The Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center (FKWBRC) takes in roughly 1,000 injured or sick birds every year. The birds that can be nursed back to health are eventually released back into the wild. Usually, that is the end of the Tavernier-based bird center’s interaction with them.
“In general, in wildlife rehabilitation with the animals that we release, especially with regards to birds, we don’t always know the outcome, we don’t know where they go, what happens, are they surviving, so this is going to provide us with critical data on what happens,” said Erin Allison, executive director of the center.
In early January, FKWBRC partnered with Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, based in Pennsylvania. Researchers from Hawk Mountain are studying the migratory movements of broad-winged hawks from Florida. Most broad-winged hawks winter in Central and South America, but there is a small segment that prefers to stay right here in the Sunshine State.
“Biologists don’t know what they’re doing, where they’re nesting, why they aren’t following the normal migratory routes,” said Allison.
Allison said a few years ago the bird center was approached by Hawk Mountain, asking if they had any hawks that would meet the criteria for the study. At the time they did not.
However, a few months ago that all changed. On two separate occasions, good Samaritans brought two injured broad-winged hawks to the center.
One came in on Nov. 28, rescued by the side of U.S. 1 in Key Largo.
A second hawk was brought in on Dec. 21. It was found in a yard in Key Largo by someone’s dog.
“We suspect that both of them were probably hit by a car,” said FKWBRC operations director Bayleigh MacHaffie. “When they came in, both of them were dehydrated as well. We treated them, getting them stabilized with fluids, and we started them on anti-inflammatory medications.”
Once fully rehabilitated, the juvenile hawks were excellent candidates for the study. A team from Hawk Mountain came down in January and fitted each bird with a little GPS backpack. The transmitters were small enough to not interfere with the birds’ behavior and flight capabilities.
They also gave the hawks names, Largo and Big Pine.
“I have never seen anything like this backpack being fit on a hawk or any other bird, to be honest. I’ve seen a lot of banding, but that was a new one for me,” said MacHaffie.
“It fits them just like a backpack. It wasn’t too tight; it wasn’t too loose. They sutured the material together so it wouldn’t come undone,” added MacHaffie.
Once fitted with the monitoring devices, Largo and Big Pine were driven up to Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead and released into the wild.
One other rehabilitated hawk from the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station in Miami was also fitted with a GPS backpack and released.
On its website, Hawk Mountain stated, “to protect these three birds as they reorient back into the wild, we are going to keep their tracking data private. Once they initiate spring migration, we will share public maps on our website.”
“It’s very special to be able to collaborate with researchers who can help give us information that will be helpful for us and also for the species,” said Allison.
To follow the hawks being monitored by the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, just visit
