Yesterday I spent a very long time behind the wheel of my little Ford Ranger. And drove 169 miles in the process. In the morning, Nicole and I headed up to visit the Beartooth Nature Center in Red Lodge, MT (not included in the mileage). When we were almost there I got a phone call from the state salix operator telling me about a downed turkey vulture in Greybull. Red Lodge is about 70 miles north of Cody, Greybull is 50 miles east. I stopped at home to let the dogs out and drop Nicole off at her car but when I was halfway to Greybull I got another phone call about a downed hawk in Meeteetse.....32 miles south of Cody.
After getting the Greybull police department to open their dog pound so I could get the vulture I headed further south to Basin to get the road to Burlington and then on to Meeteetse. Of course the hawk wasn't right in the town, it was on to Turnell's Whit Ranch which is west of Meeteetse about five miles then north a few more. The bird turned out to be a baby ferruginous hawk that had just come out of the nest a bit early. They are the largest hawks with the adult female weighing around four pounds. This baby isn't flying so he's now here at IBR. His photo shows a very good looking bird that just needs more time before being on his own.
Good news is that I think the vulture was just a bit overheated and had come down in town and was spotted in an alley. I took it out early this morning and released it near where our resident turkey vultures roost for the night. Some of them were still in bed so I tossed my bird in the air hoping he'd see them and join their ranks when they took off. As you can see from the above photos, he did great.
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