Red-shouldered hawk joins avian rescue's flock on City Island

By Dana Kampa
| 5:00 a.m. October 14, 2025

Save Our Seabirds Director of Outreach and Education Lisa Wood and the facility's new red-shouldered hawk get to know one another on move-in day.

Longboat Key
Neighbors

Moving day can be stressful for anyone. But Save Our Seabirds' newest inhabitant, with a belly full of her favorite treats, handled the three-hour journey from the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland to City Island with unruffled feathers.

The facility welcomed a new red-shouldered hawk on Oct. 9. Rescuers took in the bird as a fledgling when they found it hanging around a residential area for an extended period.

Handlers eventually deemed the bird unfit to return to the wild after it imprinted on people. However, trainers Cheryl Merz and Maggie Haynes invested in teaching her skills to thrive in captivity.

Trainers Cheryl Merz and Maggie Haynes, who have worked with this soon-to-be-renamed red-shouldered hawk since she was a baby through their volunteer work with the Sarasota Audubon Society, brought the bird to her new permanent home at Save Our Seabirds on Oct. 9.

Merz is an eagle watch coordinator with the society, and Haynes is a co-coordinator with the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey rescue team. They facilitated the move to Save Our Seabirds, where Director of Outreach and Education Lisa Wood and fellow teammates greeted the newest addition to the flock.

The red-shouldered hawk is smaller than the more well-known red-tailed hawk, which famously often lends its screech to bald eagles depicted in Hollywood. Red-shouldered hawks can be found in forested areas throughout Florida.

Voting is open until 5 p.m. Oct. 16 to help rename the new female red-shouldered hawk at Save Our Seabirds.

While welcoming the new hawk, Save Our Seabirds launched a new community naming project called "Uplift."

Residents can nominate change-makers in the community to be the namesake of new birds at the facility.

After the soon-to-be-named hawk settles into her new enclosure, reworked by Save Our Seabird's Leo Kissling, the facility plans to introduce a new daily raptor feeding demonstration with her and fellow birds of prey at City Island who are glove trained.

Brian Walton, the facility's executive director, invites visitors to check out the new enclosure, which features new mesh walls that are easier to see through. Visit SaveOurSeabirds.org for opening hours and more. Entry is free, though donations support rescue and rehabilitation efforts.

author

Dana Kampa

Dana Kampa is the Longboat Key neighbors reporter for the Observer. She first ventured into journalism in her home state of Wisconsin, going on to report community stories everywhere from the snowy mountains of Washington State to the sunny shores of the Caribbean. She has been a writer and photographer for more than a decade, covering what matters most to readers.