Reconditioning the raptor

Though northern harriers exist across most of North America, the chance of ever seeing one is rather slim, since these medium-size raptors tend to fly low to the ground, looking and listening for prey. It's a shame they're not more conspicuous, because they’re gorgeous birds, with long, elegant wings and tails and slanted eyes that appear painted.

Wild Friends, the wildlife rehabilitation area of Best Friends, recently helped out a male juvenile northern harrier found in eastern Utah with a broken bone in his wing. A veterinarian in Salt Lake City had recently operated on the bird, inserting metal pins in the bone to keep it in place while the fracture bonded. Another wildlife rehabilitation center in Utah asked if Best Friends would conduct the bird’s post-op reconditioning, and, of course, we accepted.

The harrier is now in one of Wild Friends' "condos," a medium-sized enclosure that allows the bird to flex his wings, hop around, and make brief flights. The wounded wing now seems to be healing, aligning nicely with the healthy one. Soon, licensed wildlife rehabilitator Carmen Smith will move him to the sanctuary's large aviary, where he will be able to make much longer flights and regain body mass and cardiovascular fitness, two things that birds quickly lose as soon as they're grounded.

Once he appears in good enough shape to survive in the wild, Carmen will release him. Since he's not an adult, he hasn't yet established a territory - or a family, for that matter - in which case Carmen would have released him where he was found. His youth gives Carmen some flexibility in terms of where she can release him. She'll find out where other northern harriers are flying, and look for an area with easy access to water and plenty of meadows for hunting.

Story by Ted Brewer
Photos by Gary Kalpakoff