At the Teton Raptor Center in Wilson, staffers say Hardeman, an 11-year-old red-tailed hawk, has an all-too-familiar story.
A car struck the male raptor in 2017 and blinded his right eye. After being rescued and treated at the Alabama Wildlife Center, he failed a live-prey test, a requisite for release into the wild.
So he became an ambassador at the Teton Raptor Center, where he loves flight training and shredding newspapers.
The hawk's name comes from the Hardeman family, which for decades operated the Hardeman Ranch in Wilson. The landmark Hardeman Barn is a centerpiece on the Raptor Center's campus, where visitors can see displays and hear scientists lecture in the renovated hay loft.
Hardeman was one of three ambassadors at a recent Masters of the Sky lecture. Horous, a peregrine falcon, and Aura, a turkey vulture, completed the cast.
Horous takes the name of an Egyptian god usually depicted as a falcon. He is a retired hunting falcon who also likes shredding newspapers.
Aura, a turkey vulture, came to the center after people unintentionally imprinted on her. Named through a community contest, her moniker derives from the scientific label Cathartes aura, roughly translated to "cleansing breeze" and referencing her species' role in cleaning up carcasses.
The Raptor Center, a nonprofit focused on education, research and conservation, offers a suite of public programs. The center has conducted groundbreaking migratory research on red-tailed hawks and other birds.
It launched the international Poo-Poo Project that protects owls from entrapment in pit-toilet chimneys. Center scientists this spring mapped 1,019 raptor nests in the Converse County oil and gas field, a long-term monitoring effort that will also reveal the impacts of wind energy development.The center's Sporting Lead-Free initiative seeks to educate hunters about the benefits of using non-lead ammunition.