What Does the Extremely Rare Hawk Found in Missouri Signify?

In Fredricktown, Missouri this week a rare Leucistic red-tailed hawk was found and it was unable to fly. The raptor seen regularly in that area of Missouri has been seen enough that locals have named it “Sky”.

When a local family discovered him injured on their property, they knew immediately who it was. They contacted the county conservation department who sent an agent to retrieve the bird who has now been taken to Columbia, Mo. to the University of Missouri’s College of Veterinary Medicine – Raptor Rehab Facility.

“Sky” it turns out is not a White hawk, but a Leucistic red-tailed hawk. Leucistic animals have a partial loss of pigmentation on their bodies -but not their eyes. So Leucistic animals are not albino. They have a reduction in certain types of pigment, not just melanin.

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White hawks are real, they just aren’t found in Missouri, --or the United States at all. They can be found in South America in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil and also in Southern Mexico. White hawks are not on any endangered list currently.

Native American beliefs point to an all white red tailed hawk as a harbinger of a spiritual message to be alert for.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources say that after the hawk is rehabbed and healthy it will be taken back to the land it was found on in Fredricktown, Mo. and released.