Words and Images by Scotty Craighead

I wake up in the morning, roll out of bed, put on some clothes, and head upstairs to make some breakfast. The options are limited: raw beef heart, raw chicken, or a ground squirrel.

I pull the beef heart out of the fridge and start cutting it into smaller strips. Rufius and Guenevere like it best that way. I head outside. Rufius, the male Red-Tail Hawk, jumps from his perch to my leather-shielded fist to see what’s for breakfast. Staking down the meat with his talons, he tears and shreds chucks of meat with his sharp beak.

Observing from the baloney, Edger, our pet raven, decides to come down and pester the Red-tails and me. He hops around trying to steal some meat, then sits on my head pecking my neck until he gets what he wants — scrambled eggs. After feeding one of the hawks I go inside and scramble up some eggs. I put the eggs out on the other side of the house to hopefully keep Edgar occupied long enough to finish feeding the Red-Tails. I go back and feed Guenevere her food, the third breakfast I’ve delivered this morning. After Guenevere scarfs down her beef heart its time for the fourth and final breakfast, Honey Nut Cheerios.

This summer Game and Fish gave my Dad two baby Red-tail hawks to raise under his falconry licenses (not everyone can have a falcon or hawk). The tree their nest was in blew down so they had no hope of survival without human intervention. Over the last several weeks I have been helping my Dad nurture the juvenile hawks. Depending on the hawks’ reliance on humans and their ability to hunt and live on their own, they may be released back into the natural population. With help from solar powered GPS transmitters, Beringia South has determined that most of the Red-tailed hawks (America’s most common hawk) in the Jackson Hole area migrate to Mexico for the winter. If all goes well, Rufius and Guenevere will be lucky enough to make that annual trip themselves, as many other Jacksonites do. Look for them on your next surf trip to Sayulita.