TRC Welcomes New Avian Ambassador “Sage”

We are thrilled to announce the newest addition to the Avian Ambassador team, Sage the Ferruginous Hawk! Sage hatched in the wild in Wyoming in 2020 and then was raised as a falconry bird in Michigan. When the time came for the falconer to find a new home for Sage, she reached out to TRC.

Since Ferruginous Hawks are a study species for TRC, and an iconic raptor of Wyoming, we were very excited to have this hawk on the Avian Ambassador team. Since her arrival, Sage has been learning the ropes with her new training routine including voluntary weigh-ins, step ups, and hand approaches. She is getting daily enrichment in the form of baths, newspaper balls, puzzle feeders, and during this hot weather, rat-sicles!

Ferruginous Hawks build nests on the ground, small cutbanks, or erosional pillars, often using sagebrush branches (hence the name, Sage) among other materials. They will even nest on artificial platforms. TRC’s research team has built platforms in western Wyoming to help reduce potential disturbance at nest sites from new large-scale energy development.