MORGAN HILL
– Independence Day came in February this year for a red-tailed
hawk when it was freed Thursday afternoon into a 116-acre nature
preserve in Coyote Valley.
MORGAN HILL – Independence Day came in February this year for a red-tailed hawk when it was freed Thursday afternoon into a 116-acre nature preserve in Coyote Valley.
The female hawk was set free on Tulare Hill after a stretch of rehabilitation at two animal rehab centers.
Nancy Richardson, executive director of the Land Trust For Santa Clara County, said the release was a good good thing for the hawk who gets her freedom and a new home and for the Land Trust, which bought the rural land to preserve for wildlife as Coyote Valley develops.
The preserve is located between Monterey Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard and between Blanchard and Metcalf roads, west of the Calpine Energy Center under construction.
Sue Howell, executive director of the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center (WERC) in Morgan Hill, said the hawk was found in December by a county road worker.
“He noticed the bird lying on the side of the road in Pacheco Pass and took it to the San Martin Animal Shelter,” Howell said. “We think it may have been grazed by a vehicle and don’t know how long it had been lying there with a concussion, but it had lost weight and was very weak.”
From the San Martin shelter the hawk went to the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley where it was given fluids and treated for a heavy infestation of internal parasites.
“They worked with her, built her up and transferred her to WERC for pre-release conditioning,” Howell said.
A 100-foot enclosure, the largest in Santa Clara County, has been the hawk’s home for the past month while she built up her weight and toned her muscles.
“Now she flies beautifully and is in excellent condition,” Howell said. “She’s very hefty, with good feather condition and passed her prerelease checkup with flying colors – she was ready to go.”
Howell said the bird has been a bit restless because this is the time of year for migration and nesting.
WERC’s hawk and the Land Trust’s preserve got together when Howell was contacted by a Land Trust biologist. He had found a downed male hawk on Tulare Hill, north of Morgan Hill in the Coyote Valley area of San Jose, in January and brought it to WERC for rehabilitation.
“Unfortunately it did not make it,” Howell said, but she offered the female as a replacement.
Tulare Hill needed a red-tailed hawk and WERC’s hawk needed a safe home – a dream connection.
“The location is absolutely beautiful,” Howell said.
WERC is unable to track the bird because of the high cost.
“We need all the available funds just to feed the animals we care for,” she said. But Thursday’s release was a special day for Howell.
“To have (a bird) released back into the wild where she belongs makes it all worthwhile,” she said. “She’s free again.”
The purpose of the Land Trust For Santa Clara County is to preserve open space and agricultural lands which sustain communities and contribute to the overall quality of life.
