Peregrine Falcon Intake/Release: A Long Awaited Flight

When Tufts Wildlife Clinic called last summer to ask if we could provide a permanent home for a non-releasable Peregrine falcon who had been hit by a car, we readily agreed - with a mix of excitement and apprehension. Peregrines are a favorite at CFW, and we were even more thrilled when we learned that he was the father or our popular education Peregrine Freyja! However, we all knew that these intelligent and independent birds are difficult to work with. Freyja came to the CFW at a very young and impressionable age, which made our job a lot easier (though her feisty personality still made working with her a huge challenge!). This new male was an adult - and wanted nothing to do with humans.

Our new resident arrived at CFW in Fall 2006, and we named him Loki. Upon meeting him, the staff quickly agreed that we would not attempt to work on the glove with this high stress bird, but would let him live independently in his outdoor enclosure. As the months went by, the staff became disheartened when Loki did not settle down, but continued to be terrified whenever someone entered his cage to feed him. Even more discouraging was the fact that he developed a bare patch on his belly. Volunteers made extensive adjustments to the windows of his cage, since we feared he may be rubbing his feathers off on them - but when that didn't make a difference we concluded that he was plucking out his own feathers in anxiety. In March 2007, just as we began shaking our heads and wondering "what can we do for him?", staff rehabilitator Lorisa noticed that his flight abilities seemed to be improving dramatically, despite his ongoing stress.

While promising each other not to get our hopes up (yeah right!), we moved Loki into our 100-foot flight enclosure - and to our shock and delight, he flew the entire length of the cage... then turned and flew the length again.... then swooped low to the ground and back up to the sixteen-foot-high rafters! No one enjoyed the move as much as Loki, who felt much more comfortable with his extra space, and could practice his falcon acrobatics as much as he liked.

The staff continued to remind each other that his flight was still imperfect and he still may be unreleasable, but it was too late: our hopes were set on release! We contacted Tufts Clinic, who re-examined his old x-rays and were amazed at his improvement. In late April, Loki went down to Tufts for new x-rays and a stay in their even larger flight enclosure. Tufts veterinarian Dr. Flo Tseng was amazed and tentatively excited by his progress - but she too continued to say "We can't get our hopes up yet...."

Well, after weeks of getting our hopes up, we finally got the news from Tufts - after intensive flight conditioning, Flo and her colleagues had determined that this amazing bird was once again ready for life in the wild. So on a busy day in May, the CFW staff drove down to Tufts, leaving the center in the capable hands of our Jr. staff member/ intern Kira Baker. We were all thrilled to see Loki again, and to admire his aerodynamic skills! When Lorisa opened the blanket to let him go, he celebrated the end of his one-year captivity by flying and flying and flying.... we all watched for several minutes as he sailed into the distance, fading to a small dot and finally disappearing from sight. We never saw him land, he just soared and soared, allowing us to banish any lingering doubts we held about his flight abilities.

Loki has since been seen at his old nesting site in Worchester, and we wish him many more happy years of wild dives and safe migrations.

Best of luck, Loki!

*****