It’s a hot, muggy Wednesday afternoon when licensed wildlife rehabilitator Lori Anderson says it’s time for a young hawk to rediscover his freedom.

The juvenile red-tailed hawk, cooped up for two months in a flight cage beside Anderson’s home, was nursed back to health, and now he’s large enough and a strong enough hunter to live life on his own.

Anderson drives him to a local bird sanctuary at Lake Wright Patman. There, he’s wrangled out of the cardboard box and, for a moment, perches on Anderson’s hand. He’s back in the environment he once know: Outdoors and temptin...