It’s nonstop full throttle at LWR these days, hence the even later than usual update today. I mean tonight. Whatever. It all starts running together...

Let’s lead with the older two red shoulders, who’re in the raptor flight now and liking it quite well, thanks.

​Red shoulder #3, a nestling, came in Monday and was joined just an hour or so ago by red shoulder #4, an older fledgling but painfully thin. Number 3 ain’t real happy to be rooming with #4 overnight but, to adjust a phrase from my childhood to deal with birds rather than humans, he can just get glad in the same feathers he got mad in. Space is at a premium around here these days!

​Late last Sunday night a fledgling brown thrasher came in having seizures; he didn’t survive the night.

​Tuesday another nestling bluebird came in, this one found in a barn with no nest in sight. He looks to be male; his feathers are slightly brighter in certain lights than the little female’s. She’s a bit older than he is, and he's a bit on the timid side.

Wednesday an as-yet unidentified hatchling came in, found on the ground with a dead sib. As you can see, he’s pretty tiny. Beak kinda makes me think phoebe but voice doesn’t sound like a phoebe. We’ll see; the feathers are starting to come in nicely…

​And later that day an adult female cardinal came in with a swollen left wing. She was alert Thursday and eating well but died sometime Thursday night.

​Thursday an adult barred owl came in with an open wing fracture; there was nothing to do but humanely euthanize.

Friday a fledgling robin came in with a leg fracture and some other underlying issue(s); he died within 2 hours of intake, which I honestly wasn’t expecting, as he was alert and eating well.

Today a barred owl came in with a massively trashed wing after getting hung in the ropes of someone’s tire swing. The broken feathers, raw flesh and maggot eggs were all “fixable” issues; the wing fracture right in the joint was not. He was euthanized humanely.

No new photos of the barn swallow, who will be released as soon as rain chances drop; right now we have a spate of high rain chances over the coming days.

The wood ducklings are fast approaching release size—and not a moment too soon, honestly. They’re getting too big for the limited space I have available at the moment. No new photos or video of them; the focus kept struggling on the video for some reason.

The blue jay with the leg injury and busted hip surprised me by perching late in the week. I honestly wasn’t sure he’d be able to perch, given that hip, but he’s perching like a pro and flying some, too. And, of course, I adore him…Y'all know how I am about my corvids!

​The screeches are growing too fast; they’re still half-down and half-feathers but they’re starting to test those wings and are now eating mice halves rather than mouse “cutlets.” Won’t be long now before they’re ready for the mini-pen, which is an ideal size for screeches.

​And we met the $1000 goal in the fundraiser, so thanks to all who donated!

…’cause this may take a while. What a week!

First, the painted bunting was released. No video, no post-release photos. I had the camera out, on and ready, finger on the shutter button, and when I opened his box, he was outta there faster’n greased lightnin’, before I could even fully open the box, much less focus the camera. 
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And then a second red shoulder, this one a late nestling, came in. After some typical red shoulder mouthing off, she’s settled in nicely and is currently housed with the red shoulder now-fledgling, who’s pretty clearly a male when “stacked” next to this big ol’ gal.

​Then a blue jay came in, a fledgling, the first of three last week. He wasn’t looking so hot—very lethargic and toes already “clawed”. He didn’t survive three hours after intake.

​Hot on his heels came an adult Mississippi kite with an old open wing fracture. He was rail-thin and the bone was already dried out—no blood supply to it at all. He was humanely euthanized.

​Then an adult black vulture came in with a horrific open wing fracture and was immediately humanely euthanized. The photos below were taken post-euthanasia.

​On Wednesday, blue jay #2 came in, DOA. Not gasping, not on his last breath—quite literally dead on arrival, poor baby. He’d been cat-attacked the previous night and his finder simply sat him in a tree, where he was cat-attacked again the next morning. The poor bird didn’t have a chance…

​In happier news, all three robins, the cardinal, the single house finch and the mockingbirds were released. It’s deafening walking over to the “feeding tree” and having five house finches, four bluebirds, a brown thrasher, a cardinal, three robins and three mockingbirds all vying for your attention! But those bluebirds and robins, especially, as “cousins” in the thrush family, are absolutely the sweetest birds. They never fail to make me smile.

​Two red tails came in, one DOA and one euthanized. The DOA simply couldn’t stand, although he was well-fleshed and nothing appeared broken.

​The second was seen being hit by a car, and although his wings and legs were just fine, his esophagus was badly ruptured. He was again immediately humanely euthanized.

​When folks showed up Friday night with an adult male great horned owl, I initially thought he was another literal DOA; when I picked him up for an intake exam, his head lolled listlessly and he didn’t respond at all to being handled. He then began having tremors throughout his entire body, like mini-seizures. He was just…out of it. Badly. Unsure if this was really bad head trauma from a collision with a car, I opted to give him the night to see how he fared the next morning, but he died overnight.

​Yesterday, two brown thrashers, nestlings, came in after being dragged from their nest, one after the other, by a marauding outdoor cat. Although their wounds were minor and I started antibiotics, one died within an hour of intake and the other died overnight. 

​When the first thrasher died, I placed this sweet little nestling bluebird found in a cardboard box that was about to be trashed in with the (at that time) surviving one. The poor little bluebird was sitting next to a dead thrasher this morning but she’s doing well at the moment. (While her wing feathers are just starting to emerge, they’re the dusty blue that marks a female.)

​And in the “third time’s a charm” category, a third fledgling blue jay came in today, this one with a swollen and somewhat bloody  right leg and what looks like a possible left hip fracture. He’s also pretty dirty, suggesting to me he might have been rolled around in the dirt by a cat, so he’s on antibiotics. He’s alert and eating well, so we’ll see…

The barn swallow is doing well; no new photos of her this week.
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The wood ducks…well, when they’re not swimming, this is my normal view of them…

​The barred owl pulled from fishing line was released. While his release flight made for a sort of “meh” video, when I turned off the camera and started in his direction to see if I needed to recapture him, given that low flight, he suddenly discovered that those wings had lift. By the time the camera was back on, he was out of sight.

​The red tail, however, more than made up for the less-than-stellar optics on the barred release. She took off long, strong and steady. She’d been at LWR since February, so I was delighted to see her finally regain her freedom.

​And, of course, the screeches are no longer tiny balls of down. They’re branching a bit, in a larger box to accommodate a perch along with their nest, and totally refusing any “handouts” from me. “Just put the food down and back away, slowly, lady, or we’ll kill you with cuteness.” Gotta love a screech…or three!

 ​Finally, we’re at $900 on the “soft” fundraiser—just $100 to go, folks! Thanks to those who’ve already donated; for those who haven’t, let’s get that last $100! PayPal links are on every page of the website.

It was another week of intakes and releases, and a couple of DOAs…Typical for any time of year but especially baby season.

Leading with releases, both mourning doves, the brown thrasher, four house finches and four bluebirds were released. While a couple of the finches, the thrasher and all the bluebirds still come down for supplemental feedings, they get spooked at the sight of my camera, or even my phone camera, so no post-release shots of them. Yet. I’ll keep trying.

In the soon-to-be-released category, we have the painted bunting—here again, no new photos, as that little rascal will shoot out and lead me on a merry chase through the rehab area in a heartbeat. Aiming at release tomorrow.
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The female red tail is slated for release either tomorrow or Tuesday.  She’s getting antsy. The male…that soft tissue damage shows no signs of healing and, sad to say, the day the female is released, I’ll more than likely call it on the male. As heartless as it sounds, I need the raptor flight for a brancher red shoulder who came in last week and is ready to be outside. 

​Also, the robins are nearly ready for release. They’re in the mini-pen now and are loving it. They just need about a week more to be fully prepared for release.

​Two additional house finches came in; one was DOA and the other is ready for the mini-pen. But I wouldn’t put a bird that small in with three rambunctious robins, so he’ll have to wait till they’re released.

​Same for the cardinal fledgling who came in last week—he’s also ready for the mini-pen but the size difference between him and the robins could spell trouble. He and the finch get along famously, though.

Last week’s late-arriving Carolina wren didn’t make it through the night, nor did a sweet little female downy woodpecker who came in near dark later in the week. Her only obvious injury was a swollen wrist, but based on the poop in her box the next morning, she had internal bleeding.
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The wood ducks remain as paranoid as ever. I mean, I swim them every. single. day. They should be used to being moved from their “safe space” to the tub for a leisurely swim, right? WRONG. Every day, they shriek as if they’re being killed as I scoop them up and place them in their OPEN box and take them to the tub. Every day, they shriek in panic as I gently tip the box so they can jump into the water. Every single day, they shriek and swim frantically around the tub as I scoop them back out to take back to their safe space. Wood ducks may be pretty, but they ain’t the brightest light bulbs in the pack.

​Three mockers came in from various locations, all three at different stages of development. The two oldest are currently housed together; the youngest still needs supplemental heat.

​This adult barn swallow has a broken wing. It’s not right in the joint, so we’re giving her (gender arbitrarily assigned; both sexes look the same) time to see if it heals for flight. She eats well, so that at least is good. Sometimes adult barn swallows refuse to eat mealworms from a dish, as they normally snag their insects on the fly.

​This afternoon, an adult male barred owl came in after being caught in fishing line. Nothing feels broken but he was so covered in dried mud that I couldn’t tell what was mud and what might be blood, much less if there were wounds needing treatment. So adding to the poor bird’s already considerable discomfiture, I had to hose him down. He was NOT a happy camper. The good news is that in addition to no fractures, he also has only minor “hot spots” under his wings. I still didn’t get all the mud out of his feathers, though, poor fellow…

​And saving the absolute cutest for last, the screeches are growing like little weeds. They have most of their wing feathers in already, and at certain angles you can already see their “horn” tufts developing on those still-downy heads. They’re also already developing into independent eaters, taking only one or two bits of mouse from the forceps before glaring at me till I place the rest down for them to eat later. Brats…

​Finally, a reminder that we’re still in the midst of the “soft” fundraiser. As of today, we’re at $800, so just $200 to go to reach our goal! Thanks to those who’ve donated; to those who haven’t, PayPal links are on each page of the website, or the mailing address is on the website for those who prefer sending checks.

There was a fair share of beauty and ugliness last week; let’s start with something utterly gorgeous, shall we?

I’ve seen photos of painted buntings and considered them stunning birds, but since I seldom even see a blue bunting in the wild, I figured photos were as close as I’d ever get. WRONG.
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Monday, when I took the brancher barred in for x-rays—and MUCH more on that in a sec—a lady who’d called earlier about a painted bunting that got hung somehow in her bird feeder brought it by Smalley’s so we could go ahead and, well, kill two birds with one stone, as it were, by x-raying both birds while I was there.

​His x-rays showed no fractures but he couldn’t gain altitude, usually a sign of a coracoid fracture which, as y’all know by now, doesn’t always show on x-rays.

​So this little work of art is spending a couple of weeks at the LWR B&B while we give him time to heal.

Now to the brancher barred…If y’all recall, he came in as ostensibly dog-attacked, and his wounds appeared consistent with a dog attack. So what we expected to see on x-rays was one or more wing fractures and definitely a femur or hip fracture. What we did NOT expect was to find him riddled with pellets.

Yeah. Some jackass shot a defenseless baby owl.

Let that sink in for a moment.
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A young owl, unable to even fly at this stage of his life, just venturing out of the nest onto nearby branches, only a threat to maybe frogs and lizards, and some fool shot him for their sick jollies.

Oh, y’all don’t wanna know the things I said. Obviously, this was reported to both DNR and FWS, and as I told them, there’s a special place in hell for the jackass who shot this poor baby, and I’d like to send him/her there myself. At the least, I hope they nail the cretin’s hide to the barn door, very publicly.

Due to the amount of lead in his young body, as well as the injuries, he was euthanized.

The very next day a second barred came in, slightly older and seemingly in fairly good shape. No injuries, alert, hungry and willingly eating…within two hours of intake he was dead. Not a clue…
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In more uplifting news, the singleton house finch and all six nuthatches were released, as was the possum.

​The bluebird and house finch quartets and the brown thrasher are in the mini-pen, which I’m using for songbirds as much as possible at the moment—the proper songbird flight still needs repair and the volunteer who’d planned to help has a torn rotator cuff. Been there and know how excruciating that is…It’s not ideal but it is a viable solution to a problem, so…

​Both red tails are in the raptor flight. The female is almost release-ready; she’s doing great. The male…well, that soft tissue damage looks to be permanent. The wing droops badly and he can’t fly.

​The wood ducklings continue growing apace and remain typical paranoid wood ducks.

The doves are nearly ready for the flight pen, but as they’re older birds and don’t trust humans at all, I won’t put them in with the fledglings. They’ll have to wait a bit. No photos, as they go ballistic when I walk near them, even to feed and freshen water.

Midweek, folks cutting down a snag in imminent danger of falling on their house inadvertently destroyed a screech owl nest. They were quite upset, as they’d checked and thought the snag was safe to fell and when it landed, three precious screeches bounced out.
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They’re about two weeks old at this point; on intake their eyes had just started opening, which usually occurs around seven days or so. And no, they’re not auditioning for Wicked; because their little eyes are so light sensitive, I use red or green night vision lights so I can see in the dark to feed them. I prefer green, as my human eyes see it better than the red. 

They’re eating well and the runt, who had every chance in the wild of eventually becoming his sibs’ supper, is making up for lost time as far as food goes.

Two additional house finches came in yesterday and are struggling after over 24 hours with no food. I didn’t expect them to survive last night, honestly, and they’re still very iffy. One is already looking to be checking out; the other most likely won’t be far behind.
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This little Carolina wren fledgling came in today after being cat-attacked. She’s on antibiotics, of course, and aside from stress and confusion, she’s doing well thus far. Caros are stressy little birds, though, so I won’t breathe easy till she’s actually released.

​And in a tale of doing everything right and still ending up with birds in rehab, a couple had been excitedly watching the first robins they’d had nest in their yard when the wife walked out to find two of the babies on the ground. The nest was too high to reach, so her husband rigged a basket and winched it up close to the nest, but the parents freaked out and refused to feed the basket babies or the one left in the nest. Basket babies ended up at LWR.

The next day the wife called and said the nest was tipped on its side and she was worried the remaining baby would fall out. He did. Again, they tried the winched basket. No go again from the parents, and robin #3 was a bit of a rebel and kept hopping out of the basket. After finding him back on the ground near dark, the wife brought him inside for the night and to LWR the next day.
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So now all three sibs are reunited and are the sweetest little birds. As is the case with most members of the thrush family—and robins are the largest thrushes—they have the most winsome personalities.

​I give the couple full credit for attempting to rig a substitute nest, and honestly, most of the time this strategy works beautifully. They tried to do the right thing to keep the babies with their parents but were also intelligent enough to realize when it wasn’t working the babies needed help. Their quick action ensured these sweethearts will have a chance.

​And finally, the “soft” fundraiser remains stalled at $550. Remember, donations are through PayPal (links on every page of the website), and we have just $450 to go to meet the $1000 goal!

Between meeting editing deadlines and feeding songbirds every half hour, this is the first time today I’ve been able to focus on the update. I’m exhausted, so I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible.

In new birds, there’s a slew.
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Early in the week a mature male red tail came in with what appears to be soft tissue damage to his right wing. Nothing feels broken and he can and will extend it when he feels threatened—which is every time I’m near him—but it droops badly. I’m thinking a damaged tendon or ligament, which may or may not heal for flight. Time will tell.

​Saturday, what was probably a nestling robin came in after being cat-attacked. While his wounds appeared superficial and he was started on antibiotics immediately on arrival, he died half an hour after intake.

​He was followed in short order by a window-strike hummer, who survived only 45 minutes after intake. There’s no telling how long she’d been without food before she was found on the pavement, and while she did eat for me, it was too little, too late.

​A hit-by-car red-headed woodpecker required euthanasia for an open wing fracture.

​When storms Thursday apparently unnested this young barred owl, he was left on the ground until attacked by a dog. His right wing is wounded and may be broken and his right hip feels “crunchy” but he still has neural response.  My gut says this is a fatal injury, and consults with two colleagues resulted in a general consensus that probably euthanasia will be needed but we all also agreed that since it’s a baby, we’d rather have x-rays just to be sure. We’ll find out tomorrow…

​Today, four near-fledgling bluebirds came in after at least one of their parents was killed by a cat. At this age birds can sometimes be difficult to feed but prior to lights-out tonight, they were all gaping nicely and eagerly.

​And hot on their heels came four nestling house finches, also orphaned by a cat attack.

Do y’all see a theme here? OUTDOOR CATS KILL BIRDS. If you claim to care about wildlife, particularly birds, in your yard, KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS.
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The female red tail finally made it to the raptor flight and immediately soared to the end farthest from me. A few weeks to build up her flight muscles, and she’ll be good to go!

​The suspected blue-gray gnatcatchers turned out to be brown-headed nuthatches, and the possible titmouse, when he feathered out fully, was also a nuthatch. The six of them are chatty little things, and as cute as they can be. We’re aiming at release late this week, as they fly well now and are almost self-feeding.

​The brown thrasher is also doing a good bit of self-feeding, as is the older house finch. The finch flies well; the thrasher not so much yet.

The phoebe finally started to perch just before lights-out tonight; I was honestly getting a bit worried about her. No decent photos of her this week; she wasn’t real cooperative around the camera.
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The wood ducklings, from what I hear outside the bathroom door when they’re swimming, are quite active; when I walk in, however, they clump-swim to the back of the tub and shriek. They’re such melodramatic little things…

The mourning doves are doing well; forgot to get photos of them this week.
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The possum is growing like a weed; it won’t be long before she’s ready for release.

Finally, the “soft fundraiser” is doing nicely, with $550 raised thus far. Just $450 to go, folks!

Yeah, the big news is LWR received a juvenile bald eagle Thursday. Fourth eagle LWR has seen in 11 years: 2009, 2013, 2018 and 2020.  And they’re a massive bureaucratic nightmare, in addition to having lousy personalities. Y’all get excited at the thought of an eagle; rehabbers get headaches.

This juvie was from Washington County. The nest had been under observation and the two sibs had branched about two weeks ago, so this guy wasn’t long out of the nest. A tornado in the wee hours Monday apparently grounded the bird; the nest was damaged but mostly intact, according to observers. The landowner had not been in the area after the tornado till Thursday,  and when he saw the eagle grounded called GA DNR Eagle Program Coordinator Bob Sargent and area deer rehabbers John and Luanne Brooker, who often transport raptors to me. Based on the landowner’s description of the situation, Bob okayed capture, and John and Luanne got the bird to me within an hour of capture.
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He arrived at LWR after Smalley’s had closed, so his vet visit would have to wait till Friday morning. His left thigh was a writhing mass of maggots and the underside of the right wing was discolored and it felt “crunchy.” I treated the thigh for maggots and started oral and topical antibiotics. He weighed about  6.5 lbs on intake—pretty definite confirmation that he was indeed male.

​A vet exam and x-rays Friday at Smalley’s revealed a slightly displaced fracture of his right ulna that would heal best with a pin. Vet Peggy Hobby said his thigh treatment was appropriate; vet Jim Hobby stated he’d do the surgery if needed but would prefer a vet with more raptor surgical experience to handle it if possible. Luckily in this pandemic panic, Auburn’s Raptor Center was still taking birds, so we arranged transport to them on Saturday. When scheduled transporter Joy Daniels spiked with a fever early that morning, she contacted me so we could make alternate arrangements, and Scott and Tonya Gaillard stepped in at the last minute and transported the eagle to Auburn.

Scott said Auburn’s people told him we could follow the bird’s progress on their website; he’s intake #81. He’s not listed as of this afternoon but the link is https://w2.vetmed.auburn.edu/rm1/html/patientList.html . Their format is year-case number so you’ll be looking at the bottom of the list for 2020-081.

So now let me explain to y'all why raptor rehabbers cringe when eagles come in: Life as you know it comes to a screeching halt, because EVERYTHING revolves around the eagle from intake till transfer. I spent from app. 3:30pm Thursday to 3:30pm Saturday talking on the phone, texting, and emailing to get everything arranged to get the bird, alerting DNR and FWS that I had him, alerting my vets that I'd be in with him this morning, taking him in for the vet exam, talking to Auburn to make sure they'd take the bird during this pandemic panic, arranging transport to Auburn, letting everyone involved know transport was arranged, medicating and feeding the eagle, alerting all the proper authorities the eagle was en route to Auburn...and I still had over a dozen songbirds, a red tail, a possum, and six wood ducks to care for as well, with calls continuing and more birds coming in, in addition to my editing—you know, that little thing I do that actually pays the bills...

And yes, I was mentally and physically exhausted by the time the eagle left, but couldn’t relax until Scott and Tonya confirmed they’d made it to Auburn safely and had no problems delivering the bird. THEN I took 1000mg of Tylenol for my near-exploding head and crashed for half an hour, as that’s all the time I could spare between songbird feedings.

In slightly less stressful events at LWR this week, baby season has kicked in with a vengeance, with no less than 11 nestlings of varying species coming in throughout the week.
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Monday an adult great horned owl with an open wing fracture and no neural response in either leg came in and was humanely euthanized.

​He was followed by five adorable blue-gray gnatcatcher nestlings who were days from fledging. After Sunday night/Monday morning’s storms, the property owners were surveying the damage and the wife walked over to a downed tree to see what the noise beneath it was. It was these babies, with a dead sib nearby. They’re doing great—fledged last night but will remain inside for a few days yet, till they start self-feeding.

​Then we had a house finch who fledged a bit too early when a snake raided his nest.

​Wednesday a juvenile mourning dove with a broken wing came in and was placed with the cat-attacked dove who’s been an unhappy camper at LWR for a couple of weeks now.

Thursday’s intakes were a DOA adult male bluebird followed in short order by the eagle that led today’s update.
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Friday saw a nestling brown thrasher, a cat-attack victim, and two what appeared to be phoebes, one of whom required euthanasia for a nest injury that resulted in his leg bones fusing into a backwards-facing position. The remaining phoebe has some poop issues—struggles to poop even though its cloaca is clean. I’m monitoring this situation. Yeah, we rehabbers know our shit…

​Saturday, what appears to be a nestling pine warbler with a broken leg arrived. The break is too high to splint so I’m keeping him positioned “just so” in his nest in hopes it’ll heal properly. There’s no nerve damage; he can flex his little toes when I lift him to change his nest paper, so that’s promising.

​Also, a one-winged mourning dove came in and was euthanized, per FWS regulations—and just plain common sense. The wing had been ripped off at the shoulder; the bird couldn’t fly. The most humane option was euthanasia. The feds don’t arbitrarily make these rules; they take into account the health and wellbeing of the birds. 

​And another nestling brown thrasher came in Saturday, also a cat-attack victim. He’s louder and more insistent than Thrasher 1, so I can actually tell which of them is raising Cain.

​Of course, we also have the red tail, waiting impatiently for a week with no bad weather forecasts to move into the raptor flight.

​The sole survivor of the original four hatchlings from last Sunday’s update turned out to be a titmouse (we think) rather than a Carolina wren. When the feathers started coming in, it was obvious I’d misidentified the species. “Naked babies” are often difficult to pin down as to species!

​The possum continues to grow and is now self-feeding. She’s already got her PhD in napping, as well…

​The half dozen wood ducks are doing well and have mastered the art of “clump swimming” –see the video below!

​Finally, we’re doing an early “soft” fundraiser using the PayPal links on the website again—see the graphic below. Tom and AJ Rogers made a rat run (they picked up a load of rodents for our raptors) for LWR and Bubba & Friends last week, and Tom came up with the concept. Both Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends and I like the idea, so…LWR’s goal is $1000 for 1000 miles. That seems reasonable, right? And we have the first $100 donation already!

Hope y’all’re enjoying your quarantine Easter; for me it’s pretty much business as usual, pandemic or not.
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The cat-attacked mourning dove continues to recuperate nicely. She’s feeling great and refuses to accept that she can’t fly with most of the flight feathers missing on one wing. This makes freshening her food and water interesting, to say the least.

​The red tail in the mini-pen will be moved to the raptor flight this week; she needs some space to test that wing. 

The red tail who came in last Sunday with suspected capillaria required euthanasia. He had a great appetite but wasn’t gaining any weight, he refused to even attempt to stand after the first couple of days, and he got progressively more lethargic. When I walked in to hand-feed him his morning mice and found him near-comatose with ice-cold legs and feet, I knew it was time to call it on the poor fellow.
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Late last Sunday yet another possum came in, this one cat-attacked. She’s doing great, although she’s quite stubborn. She’s old enough to nibble at mealworms and soft solids but she refuses to touch anything but her formula. 

​Mid-week four hatchlings came in. The finders saw them on the ground the previous afternoon, made a makeshift nest, and put it in the tree closest to where they found the hatchlings. Smart thinking, and this approach will often work. In this case, however, when they checked the makeshift nest the next day it was obvious the parents hadn’t been feeding the babies, so the finders called LWR and instituted emergency warming and feeding measures per my instructions till they could get the babies to me that afternoon.  Two babies didn’t survive the night; the other two are doing well, and I’m cautiously optimistic as their eyes begin to open. They appear to be Carolina wrens.

​And Thursday night a caller reported capturing six wood ducklings after seeing them chased by a feral cat in the local Wal-Mart parking lot. She brought them to LWR the next morning; one of them died within 12 hours of arrival. The other five seem to be doing well; with wood ducks, stressy little birds that they are, I’m never certain they’ll survive till they’re actually released.

​The local barn swallows are busily building a new nest; the bluebirds have eggs in the nest; the Carolina wrens’ babies in the bluebird box near the mini-pen just hatched this morning, and the chickadees in the third bluebird box have babies as of Wednesday. It’s baby season!

​And here in Georgia, we’re battening down the hatches, as we’re expecting severe weather tonight into early tomorrow morning…The fun never ends…

With all the pandemic panic, the pace remains slow at LWR, although that could change at any point this month as baby season kicks into high gear.
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The red tail in the mini-pen continues to do well. Another week or so, and I’ll probably move her to the raptor flight to test her wings. That left wing droop worries me, but it’s been nearly 10 weeks since her x-rays so any healing that’s gonna take place has already done so.

​Mid-week last week, an adult red shoulder came in with an open wing fracture which, as y’all know by now, is a fatal injury. He was humanely euthanized.

​A day later, a caller said they’d found four baby possums with their dead mother. It would be the next morning before they could get them to LWR, so I explained emergency feeding and housing requirements. Two of the babies died that night, before arriving at LWR; the remaining two, both females, weighed in at respectable 26g and 28g, above the cut-off weight for survival. I thought they had a pretty decent chance, as their weights were reasonable, their eyes had just opened, and they were eating well and active. Both died within 24 hours of intake, however. 

​Friday night a cat-attacked mourning dove came in, and she was stove up, as the old expression goes. Her intake exam had me wondering if letting the cat finish what it started would’ve been kinder to the poor bird. Still, I started oral antibiotics and topical treatments on her extensive wounds, fully expecting her to die overnight. Today her wounds have scabbed over nicely, she’s perching, and she’s eating well.  Nothing was broken, surprisingly; she just has a lot of raw skin, abrasions and missing feathers. We’re taking it day by day but at the moment, I’m mildly optimistic she’ll be okay.

​And early this afternoon an adult male red tail came in, rail thin and lethargic but with no obvious fractures. There was no sign of frounce so I suspect capillaria, which is when worms from the rodents that form a large part of a red tail’s diet get in the bird’s crop and make it feel full even as it starves to death. I’ve started treatment for that and gotten a couple of small meals in the bird, which he ate eagerly. Again, I’m cautiously optimistic we caught this in time for the bird to make a full recovery.

​For those who may not know the lore, here in the South loblolly pines form what look like crosses from their new growth every spring, nearly always right around Easter. Since next Sunday is Easter, here are a few photos of those Easter pine crosses for your viewing pleasure.

Last week saw lots of calls, few intakes, several releases, and, of course, some deaths.
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Let’s lead with some good news, shall we? The cat-attacked bluebird, after escaping several times while I was putting in fresh mealworms for him and flying strong and straight as he eluded me, was released. Apparently it was just a badly bruised wing after all.

The flyers were released; not one hung around after the cage door was opened the first night. They were ready to “git!”
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While the red tail will still need follow-up x-rays soon, she’s in the mini-pen for now. The fresh air and sunshine have eased her antsiness a great deal and she can hop from perch to perch and from the ground to the lowest perch, so she’s happy for the moment. That wing looks as if it might not have healed quite properly, though. We’ll see…Waiting for things to return to some semblance of normal before loading her up for a vet visit.

​Tuesday night a Northern flicker came in; the couple who brought him had heard his distress call and found him behind their workshop. He had a minor neck wound but was alert and well-fleshed. I medicated the wound, started antibiotics in case he’d been cat-attacked, and put him to bed for the night. The next morning he was dead. As y’all well know by now, this is one of the most frustrating aspects of wildlife rehab—the deaths for no apparent reason. His wound wasn’t deep enough to’ve caused death; it wasn’t inflamed or hot to the touch like a snake or spider bite, and he appeared perfectly fine the night before…

And yesterday, three birds came in, a late-nestling great horned owl (GHO), a late first-year Cooper’s hawk, and an adult pine warbler.
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The GHO was another case study in frustration. He seemed alert but his mouth was white-pale—not good. His initial poop was the sort of chalky white rehabbers recognize as stemming from lack of food. However, he was reluctant to eat—definitely not normal for a GHO, especially a young one. Over the course of the day, feeding him every couple of hours or so, I managed to get five small mice in him, but his poop after the first one had me worried: it was thick, dark and tarry—the usual sign of internal bleeding. Now I began to worry that perhaps his parents had fed themselves and their babies one or more poisoned rodents, and this poor baby was the sole survivor…and he was becoming more and more lethargic. By 3:00 this morning, when I fed him his last small mouse, I was convinced he wouldn’t be alive come sunup. And he wasn’t. And it hurt my heart. 

​The Coop has an old shoulder fracture that began to callus in the wild. Although I know it’s a lost cause, I’m gonna try him in the raptor flight anyway, just to confirm for my own peace of mind that he really cannot fly, and then he’ll likely need euthanasia.

​The pine warbler’s right wing is broken, and there’s a puncture wound on top that would suggest a cat-attack. He’s on oral meds for that, but the wing itself looks pretty trashed. I can’t tell for sure; he was brought in with the injury fresh and still bleeding last night, so the swelling hasn’t gone down enough to actually do anything more than topically medicate the wing at this point. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s not looking too good for him at the moment.

Hopefully next week will prove less lethal for wildlife. Lord knows I certainly hope so…

With people “self-isolating” and whole counties going on Constitutionally questionable lockdowns, LWR  only got phone calls last week, mostly from the metro-Atlanta area, that didn’t result in intakes once they realized LWR was located a good 150 miles from them. Mind you, I’m not here to debate the pandemic panic or the legality of the measures being taken to control its spread, although I certainly do have opinions. This, however, is a page for wildlife.

That said, people are scared to be out and about right now, aside from grocery store runs to hoard all the toilet paper, so God help any wildlife in need of rehab. Even though every rehabber who’s discussed this issue has indicated they’re available to accept orphaned, ill or injured wildlife, most of us just aren’t getting the volume of calls we normally do this time of year. We’ll see how this plays out as baby season moves into high gear.

The flyers are good to go and should be headed for release next week. No photos of them this week; they’re practicing “social distancing” of their own, as they don’t come out till after I’ve turned off the rehab room lights for the night.
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The red tail could have gone in for follow-up x-rays last week, but it’d only been six weeks. We’ll give her eight and then see how things look. Fractures normally take six to eight weeks to heal. Given the precautions even vet clinics are taking these days, it just seemed better not to add to the disruption my clinic was already experiencing. So I opted to delay her follow-up for another week or two.

And the poor bluebird has been so antsy that I actually took him out to the mini-pen to see if maybe his wing had only been bruised—recall that his x-rays showed no fractures so we figured he had a coracoid fracture, which seldom shows on x-rays. Unfortunately, he was still unable to fly, so we have another couple of weeks, minimum, to give that “invisible” coracoid fracture time to heal.

​I walked him outside for a quick photo and some fresh air while I was cleaning his box.  Look at that sweet little face!

​Meanwhile, if the pandemic panic has you at home, don’t stay cooped up; get outside and get some sunshine and fresh air. Both are good for your immune system and getting outside for a while will stave off cabin fever. Here, at least, we’re getting a light rain that will settle the heavy pollen and ease allergies and hay fever so going for a walk won’t result in streaming eyes and uncontrollable sneezing!