<\/p>\n
After four months of painstaking rehabilitation and care, SouthWest Avian Protection Service released a young red-tailed hawk back into the wild Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The hawk was found in November near Fozzie\u2019s Farm in Lewis after a strong storm.<\/p>\n
Charles Littlejohn, the founder of the Dove Creek nonprofit<\/a>, received a call from Colorado Parks and Wildlife about the bird being found on an icy road.<\/p>\n He saw that she was starving and her feet were frostbitten.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think this bird was going to make it,\u201d Littlejohn said. \u201cShe was starving. She didn\u2019t have the strength to fly. If she can\u2019t fly, she can\u2019t hunt. If she can\u2019t hunt, she can\u2019t eat. It was just a downward spiral.\u201d<\/p>\n Littlejohn said to simply call the bird \u201cRed Tail,\u201d since the name he used, which related to her feisty nature, was less appropriate.<\/p>\n Littlejohn had to manually rehabilitate her legs for the first two weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually got in there and worked its legs and worked its talons back and forth,\u201d Littlejohn said. \u201cShe couldn\u2019t use them to grab prey. She couldn\u2019t actually uncurl them.\u201d<\/p>\n She had to be hand-fed at first.<\/p>\n It took about a month for her feet to regain their essential functions.<\/p>\n Over time, Red Tail was transferred to gradually larger pens where she could get exercise and adapt to being outside again.<\/p>\n Her diet primarily consisted of beef heart and small rodents.<\/p>\n Littlejohn estimates that Red Tail was about a year old at the time of her release, a juvenile just on the cusp of adulthood.<\/p>\n Upon being released Saturday, Red Tail quickly perched in a nearby tree before testing her wings out in the distance.<\/p>\n \u201cShe knows exactly where she\u2019s at,\u201d Littlejohn said. \u201cShe knows what she\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Sisters Sharp and Rogers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began volunteering with the nonprofit over the weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see the rehabilitation that is possible,\u201d Sister Rogers said. \u201cIt\u2019s really amazing. We\u2019re hoping to keep coming out here and volunteering as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Littlejohn had been a falconer for 10 years before starting up SWAPS.<\/p>\n He plans to release a great horned owl and an American kestrel in the near future.<\/p>\n While it has had an early focus on rehabilitating birds, the organization plans on opening up an education center to help inform the community about avian wildlife.<\/p>\n Visit the Southwest Avian Protection Service website<\/a> or Facebook page<\/a> for more information and updates.<\/p>\n Contributions can be made through the \u201cdonate\u201d button on the SWAPS Facebook page or individuals can send a check to PO Box 667, Dove Creek, CO, 81324.<\/p>\n