Birds of Prey, Part 2: A Drama of Surrogacy

By Pamela Hartmann
Photo and Videos by Kelly Vandenheuvel

Time: Early spring, 2014.

Scene: Ventura County, California

Action: Two nestling Red-shouldered Hawks, perhaps two weeks old, are brought to Ojai Raptor Center (ORC). Apparently orphaned, these baby hawks are victims of humans who cut down the tree that housed their nest.

Enter: Fiona, an adult Red-shouldered Hawk who lives on the Vandenheuvel Ranch in Cayucos, San Luis Obispo County, California.

As she did last year, Fiona has laid her own eggs. Incubation usually lasts seventeen to eighteen days, but she is patient. She is prepared for motherhood. She will sit on these eggs for several months, not aware that they are infertile. Without a male to fertilize them, they will never hatch.

Kelly Vandenheuvel, the human on whose ranch Fiona lives and who has cared for her since 2007, has also waited, perhaps less patiently. One of the original home rehabilitators with Pacific Wildlife Care, she and PWC have an ongoing relationship with ORC, and the call she has been hoping for finally comes: Kim Stroud of ORC has two orphaned Red-shouldered Hawk chicks in need of a surrogate mother. In avian terms, a surrogate is more of what humans would call a foster mother, and Fiona will play her role well, by instinct.

Red-shouldered Hawk, Fiona, and Her Adopted Brood After One Week

The two nestlings arrive in Cayucos. In the middle of the night, while Fiona is sleeping, Kelly Vandenheuvel quietly removes the infertile eggs from the nest box and disposes of them. In their place, she puts the two nestlings from ORC, together with two broken eggshells. When Fiona awakens, she will accept the nestlings as her own newly hatched babies. Then, by instinct, she will eat the eggshells (which Vandenheuvel has baked, to kill any salmonella), providing her with extra calcium.

Then she will begin feeding the babies small bits of the mice that Vandenheuvel gives her each day. For most of the year, Fiona is given one large or two small mice daily, but when there are babies to feed, she is given as much as she will eat because she is eating for three.

Vandenheuvel explains a little history: Fiona was brought to the Pacific Wildlife Care Rehabilitation Center "as a juvenile in 2007, shortly after the Center was opened. It was quickly determined that she had a deformed wing and would not be releasable. The decision was made to incorporate Fiona into PWC's educational program." However, things did not go as hoped for. Both Vandenheuvel and Jeri Roberts (see "Baby Season: Birds of Prey" in the April issue of SLO Coast Journal)"worked with Fiona to tame and train her as an educational ambassador." Although "some progress" was made . . . Fiona was never completely comfortable on the glove and not an ideal candidate for educational venues." But she was later found to be an excellent surrogate.

Because she cannot fly, for nine months of the year, Fiona lives on the ranch in an enclosure somewhat smaller (8' x 8' x 10') than those for flighted raptors. Vandenheuvel has equipped this enclosure with ramps and branches; Fiona doesn't fly, but she does hop and leap from branch to branch. Then in late February or early March, Vandenheuvel moves her to a smaller enclosure with a mew—a large nest box open on the front—and begins bringing her natural nesting material such as sticks, branches, and moss. Fiona chooses among the materials offered, accepting some, rejecting others, and rearranging the nest as she would in the wild, preparing for babies.

Both last year and this, Fiona has fostered Red-shouldered Hawk chicks from ORC. The ideal situation would be to re-nest chicks fallen from the nest, but for various reasons, that is not always possible. Often, orphaned chicks are raised by humans—home rehabilitators like Vandenheuvel and Roberts. This is a time- consuming, labor-intensive effort that requires a great deal of knowledge and a huge commitment.

Preferable, whenever possible, is surrogacy because, as Vandenheuvel puts it, from a surrogate such as Fiona, "the young birds learn behavior and sounds" of their own species "that are different than all others."

The goal, as always, is to release these young birds back to the wild. With that in mind, later this spring, Vandenheuvel will move them and Fiona to a larger flight cage. The young ones will be older and bigger then. They will need to practice skills necessary for survival in the wild—flying and hunting their own live prey: mice which Vandenheuvel will provide in a large galvanized tub in the center of the flight cage. Then, at the end of June, the young will be ready for a soft release, in which they are freed to the wild but are still able to return to a feeding platform outside the cage to supplement their prey from hunting.

The intervals between which the young hawks return to the feeding platform will lengthen as their hunting skills improve. Then, as is natural, they will no longer return, and the curtain will come down on this drama until another baby season next spring.

(You can read "Birds of Prey - Part I" here.)

For more information on Pacific Wildlife Care, a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization, or to volunteer or make a donation, go to the website: Pacific Wildlife Care

If you find an injured wild animal, call the PWC Hotline (805-543-9453).