Red tail hawk (immature)

The next lot of photos is an immature red tail hawk that adopted a work crew at a house under construction. Thanks to a rehab worker with wildlife I can pass this info along to you. These guys saw a bird they didn't realize was a young bird. Experience helps you there. This bird would only be about 6-7 weeks old. They grow to their full body weight at 21-28 days. Only to have to fill out and gain there adult weight after that. When they fledge parent still feed them on the ground. But that comes to a stop and they have to learn to hunt and feed themselves. Seems like a cruel world. But it is a world of survival. Without knowing how to hunt the bird will not survive. The red tail hawk is a migratory bird protected under the migratory bird act. It is illegal to feed these birds and you can be fined upwards to the thousands of dollars. Huge fines. They need to learn how to hunt to survive the upcoming winter. They will learn as instinct tells them. With human contact that instinct is interrupted and they become dependent on us for food. Also develop what they call a human inprint. This is a federal offense. The person I spoke with was excellent and I also learned a lot here. We think we are doing the right thing for the bird,but often without realizing it,we are doing what we think is right. Not for the bird but for ourselves. These guys were amazing with this bird,watching over a bird they thought had something wrong with it. They did the right thing by calling me to go and check it out. And I in turn called rehab. We all work together and learn together and learn what is right for these birds. This bird MUST learn to hunt NOW. It will do it by instinct. I could tell that it had an interest in a song sparrow while I was there. So that tells me the instinct is still there. So we will have to ignore this baby and it will have to realize it needs to move on. We also shouldn't feed a bird of prey because it has a specialized diet that it needs to keep it healthy. So this has been a learning experience for all. And it did go to the right place. These men were amazing. It couldn't have picked a better place to adopt. But now it has to move on. And they will help it do that to I'm sure with sad reactions but knowing that it is the right thing to do for this baby red tail. Thanks to Liz the rehab worker and thanks to these men who took the time to check this out and watch over the wee guy. May be hard to ignore the babe but has to be done. It will realize it needs to go find it's food and doing that will learn were the food is come winter. However if you do find a bird that you feel has an issue with it's health,always call a wildlife rehab place to find out what to do. they are the ones that the bird would need to go to for help. And will direct you accordingly. To find out were to call for your area call the Ministry of Natural Resources.