This has been a little long in getting put together, but the last of the three birds I had the pleasure of working directly with on the glove passed away back in June just shortly before Anthrocon. D.C. was a Broad-winged Hawk who came to Carolina Raptor Center back in 2006 and, as such, had spent close to 18 years under our care. I was lucky enough to start working with him in the summer of 2013 and he was partner for about five years until 2018.

Of the three birds that I had worked with, D.C. was, by far, the easiest bird to handle on a daily basis. He was always eager to hop on my glove and I never had to worry about him trying to fly away or bite me. He was calm, cool and collected and it was a joy to take him out and show him off to visitors, or just spend time with him. In particular, he really seemed to enjoy holding his wings out and sunning himself whenever I held him directly in sunlight, though of course I was also getting cooked at the same time. He also seemed to enjoy getting a good bath from the hose during the hot summer days. D.C. was missing a portion of one wing that prevented him from flying, but that did not seem to make him any less energetic. While policies did change that prevented me from working with him after 2018, I did get to still feed him a few times over the past couple of years and even now he would still caw to me when I brought him food.

D.C. was my sweet little boy and just like with Bob and Dudley, he will forever hold and important place in my heart forever. I hope I was able to enrich his life a little bit during the years that we worked together. I love you D.C., you will always be my sweet little man and I will miss you terribly.