Hawk on the mend after having flight feathers sliced

Hamilton the Swainson's hawk is almost ready to soar again.

Hamilton has been on the mend since the fall, when he was brought into the Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre West in Regina with chopped off flight feathers.

That's always the most exciting part: when we can let them go.- Megan Lawrence

The hawk was found on a grid road near Regina. A passing motorist saw him on the road, unable to fly, and cared enough to scoop him up and bring him to the centre.

Megan Lawrence and her team at Salthaven X-rayed the wing to see if there was any damage to the bone. Luckily there was not, but she said they were saddened by what they did find.

The feathers appeared to be sliced off.

"We sort of assumed that this was a deliberate thing and it wasn't by accident," Lawrence said. "There isn't anything in nature that would make that happen."

It's possible, she said, someone was trying to keep Hamilton as a pet, or someone may have taken the feathers for a decorative purpose.

Today, Lawrence is thrilled to report the Swainson's hawk is doing well.

"He's just growing in a few of the new feathers now, so he'll drop the rest of the broken ones and then slowly grow in all new ones."

Come spring, she said, Hamilton will be ready to return to the wild.

"That's always the most exciting part: when we can let them go."