California Raptor Center

How do hawks keep flying when they're missing feathers?

By studying Jack, an education ambassador Red-tailed Hawk at the California Raptor Center, researchers at UC Davis discovered that hawks subtly adjust their wing and tail movements during molt to maintain stable flight.

This study is the first research to emerge from the Center for Animal Locomotion and Innovation, a collaboration between the California Raptor Center at the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine and the UC Davis College of Engineering demonstrating how veterinary medicine and engineering can work together to advance wildlife conservation, rehabilitation, and bio-inspired innovation.

What Molting Hawks Can Teach Researchers About Resilient Flight UC Davis researchers found that red-tailed hawks adjust their wing and tail movements during molt to maintain flight performance despite missing feathers. The findings could improve wildlife rehabilitation practices and inspire more resilient drones and uncrewed aerial vehicles.

As Dr. Michelle Hawkins begins her retirement, we celebrate a career that has become part of the California Raptor Center's story.

Michelle's journey with the Center came full circle, starting out as a veterinary medical resident to becoming the medical director in 2005 and ultimately director in 2012. Along the way, she helped advance the Center's impact through clinical care, research, education, training, and partnerships, while continuing its longstanding mission of raptor conservation and community education.

Her greatest legacy is not only the Center she helped shape, but also the students, residents, staff, volunteers, and wildlife professionals she inspired along the way.

Thank you, Michelle, for your vision, mentorship, and unwavering dedication to the California Raptor Center and the raptors we care for. Congratulations on an extraordinary career, and we wish you all the best in this next chapter.

Reflecting on 20+ years of leadership at the California Raptor Center: whc.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/reflecting-20-years-leadership-california-raptor-center

🦅 This whole time you haven’t actually been hearing a Bald Eagle… 👀

Did you know that when you hear the iconic “Bald Eagle screech” in movies, you are actually hearing the raspy screech of a Red-Tailed Hawk? 😮

Bald Eagles’ calls involve a series of high-pitched whistles, chirps, and chattering, which some ornithologists compare to a seagull’s call. Bald Eagle’s calls can be perceived as “weak”-sounding, which audiences might not associate with Bald Eagles naturally—leading to Hollywood’s choice of using the Red-Tailed Hawk screech!

Red-Tailed Hawks’ calls are powerful, drawn out, and hoarse. They use their call to assert ownership of airspace, warning other predators of their presence. They also make these calls when perceiving a threat, like a human near their nest. Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawks will make shorter shrieks to beg their parents for food.

When was the last time you heard a Red-Tailed Hawk’s screech in a movie? 🎥

Image Descriptions:
1. Red-Tailed Hawk perches upright on a small artificial turf platform mounted on a wooden post.
2. Two Red-Tailed Hawks stand side by side on an artificial turf perch.

At the California Raptor Center, our incredible volunteers are at the heart of everything we do. Every year, the CRC cares and rehabilitates 100-200 sick, injured, and orphaned raptors—our students and community volunteers are a huge moving piece behind this. ❤️

Volunteers feed and provide medical care under the direction of UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. From physical exams and caring for the nursery, to presenting educational materials and releasing birds back into the wild, volunteers help in a wide range of ways. 

Thanks to our dedicated team and volunteers, 40-60% of raptors taken into CRC are eventually released back into the wild. 🌿

Stay tuned to learn more about our stellar volunteers soon! 👀

Image Descriptions:
1. A volunteer holds a juvenile Great Horned Owl with both hands, wearing thick leather welding gloves for protection. The owlet has large, striking yellow eyes, fluffy brown-and-white speckled downy feathers, and visible talons gripping the gloves. The volunteer is looking down at the owl with a calm, attentive expression.
2. A volunteer stands outdoors holding a Barn Owl on his gloved fist. The owl, with its distinctive heart-shaped white face and golden-brown speckled feathers, appears calm with its eyes gently closed.
3. A volunteer smiles as she looks at a Great Horned Owl perched on her gloved fist.

See a few of the new raptors behind a record breaking number! 🤩

It is only June, yet as of Wednesday the 3rd, the California Raptor Center has a record breaking intake number for the 2026 year! We have taken in 113 raptor patients for rehabilitation, with patient #114 on the way. ✨

When most birds are taken into the CRC, they are first evaluated and treated for critical medical care at the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. Afterwards they are transported to the CRC for continued care and rehabilitation. While with us, they recover from their medical problems and regain strength through progressive flights in a specially designed enclosure before they are eventually released—but this process can take several weeks to several months.

Thank you to our community and skilled professionals for making this possible! Every patient is a win for our community, wildlife, and environment. 🦅

Image Descriptions:
1. A Barn Owl chick covered in fluffy white down feathers is held in two gloved hands. The chick faces the camera with large dark eyes, a pink facial disc just beginning to form, and a small hooked beak slightly open. The person holding the bird wears blue nitrile gloves and a white protective suit. The owlet’s scaled talons are visible at the bottom of the frame.
2. Four Great Horned Owl fledglings huddle together on a wooden shelf. The owlets are at various stages of development — some still patchy with downy white feathers mixed in with emerging brown and gray plumage, others more fully feathered. All four face the camera with striking yellow eyes.