Watch an orphaned hawk’s first flight of freedom at the Plano nature preserve

After two months of care, an orphaned red-tailed hawk was released at Plano’s Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve on Monday.

The female hawk’s road to recovery and self-sufficiency began in June, while she was still a baby, after a resident found the bird on the ground and took her to the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center in Lucas. The small bird had apparently been blown out of her broken nest.

When the hawk was ready to fly free, Erich Neupert, the executive director of the center, contacted the Plano parks department to ask if the hawk could be released at city’s the 800-acre preserve.

Before the bird flew to freedom, Nuepert held her at different angles so she could get a good view of her new home. After the hawk was released, she flew a short distance and perched in the top of a tree.

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In two months, the bird has grown to weigh about three pounds, with a three-foot wingspan.

While at the center, she was placed in cages with other red-tailed hawks, including in a “flight cage” where older hawks show younger ones how to hunt in “mice school.”

Teaching a small bird to become self-sufficient is more involved than many people may realize, Neupert said.

Special care is taken to make sure the birds don’t imprint on humans so they can survive on their own. Staff at the center wear camouflage — and that goes beyond wearing Army fatigues; they also wear leaves and branches.

Birds at the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center are not given names, just numbers, as the center takes in roughly 600 birds a year — everything from screech owls to bald eagles. That includes roughly 70 red-tailed hawks a year.

Many of the birds come in injured after flying into a building or utility line. Others don’t actually need help but are just fledglings who haven’t fully figured out how to fly, Neupert said.

Releasing the birds always brings a sense of accomplishment and pride, he said.

“When you see the bird flying away, it’s an amazing feeling,” Neupert said. “It is an honor. It means you’ve done a good job taking care of it, and you’ve gotten it well again. It’s like we’re kind of helping to keep the balance of nature.”