My little reptile

Ferruginous hawks have one thing that other hawks don't have. The gape of their mouth stretches back much farther than normal giving them a reptilian appearance. This little fellow was found under a very poorly constructed nest in Casper. He had fallen or was pushed out and wasn't ready to fly. Unfortunately he must have hit the ground pretty hard as there's something wrong with both legs. He can move them and open and close his feet but his left leg seems a bit twisted and he's limping on his right.

He was first sighted the end of last week but was returned to the nest where two siblings were staying. They both baled out when this guy was returned so Heather and Adam of the WG&F department rounded everyone up and replaced them. Today, after rechecking the nest, Heather called and we made the decision to meet in Shoshoni and for me to take this baby as the other two, very much larger, had fledged over the weekend.

The parents were apparently still willing to feed this one and were quite upset to have him removed from their care. They would eventually stop carrying food back to the nest because in the scheme of things all babies should be on their own by a certain time in their life. Heather also said that there was practically nothing left of the nest on the old pole so it wouldn't have supported this baby at all and he'd have fallen again.

He ate every morsel of the mice I cut up for him tonight, he's a hungry baby. He goes in tomorrow morning for xrays to see just what's wrong.