How to Use Up Surplus Mice

Last week a friend asked if we would be interested in helping out with raptor rehabilitation (twist our arms if you must!). One of the reasons we were considered (besides the fact that we are both biologists) is that we have easy access to mice, which are a favorite prey item of hawks.

Kevin and Ian spent last Saturday assembling a mew that the aforementioned friend is loaning us for the duration of this project. Last Monday we picked up a gorgeous red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) fledgling from the local vet clinic who participates in raptor rehab. This bird does not have any injuries--it was found at the base of a tree and had apparently fallen from its nest. So...that makes our job a lot easier. Our goals are to transition the hawk from eating meatballs to catching and eating live prey (rodents, birds, snakes, even large grasshoppers), and also to help it strengthen its flight muscles in preparation for the winter migration. We also need to weigh it once a week to make sure it's getting enough food. The vet anticipated it taking about 3-6 weeks before we can release the hawk back into the wild.

This is the outside of the mew:

This is the inside of the mew with the hawk:

This is a close-up of the gorgeous creature:

Monday evening we fed it a meatball. Tuesday morning we decided to go ahead and try out a pinkie (baby mouse with no fur) and a hopper (small mouse with fur whose eyes are open). The hawk seemed confused for awhile and kept staring at the mice from its perch. Eventually it flew down, grabbed them, and ate them. Tuesday evening was an entirely different scenario--we had barely thrown a pinkie inside the mew when the bird immediately pounced on it, grabbed it, and swallowed it down whole. It did the same with 3 hoppers, although it tore a couple of them apart and ate them in pieces (it's beak is amazingly sharp, just like the books say!). Currently we are feeding it approximately 2 oz. of food at each morning and evening feeding, but we plan to gradually increase the amount since it still appears rather hungry after feedings.

Here is video footage of this morning's feeding--1 hopper and 1 meatball:

The hawk wouldn't eat the meatball until we closed the door. We are supposed to minimize human interaction with it, so don't expect too many more videos. We also find it difficult not to give it a name and not to talk to it (the vet emphasized, "It is NOT to be treated as a pet!").

Since the food transition seems to be going just fine, our next step is to construct a covered area extending from the mew door where it can practice flying a longer distance for its food. Kevin also has plans to go out and catch wild rodents, garter snakes, starlings, and/or pigeons to feed it. We definitely do not have enough mice for 3-6 weeks--we learned today from a falconer (one of our mouse customers who stopped to purchase mice for his snakes and instantly recognized the squawking coming from our back yard) that red-tails can eat 6 adult mice a day.

For the record, this is a trial run for us to see how things go. If we are successful, then the vet said we could be put on an official permit to be raptor rehabilitators. And then Ian can build us our own mew as a scout project!