Laurens Wildlife Rescue - This week in wildlife

Laurens Wildlife Rescue

Aaannnd…maintaining the status quo

11/2/2025

LWR had no new intakes last week and no releases, although that may change this week. We shall see…

The potentially blind barred owl still ain’t doin’ right (Yes, it’s a “medical” term my vets and I use when we can’t find an actual problem but we know there is one: We say the patient has ADR). He may or may not eat, mostly not, and he alternates between acting stir crazy and just sitting slumped over. In other words, we still have major head trauma here, and there’s not a lot we can do but allow the bird time and see what happens.

The other barred owl is ready for release this week, probably midweek.

And the little feathered pig—sorry, I mean the peregrine—will then move into the main flight where, if he flies as well as he’s currently doing in the mini-pen, he’ll only spend a week or so before his release. He’s been a much calmer guest than the tail-shredding female peregrine of a couple of years ago, and I’ve enjoyed having a more laid-back bird to observe. I think it’s safe to say I’m slightly besotted with this fellow!

Y’all…this peregrine…

10/26/2025

Oh my Lord, what a feathered goofball! As y’all know, LWR isn’t on the migratory flyway for falcons, nor are we in their breeding area, and as a result, we see very few—three in over 20 years, one of which was DOA. So this fellow’s antics led me to contact colleague Kathryn Dudeck at Chattahoochee Nature Center, who sees in an average year as many falcons as LWR has seen over the course of 20 years, so she knows considerably more than I do about them.

What was the issue, you ask? Well, he’s a fairly laid-back bird. The last peregrine LWR had was a stressy female who shredded her tail feathers and never adjusted to humans walking into her pen for feedings. This little feathered pig (app. 480g, for them what’s wondering—and yes, that’s grammatically incorrect but it’s colloquially correct) not only hasn’t shredded any of his body parts, he flies TOWARD me and SNATCHES the food from the forceps. I wondered if he had some head issues; Kathryn assured me he was just that rarity, a very laid-back male. Whew! That frees me up to just enjoy his antics!

The goal, if y’all recall, was to move him into the main flight last week. Upon close examination, the puncture wound under his wing was only about 85% healed—it was quite deep and a large puncture—so I opted to err on the side of caution and keep him in the mini-pen for another week or two. And, of course, while I had him in hand, I weighed him, hence the weight listed above.

However…Sir Peregrine was NOT happy that I laid rough hands on his august personage, and once we were back in the mini-pen and said rough hands unhanded him, he proceeded to give me a royal chewing out. I mean, he questioned my parentage, he insulted my looks, he called me unrepeatable names, he demanded I leave his presence with all due haste…all over his shoulder, all while retaining a death grip on one finger of the glove…Doofus…

Once I pried his big ol’ falcon foot—seriously, their feet are disproportionately outsized for their bodies—off the glove, he then turned to face me and cussed me out for another near-60 seconds. No video of that; I was nearly doubled over, gasping for breath as I laughed at him, which thoroughly incensed him, leading to death glares.

All was forgiven by the next feeding, though—a healthy falcon ain’t gonna let anything stand between him and food!

Since he remained in the mini-pen, the barred owl went into the main flight. Another few weeks, and he should be good for release.

The sole intake for the week was another barred, this one from Jeff Davis County, with no fractures but some serious head trauma. He appears to be blind. We’ll give him a while to see if the blindness resolves itself once the concussion heals. I’m not hopeful, as his pupils show no response to light yet. It’s not looking promising for him.

Vulture release!

10/19/2025

The young turkey vulture regained his freedom last week and was quite happy to be back in the wild.

The peregrine was moved into the mini-pen, quickly adapting to his new digs; this week we’ll try him in the main flight, and he may even earn his release this week, as well.

The barred owl can go into the mini-pen this week, which will make for one more happy owl. He’s SO ready to end his “cage rest!”

We had only one new intake last week, from Chatham County, an adult red shoulder with a busted hip. Sadly, this was not fixable, and he was humanely euthanized.

And today we had an osprey come in from Pierce County; the finder suspected it might have been shot. The plan was to get x-rays tomorrow to see if any lead showed up, but during the 15 minutes or so the finder and I talked about the situation, the bird died.

Well, I didn’t have falcons on my raptor bingo card for 2025

10/12/2025

LWR isn’t really in the falcon migratory flyway, so we seldom see them; if memory serves, this one makes three in over 20 years—four if we include the Lanner falcon, who was someone’s falconry bird and not native to the US. So when a call came from Bulloch County about an injured hawk found in the road, there was no reason to think it wasn’t an actual hawk.

However…

When the finder’s husband arrived with the bird, we had a first-year peregrine falcon. He had a small puncture wound under his left wing but nothing felt broken, and he could extend both wings evenly.

On a smaller bird, though, it’s always better to get an x-ray to confirm, so off we went to the vet the next day, where rads confirmed no fractures. His muscle, however, was so traumatized that it showed as a white mass rather than the usual sort of translucent gray shadow, and the section with the puncture wound is quite obvious.

The puncture wound is healing nicely, he sits with the injured wing pulled more closely to the body now, and he eats like a little feathered pig. Had we not had a week of cooler than usual temps and sustained high humidity, he’d’ve been in the mini-pen by now, but with those factors in play and an open wound, it was simply smarter to keep him inside. As long as the buffet continues unabated, he doesn’t really seem to care—a much less stressy fellow than the last falcon LWR hosted.

This week the temps are supposed to be more seasonal, so he’ll go into the mini-pen and we’ll see how that wing functions; ligament or tendon damage doesn’t show on x-rays, so we still can’t rule that out yet.

The turkey vulture is now perching and growling and spreading his wings; his eating is back to hit-and-miss, though. He’ll generally eat readily if he’s hand-fed but mostly ignores the food otherwise. Given vultures’ high innate intelligence, I honestly feel like he’s being a manipulative little snot for his own amusement. Regardless, we know he can see, we know he can eat when the mood strikes, and he’s navigating the main flight with no issues, so he’s slated for release this week.

And the poor barred owl is suffering a major case of cabin fever, but he’s still got a couple of weeks before he can go into an outside pen. Having too much space to overuse that wing too soon could lead to a re-fracture and add to his time in captivity—or possibly result in an even worse break that might require euthanasia. So he’ll just have to be patient!

Quiet couple of weeks

10/5/2025

Apparently (Shhh! Knock on wood!) the fall slowdown has begun for LWR, as we had only one new intake over the past two weeks.

That new intake is a juvenile turkey vulture found in the middle of the road in Toombs County. Nothing is broken, but he may have soft tissue damage on the left wing. Also, for several days after intake he suffered trauma-induced blindness. His head trauma apparently led to swelling/pressure on the optic nerve, and he showed every symptom of blindness. After a week of hand-feeding him with no improvements, I was honestly ready to call it but opted for a few more days…just in case. Lo and behold, he seems to be regaining sight and can find his own stinky food now! The jury’s still out on the soft tissue damage, though, so we shall see…

The barred owl is beak-clicking along as we wait for his wing to heal. We should know if he’s healed for flight by the end of this month.

And that’s it for this week’s update!

Not quite a fall slowdown yet

9/21/2025

Last week saw a slight uptick in intakes, one with a fatal injury and one the jury’s still out on.

Starting with the “jury out” bird, this gorgeous (is there any other kind?) first-year red tail came in yesterday from Houston County. Finders reported him walking around their porch, unwilling to fly and putting up minimal resistance when they boxed him for transport.

His mussed head feathers lead to a logical guess that he whacked a window head-on; the cracked cere looks like an older injury that’s partially healed. His breath was labored yesterday, making me suspect he’d also bruised his ribs/lungs—it wasn’t the struggle for breath that comes with a blown lung; I’ve seen that before and it ain’t pretty.

By this morning his breathing was normal and he was more alert, so that’s a good sign. Fingers crossed…

The fatal injury was a barred owl from Laurens County. His left wing was totally trashed, shattered at the shoulder. He was humanely euthanized.

The barred owl with the wing fracture and cloudy eye is recovering nicely. The eye is totally clear now, and he amuses himself with beak-click threats every time I walk over to feed him. It will be late October before we’ll be able to test him to see if the wing healed for flight.

There will be no update next Sunday, September 28.

A slowish week

9/14/2025

LWR had only one intake last week, a barred owl who was found in a Monroe County restaurant parking lot. Initially seen the previous night and left under the assumption he’d fly away, he was still sitting there the next morning and Monroe Animal Control was called. The head of their AC contacted LWR and brought the bird here.

Upon arrival he was still loopy and had a cloudy right eye, and a quick physical exam indicated a broken left wing.

The next day we headed to the vet for x-rays, which confirmed the wing was indeed fractured. Vet Peggy Hobby and I debated the possibility of it healing for flight and opted to give him time to heal and see what happens.

Thus far he’s eating well, much more alert, and the right eye is slowly clearing, so fingers crossed the wing heals for flight.

And that’s the entirety of this week’s update!

Another release

9/7/2025

The barred owl from last Sunday’s update was moved into the main flight last week, where he flew perfectly and located his food with no issues, so late in the week, he was released. He was, in fact, the only bird at LWR last week, so at the moment we’re enjoying a short break in intakes—unusual for this time of year, but short breaks are always welcomed!

I would’ve preferred he flew off straight down the lane rather than veering into the trees on the side, but once the blue jays, nuthatches and other assorted songbirds began reading him the riot act, he decided to fly deeper into the woods.

This may qualify as the shortest update in LWR’s history!

A busy two weeks

8/31/2025

LWR had a fair amount of activity over the past two weeks: intakes, transfers, releases, and more.

First, the nonreleasable red tail is now at her new home at Elachee Nature Center.

With her at her new home, the MIKIs were moved from the mini-pen into the main flight, where they remained for about a week before being released early last week. (Be sure your sound is on for the first MIKI release; he was quite vocal!)

Late last week, an adult great horned came in from Johnson County after being pulled from a car grille. Sadly, there was nothing that could be done for this bird. In addition to the left wing being fractured, the pelvis was shattered and the bird had no neural response in either leg—and apparently no circulation, as both legs were ice cold. He was humanely euthanized.

A barred owl found in the road in a neighborhood in Camden County was luckier. Aside from a little blood in his right eye and some head trauma, he had no other injuries. He’s eating well and the eye is nearly clear, so he’ll go first into the mini-pen for a few days and then into the main flight before release.

And a local falconer was called to a warehouse in Laurens County to trap a juvenile great horned that had been in the building for, according to what owners told the falconer, a month. Falconers trap the birds they train as their falconry birds, so they have the proper equipment for this sort of rescue. However, the falconer reported that he was actually able to walk right up to the owl and toss a shirt over it—no trap needed. The bird had been eating; he reported seeing a few piles of feathers. But it was rail-thin.

When he brought me the bird, we both had high hopes that several weeks with a steady food source would have this youngster fattened up and ready for release. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case. The poor fellow didn’t last 30 minutes after intake. One of the hardest but most essential lessons wildlife rehabbers must learn—and quickly—is that we can’t save them all. Doesn’t really lessen the sting of losing one, especially a young one, though.

Vulture release!

8/17/2025

It’s always great to lead with a release! The turkey vulture siblings are at the undisclosed location I mentioned last week, where they’re happy as can be and will be monitored by the property owner as part of a soft release. We spent two hours with them this morning after release, making sure they located their food and ate and watching them happily exploring their new environment before I left. Enjoy the photos of them being typical goofy vultures.

The juvie red tail did, in fact, manage a self-release. He’s only the second bird I’ve had self-release from the main flight over the past decade.

The nonreleasable will go to her new home to assume her new role as an ed bird later this week.

And the MIKIs will be moved to the mini-pen till the nonreleasable leaves, then they’ll go into the main flight. They’ll be happy to be outside, and they need to be getting ready for migration ASAP.

Just a reminder: there will be no update next Sunday, August 24.