Sugar's Attacked By A Red-Tail

This is a video showing the neurological and balance issue of Sugar after she was attacked by a Red-Tail Hawk. The hawk punctured the webbing of her right wing which required 3 sutures but the hawks right foot was wrapped around her head with the first toe and halux, the two most powerful toes, wrapped around her neck which caused the muscle tissue to swell in her neck putting pressure on her spinal cord in the c-spine area. This caused her to fall over for the first 48 hours if she tried to take a step or bowed her head to eat. Fortunately the hawks other talons missed her eyes.

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[mvinci145]

i would of never thought a red tail would even come close to capturing a falcon,but I'm

 reading a lot of this.

[birdguy888]

@mvinci145 Out of all of my years I've never heard of this happening either!

[StarWell101]

Did she end up ok?

[birdguy888]

@StarWell101 Yes, she made a full recovery. I was lucky. Falconers lose a lot of birds due to attacks in the field by other hawks, eagles and owls!

[birdguy888]

Nope, we got it off of Sugar and let it go and rushed her to the vet. It was just over $700 for the vet!

[gymlord]

Did the Redtail meet its end or did you keep it??

[birdguy888]

Very true.  It was a scary situation and the first time anything like that has happened to me in 25 years of being a falconer.

[afffred]

glad to hear it! that hooded falcon on your fist was served like a dish! a hawk would have barely any chance of catching a falcon in the wild.

[birdguy888]

Yes, she was on my fist and she was hooded. We were walking through a field surrounded by trees on the perimeter headed towards a small river to hunt ducks. All of a sudden, in a split second, I heard the "woosh" of the hawks wings behind me and he instantly crabbed onto Sugar around her left wing and around her head and neck. We got her wing sutured up at the vets but the pressure caused swelling of the spinal cord making her loose her balance for about 2 weeks. She made a full recovery!

[afffred]

I can't believe a hawk attacked your falcon...dis she have her hood on? was she still on your hand?