to see a brown mouse in a field of brown grass while flying in the sky. When diving for prey they can reach speeds of up to 120 mph. These birds stay in the same territory their whole lives, usually just about 2 square miles, but that area may be as big as 10 square miles. Their natural predators include Great horned owls, ravens and crows. Other threats include rodenticides and pesticides, vehicles and habitat loss.

Taborri lived in a nest with her mom and sister, which happened to be in the backyard of a house. One day, the people living there were cleaning, when they noticed a bunch of sticks and leaves in tree. Not realizing it was a nest, they grabbed a hose and blasted it out of the tree! Taborri and his sister fell to the ground. With the Mother hawk nowhere to be seen, the people decided to take both babies to a wildlife center. His sister was just bruised, so she recovered and was released (santa clara county). However, bones in Taborri's wing had broken and, since bird bones are not solid like ours, the permanent damage would impact his ability to fly. Unable to survive on his own, he was no longer safe to release into the wild.

We gave him the name Taborri, which means voice that carries, because of his loud cry, typical of Red-tailed hawks. In fact, often the loud raspy call from a bird in movies or commercials, it is the recorded call of a red-tailed hawk! Of all of our birds, he plays with toys and engages with enrichment most. During his first two years with us, he only played with green toys: green balls, green dog toys and a green stuffed parrot. While still a quirky character, his color preferences have relaxed a bit!

SPECIAL NEEDS | No medical needs at this time. For all of our raptor enclosures, we would love to create/build dynamic perching system.

He loves smaller stuffed toys and rope balls that he can grab and carry around. He likes to reach into boxes and tubes filled with raffia and packing paper to find a new toy or a treat. He enjoys novel items hung from his roof or his swing so he can work at grabbing them. He is such a smart bird and has enjoyed some of the basic dog puzzle toys.