10/01/2026
In late January 2025, a Red-tailed Hawk was admitted to the World Bird Sanctuary's rehabilitation program with a traumatic injury to the tip of her* beak, possibly by a collision with an automobile. During recovery, the beak never grew back straight and she was deemed non-releasable. WBS offered her to us to serve as a raptor ambassador for our conservation education programming.
When we picked her up in late January this year, the WBS staff referred to her as "40", as she was the 40th raptor admitted in 2025. On the way back to Iowa City, we remembered that 2025 was the IRP's 40th anniversary and, more, that it was on another late January day in 1993 that Iowa Men's Basketball lost one of its most popular Hawks of all time: Chris Street. Number 40.
It was pretty clear that our newest raptor ambassador's name was already chosen: "40"! And how fitting to introduce her to you all, at this moment, when Hawkeye Football began the season with a 40-0 win and now will be at the center of the college football world Saturday with a 4-0 record!
Please welcome 40! We hope to have her on display soon, but are currently flight training her. Here she is flying between our two newest interns from the University of Iowa REACH Program: Leo and Carter.
Let's go Hawks!
*We're saying "her", based on size, but still need to confirm through DNA testing.
College of Education
University of Iowa
