This Harris’s Hawk was found after falling into a citizen’s pool and exhibiting a lack of motor function. Upon being presented to Tucson Wildlife Center, our staff found the reason for this strange behavior was due to the bird having tick paralysis. This was most likely caused by rodent prey being brought into the nest and the ticks that were formally on the rodent moved to the hawk. As seen in the second photo, she was showing issues with holding her head up and falling over frequently due to anemia (lack of blood from ticks). Our staff continued to treat her for ticks and monitored her neurological signs as this patient showed improvement daily. Currently, all the ticks are gone and she is in a large flight enclosure prepping to be released. Rest assured, she is flying high and we couldn’t be prouder!
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