by Meredith Southard

A peregrine falcon that the Ohio Wildlife Center treated for a fractured wing was released back into the wild on August 22.

“She walked out of the crate, looked around, and took off like a rocket, flying very strong and happy to be away from humans,” explained Barbara Ray, Director of Education at the OWC.

The falcon, named Victory, was found on the ground in Columbus with an injured wing. Following the surgery to correct her fracture, Victory recuperated at the OWC’s hospital. To ensure that she would be strong enough to fly and survive in the wild following her release, she then received flight conditioning with a falconer and at the OWC’s pre-release aviary.

Victory’s release by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife was in southern Ohio, some distance from her former nest at the Rhodes State Office Tower in Columbus. An active nest tended by a different female falcon is currently at the site in Columbus, and the hope is that Victory will be in wild flight condition and prepared for a possible territorial struggle should she return to her former nesting site.

 

Victory while in the care of Ohio Wildlife Center

OWC typically treats one to two peregrine falcons a year. These birds do not historically nest in Ohio but were introduced in 1988, when Ohio joined the Midwest Peregrine Falcon Restoration Project. Falcons were released in major urban areas of Ohio to encourage them to imprint on this alternative habitat and to nest on the ledges of skyscrapers. An estimated 110 to 130 peregrines now reside in Ohio after the nesting season and prior to migration.

Victory was hatched in Toledo in 2002. She showed up in Columbus in 2003 and mated with a male falcon, Orville, producing a nest of two young in 2005 and successfully raising four young in 2006. 

Her troubles were not limited to a fractured wing. While at OWC, Victory exhibited a condition called “permamolt,” which can be caused by a disease usually found in falcons and parrots.  These birds have a continuous molt, meaning that as soon as their new feathers grow in for the year they molt some of them.  New feathers growing in this way are weaker and thinner than the first molt feathers. 

“It was evident that Victory had never molted some of her original juvenile feathers at all, and had re-molted two and three times some of her important flight feathers,” explained Ray.

Although these re-molted feathers could hinder flight accuracy and speed, OWC and the Division of Wildlife determined that Victory’s best chance for survival was to be released into the wild, to depend on the good feathers that she still had.

About the size and weight of a crow, the peregrine falcon is found on every continent except for Antarctica. It is physiologically unique in that it has a thick, large “keel,” or breastbone. When the peregrine “stoops,” or dives for prey, often at speeds in excess of 100 mph, it hits the prey in midair with both its chest and its feet, rendering it unconscious or killing it on impact. 

The peregrine is often referred to as the duck hawk because it likes to prey on ducks; it will stoop from several thousand feet above land and strike as the duck is taking off or landing.

During her stay at OWC, Victory ate chicks, quail and mice, and while flying with the falconer caught and ate pigeons and starlings.

Prior to receiving its permit to treat endangered species, OWC transferred injured falcons to the University of Minnesota Raptor Center, where they were treated by Dr. Pat Redig, a renowned avian veterinarian. OWC worked with a major airline to ensure safe, quiet flights for the birds, who rode in small, dark crates that were stowed in the cockpit with the pilots.

Though there have been no confirmed sightings of Victory since her release, the migratory nature of falcons may cause her to settle elsewhere. Ohio-hatched peregrines have been spotted as far away as South Texas.

Wherever she goes, Victory flies again thanks to countless volunteers and OWC staff, whose time and effort gave her a second chance at survival in the wild.