Cheyenne had never known life in the wild, being hatched and raised in captivity for the falconry sport. He was always quite comfortable around people even to the point of showing affection to some of the volunteers, especially during matting seasons. Of all of our birds, Cheyenne was not the largest, smallest, or most colorful. While he was beautiful, his major attribute was his intelligence and desire to interact with his handlers, making him a joy to be around and work with. Harris hawks in the wild will sometimes work together to hunt a single animal. This display of intelligent behavior is very uncommon among birds of prey.

The cause of his death is thought to be from a reaction to an unusual insect bit under the wing. Without the extra funding and time necessary to facilitate a thorough necropsy, we utilized an alternative method for information. Harris hawks are normally found in the western portion of North America and especially in the southwest. This may be a case of the bird not having adequate resistance to all of the insects in the southeast or there may have been other complications which were unknown to us.

Every event in which we appear with the birds is now a little bit different. Cheyenne has left a permanent impression on our lives and will always be missed.