​Canaan is a female red-tailed hawk (Bueto jamaicensis) from West Virginia’s Canaan Valley. When she was about one-year old someone shot her with a rifle, and she is missing the tip of her left wing. Luckily, one of the ACCA’s veterinarians, Dr. Jesse Fallon, was on a fishing trip in the Canaan Valley with two of his friends from veterinary school. They were able to capture the injured hawk. We like to say that Canaan knew she was hurt so she flagged down a truck full of veterinarians.

Red-tailed hawks are the most common large hawk in West Virginia, and one of the ACCA’s most common patients. In the wild, they eat a variety of prey, including mice, rats, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, snakes, and sometimes birds. Red-tailed hawk will also scavenge on fresh carrion.

For more information on this species: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/