Reintroduction Through Assisted Dispersal

We use a time-tested technique, known as "hacking," to reintroduce Ridgway's Hawks into new protected areas in Dominican Republic. Unlike some reintroduction projects, we do not breed Ridgway's Hawks in captivity. Rather, we remove young birds from wild nests and bring them to the release site before they are old enough to fly. The birds spend 7-10 days inside an enclosed artificial nest where they begin to get used to the sites and sounds of their new home. Once the young birds are old enough to fly, we open the doors to the artificial nest and let the birds emerge on their own time. 

Every day, our team places food on the nest box platform in the early morning before first light, so that the young hawks don't associate humans with food. The young birds return to the platform every day to feed while our team monitors them from an observation blind to make sure every bird is returning to eat and is otherwise doing well. Each bird is banded with a unique alphanumeric band so individuals can be easily identified. 

After several weeks of returning each day to the platform to feed, the hawk slowly begins to gain independence. They start by grabbing and playing with sticks and leaves, and they eventually graduate to catching their own prey. Once they become successful hunters, they return less and less to the release site for food. Eventually, they will stop coming altogether and will naturally disperse from the release site. During the initial releases, all the hawks were fitted with transmitters so our team could track them as they moved away from the hack site. 

After the hawks become independent, they will soon establish their own territories and breeding pairs. Our team continues to monitor them year-round.