Harlan’s Hawk Times Three
There is disagreement in the bird world as to whether Harlan’s Hawks are a subspecies of Red-tailed Hawks or their own species. The sources we use categorize them as a subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk. However they are categorized, their tails are distinctive. The bird pictured below was found dead near Touchet, WA. There was a live bird near it who died shortly after reaching BMW.
Both birds had oral lesions and Capillaria eggs were found in their mouths. The eggs are microscopic, in size, but can be seen under a microscope. The bipolar plugs make them quite distinctive. The third hawk has been treated with ivermectin which should take care of the parasite load.
Bald Eagle 22-015 is Ready for Release
After just one course of treatment for lead poisoning, the LeadCare machine cannot detect any lead in the eagle’s blood and he is flying perfectly! It's hard to know why he responded so quickly to treatment. Perhaps it was the combination of Calcium EDTA and Dimercapto Succinate Solution that we used. It may be that his exposure to lead was acute and the lead didn’t have time to move from his blood to other organs in his body before chelation removed it. On admission two weeks ago he was exhibiting classic signs of lead toxicity. Now he is ready to go!
As a reminder, the eagle was poisoned when he fed on a carcass that had been shot with lead ammunition. To learn about hunting with non-lead ammunition click on the following link: HuntLead Free
