On 9/29/2012 volunteers with the Golden Gate Raptor
Observatory trapped and radio-tagged Lakota, a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk in
the Marin Headlands. On 10/04/2012 she
was found dead on Angel Island by radio-tracking volunteers after several days
of limited movement. On 10/5/2012 she
was brought to the California Animal Health & Food Safety Lab at UC Davis
for a necropsy. Despite some
decomposition of Lakota’s body, the veterinarians provided some interesting
insight. First, Lakota had some muscle
atrophy in her breast muscles. This
suggests some nutritional stress which is not uncommon for birds during long-distance
migrations. Despite that condition, she
did have small fat deposits present, suggesting starvation was not imminent. Although the results were not conclusive, the
speculated cause of death was a 4-6mm hole in her back that pierced through the
muscles and ended in one of her lungs.
Blood around the wound indicates she was still alive at the time she was
punctured. No exit wound was present,
and no foreign debris was found in the wound, indicative that it was not caused
by a bullet or from a BB gun. The size
of the wound is consistent with a Red-tailed Hawk talon; however, we cannot rule
out other sources or predators.
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