Very thin baby

His name is ECHO but this very young Red-tailed Hawk should be in his nest and not on the ground where he was found as he's just over four weeks old. The Forest Service was removing dead and live trees along Elk Creek up in Sunlight and had apparently not realized there was a hawk nest in one of them.

Elk Creek Ranch kids found the baby yesterday and immediately told Susan Ridgway, the owner of the ranch. I was called and gave them directions on what to do until their neighbor, Leslie, could transport him down this morning.

He's very starved, only weighs 22 ounces and should be at least 32+. As I've mentioned a few times, 80% of baby birds don't make it to their first winter and this fellow would never have survived til this weekend if he hadn't been rescued. It is by no means a given that he will live through this trauma but I have high hopes he will do so.

He's doing a lot of food begging so I think his parents abandoned him and the nest when humans started their tree cutting without checking for residents first. I've gotten some mouse pieces down him but he's still begging. This photo also shows the mirror beside him so he can see others of his kind.

I do have a foster redtail, BONNIE 3, but at this point he's much too weak to go in with her.