The red shoulder who’d been hit by a vehicle a couple of weeks ago and miraculously escaped unscathed aside from minor head trauma regained his freedom yesterday, and he was quite a happy camper about it.

He didn’t wait around after landing in that tree; as soon as he got his bearings, he was off again, so no post-release photos.

The vultures are still hanging around, but are beginning to show more independence.

And the latest from Auburn on the eagle is that he’s being treated for osteoarthritis and they plan to evaluate him for flight in another week or so. On Monday the 19th they indicated when they called LWR for some follow-up info that they were most likely going to imp the missing feathers. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, it means the missing feathers will be replaced; Audubon has a great introductory article on the process here: https://www.audubon.org/news/an-introduction-imping-ancient-art-feather-mending.

I’m interested to see if they’re actually able to imp, as this process does require broken feather shafts and the eagle didn’t appear to have any broken shafts and Auburn’s exam confirmed this. I guess we’ll see, huh?

Yeah, hard to believe, right? Used to be, LWR would see one eagle maybe every 4-5 years; now it seems to be multiples every year. I guess that speaks well of Georgia’s conservation efforts.

This guy—and we’re sure he’s male, given his overall smaller size and weight—was found in Jefferson County, about 2 hours away, on Wednesday afternoon and taken by DNR to an Augusta vet clinic until they could transport to LWR. DNR had statewide meetings all day Thursday, leaving no one to transport, and I had appointments I couldn’t cancel, so the transport was set up for Friday morning.

Meanwhile, I called the Augusta clinic and spoke with them concerning feeding, etc., while they had him. Upon my recommendation, they offered him both fish and roadkill squirrel, and he ate both for them Wednesday evening and Thursday. They had also weighed him at just over 7 lbs., on the low end of the scale for a male.

I also called Auburn to give them a heads-up they’d have an eagle arriving sometime Friday, and alerted Smalley’s I’d be bringing one in Friday morning, as well.

Upon his arrival at LWR Friday, he was loaded up immediately for x-rays at Smalley’s Animal Hospital. Vet Jim Hobby confirmed my initial quick intake exam with the x-rays: Nothing was broken. Further, the trunk x-rays showed NO LEAD in his body. Sadly, this is something we always check for with raptors. He was only missing most of his flight feathers on his right wing, which would have impaired his ability to fly. His keel (breastbone) was fairly well-fleshed—the breastbone itself was palpable but not badly so. In other words, he was at a pretty healthy weight but could stand to gain a few ounces.

With a clean bill of health, he left Smalley’s for LWR again, to await our stalwart volunteer transporter Joy Daniels, who arrived shortly after we got back home. We had a little back-and-forth with an ill-informed front desk staff person at Auburn, who informed me they couldn’t take the bird because their primary raptor vet was out of town—which no one mentioned on Wednesday. I then insisted they provide me a written statement to that effect to send to GA DNR and USFWS to explain why I would be holding the bird for over 48 hours. She refused, whereupon I hung up and called Bob Sargent of GA DNR, who monitors Georgia’s eagles, and explained the situation to him.

In less than 10 minutes, Bob had called his contact at Auburn, who overrode the front desk and said to send the bird. By 5:30 Friday, Joy notified me the eagle was safely at Auburn.

Everything else seems kinda mundane after an eagle intake, I know, but hey, we did also have a release! The barred owl regained his freedom late last Sunday, a couple of hours before dusk. He flew to a low limb and when I walked over to get a post-release photo, he took off into the pines behind him.

The HBC red shoulder was moved out into the mini-pen, where he seems to be moving nicely. In a few days I’ll test him in the main flight and see how he fares there; if he’s flying well, he’ll be released, as well.

And, of course, the recently released black vultures are still hanging around being doofuses. How such intelligent birds can be such clowns is beyond me, but they excel at it!

The weird year continues, with reports last month from a county a little over two hours away, verified by DNR and USDA, of some 700 black vultures dead from HPAI, avian influenza. Steve Hicks, a colleague who lives closer to the area, did a little more research and found that the vultures had comprised one of the three or four largest roosts in Georgia.

This leads me to believe, as Steve and I have discussed several times this year, that the HPAI outbreak in Georgia has been more severe than has actually been documented to date. The lower number of intakes—and for fewer species—many of us have been seeing would seem to support this. Unless large numbers of birds are found dead or dying, as was the case with the vultures, most of the public won’t think twice about finding one or two dead birds—if they’re found at all, as most likely died in the woods and were never discovered. People can’t report what they don’t recognize.

It also makes it difficult for rehabbers, who are used to accepting overflow intakes from colleagues, as DNR is discouraging this common practice to avoid potential spread of HPAI into areas not currently affected. Sadly, it’s a sensible recommendation from DNR, as no one wants to be known as the person who brought the disease into their previously uninfected area.

However, all isn’t gloom and doom. The sharpie who’d come in months ago with the wing fracture and subsequently stress-plucked all his tail feathers finally grew enough tail feathers back for a release.

And the barred owl who came in with only road rash on one foot is slated for release early this week.

A second sharpie came in from a game warden in another county last week; he was rail-thin and too weak to hold his head up. After being placed in a donut for support, he was offered slurry every two hours, but it was too little too late. He didn’t survive the night.

The lady who hit this red shoulder said he came out of nowhere and she slammed on brakes but still clipped him. Nothing is broken but there does seem to be some soft tissue damage—maybe a coracoid fracture, which frequently doesn’t show on x-rays. He’s alert and eating well, so we’ll just give him time to heal.

And of course, the recently released black vultures are still hanging around. The older of the two, who’d been at LWR since he was a downy baby, remains more likely to get close enough for good photos and follow me around; the younger of the two, who came in half-grown, is less trusting and tends to go off and do his own thing, but is quite willing to accept handouts.

Given the younger vulture’s swift transition from half-down, half feathers to very little down at all, yesterday seemed like a good time to open the mini-pen door and see what the rascals would do.

They spent the day wandering around the back yard, finding an old log to sit on, then moving over to the path leading to the main flight.

I left the mini-pen door open all day, in case they wanted to go back in, and near nightfall, when I went to close it, both doofuses were back inside, perched and already half-asleep for the night. This morning, they were ready to come out again and roam the yard some more.  Oddly enough, the older vulture, who’s been at LWR since he was all downy, seems to be following the lead of the younger one, who’s not as trusting of humans since he came in as an older bird. This should be an interesting soft release.

Black vultures are so adorable!

The sharpie is eating again but pretty much just perches and glares at me when I’m in the main flight putting the food out. Accipiters are weird, psychotic little things...

The great horned, after taking a turn for the worse, as I mentioned last Sunday, died that night. I’m thinking very slow brain bleed, given the gradual decline throughout the previous week.

A barred owl came in from a state park about an hour south of LWR, brought there by a visitor who found it on the side of the road. Sadly, the owl had an open wing fracture and required euthanasia.

This afternoon, a local off-duty police officer brought another barred owl he and his family found last night on their way home from a city a couple of hours northeast of LWR. This one was luckier; he only had a bad road rash on one foot and some minor head trauma. His wings had no fractures, although he did favor the right one slightly—possibly some mild tendon sprain, as he could fully extend it when tested. He’s fairly alert but a little uncoordinated, which is typical for a bird whose bell’s been well and truly rung. I don’t foresee him having to remain a guest of LWR for more than a week or two.

There will be no update next Sunday, Labor Day weekend.

In other words, it’s the new normal for this year: several calls that didn’t result in intakes, and the same crew as in past weeks: the vultures, the sharpie and the great horned owl.

The sharpie has placed himself on a diet, eating next to nothing over the past week. Guess he’s trying to get back down to flight weight ASAP. Fortunately, everything he doesn’t eat can be recycled to the vultures, who aren’t exactly picky about their food.

The great horned, after perking up a bit, took a downward turn late in the week and isn’t looking great at the moment. Head trauma can be tricky.

And the doofuses—I mean vultures—are, well, doofusy. It’s a vulture thing.  No loss of appetite on their parts, that’s for sure! The younger, newer one actually seems to be losing his down and feathering out more quickly than the older one did, so I’m holding off releasing the older one till his younger pen-mate is also ready for release. The buddy system is always best when possible.

Nah, it’s not with Doublemint gum, for those old enough to remember that commercial. Nope, LWR received a second young black vulture last week...and let the games begin!

This poor fellow was hidden in a brush pile that was demolished, and the workers saw him scurrying off and called DNR. The game warden who brought him to LWR was as surprised as I was about his odd nest site, as usually we see vultures nesting in old buildings and deer stands. However, there was no sign of an adult vulture and his hiding place no longer existed, so he’s now a guest at LWR.

Vultures are smart, as y’all well know. The afternoon of his arrival and the next 24 hours, I got the standard head lowered, growly-hissy “I hate you” treatment.

Day 2, app. 48 hours after intake: “Maybe you’re not awful but I’m still not sure.”

Morning of Day 3: “Hey, feeder person, whatcha got for us this mornin’?”

After some initial uncertainty, the older vulture has decided he rather likes having a buddy.

Gotta love vultures!

The great horned owl is eating well, alert, and his eye wasn’t damaged, after all. His balance is still off, though. He can lunge at the top of his box but when he falls back to the bottom, it’s kinda messy. And he just flops to one side or the other when he sits—something is off with his equilibrium. So we’re just giving him time to see if it corrects, as both ears are clear: no parasites to cause this weird lack of balance.

The sharpie will probably not go back in for follow-up x-rays, as after two solid weeks of hearing his nonstop repetitive thudding all day, yesterday I’d had enough and after checking his wing carefully for stability, I moved him into the main flight. He’s flying low but he is flying...honestly, I think I overfed him and he’s too dang fat to fly properly right now! But he’s trying. And in his stress from captivity, he managed to pluck out all his tail feathers. Hey, at least it wasn’t his flight feathers, right? Accipiters are high-stress birds...both personality-wise and for their rehabbers, as they’re known to do stupid and often fatal things while in rehab. The goal now is to get him back to flight weight, get him flight-conditioned, and get him out—before he can do anything stupid or fatal.

Only one new intake, an adult male great horned owl who was found on the road and brought to LWR yesterday. He had a little blood in his beak on intake, some slight bruising in his right ear, and his right eye is damaged. It looks as if it’s deflating (due to a ruptured eyeball) on the rare occasions he opens it, which doesn’t bode well for that eye, but he’s still so concussed and out of it, it’s hard to say for sure. No wing fractures, surprisingly, and both feet and legs are uninjured. But he favors that right side a bit, which could be a hip or pelvic fracture. Given his lethargy, I also worry about potential internal injuries; he’s shown no significant improvements in alertness since intake yesterday.

The sharpie has one more week before his follow-up x-rays. Despite his antsiness at being confined, he remains one of the calmest accipiters I’ve ever seen. They’re usually psychotic little snots, and he may well turn psycho once he’s in a flight pen, but for now, he’s actually fairly...well, not crazy...

The vulture could probably be released into the yard at this point, but I’m holding off for another week or so, to be sure he’s ready. He’s such a doofus, but he does love feeding time!

Hot, humid, and slow intakes...And I’ve seen other rehabbers commenting on slow intakes, as well—in addition to those reporting record intakes. The rehab community seems to be bouncing all over the place this year, intake-wise. The faint remnants of optimism in me want to say it’s because fewer critters need our help; the much-more-dominant realist in me says it’s because gas is high, people are focused on keeping their families cared for, they’re working longer hours to try and offset inflation with more income, and they’re just not outside as much to see wildlife in need of assistance. Urban rehabbers are the ones reporting high intakes, because it’s easier for city dwellers to reach them; rural and suburban rehabbers, not so much.

ANYway...neither philosophy nor economics is my focus here, so on to the wildlife.

Monday afternoon a juvenile Cooper’s hawk came in, rail-thin. Finders reported that the bird couldn’t use its legs, leading me to suspect a window-strike victim. Upon intake, I noted slightly labored breathing, as well. The goal was to get it in for x-rays Tuesday, but it died Monday night. I’m guessing the labored breathing was from cracked ribs that ended up puncturing a lung overnight as the bird shifted around in the donut he was placed in to support him and ease his breathing.

And yesterday a barred owl came in after hitting the side of the presenter’s car the previous night. His left wing had an open fracture and the shoulder was completely trashed. He was humanely euthanized.

The sharpie continues to mend; another couple of weeks and he should be ready for follow-up x-rays and—hopefully—placement in one of the flights for flight conditioning.

The jackanapes vulture remains a source of amusement as he shuffles through the detritus in the mini-pen, demanding more food while he walks on a carpet of carrion...Young vultures are such clowns!

While LWR had three releases back into the wild, we also had three new intakes requiring euthanasia—a release from suffering. Not the best week...

The weather held for the red shoulder releases; as you can see below, they scattered in three different directions so I was only able to catch one video.

The very afternoon of their release, a barred owl came in with a trashed wing, requiring euthanasia.

Two days later a juvenile Mississippi kite (MIKI) came in with an open fracture that maggots had already gotten into and stripped the flesh from the bones. He also required euthanasia. Given the pool of fresh blood at his beak after euthanasia, I suspect he also had some serious internal injuries.

And yesterday a female barn owl came in with an open wing fracture in much the same condition as the MIKI from Wednesday. When it’s hot and humid, maggots infest open wounds quickly and can do a lot of damage overnight. The barnie also required euthanasia.

Aside from banging his head against his box repeatedly in an attempt to escape, thereby scraping his cere, the sharpie remains about as calm as one can expect from an accipiter—the crazy raptors. Could be crazier, though—Coops are even more psychotic. He’s got another few weeks before that wing is due for follow-up x-rays.

And the poor black vulture is STILL working on getting all his feathers in. I suppose I could move him into the main flight now that the red shoulders have been released, but one pen full of carrion to clean up is quite enough at the moment. The mini-pen is carpeted with his leftovers! (And no, one does NOT remove vulture scraps unless one wants to witness a vulture tantrum...) Meanwhile, he still looks like a headless vulture in most of his photos...

...we will have some birds released! (With apologies to Andrae Crouch...)

Finally, the weather is looking cooperative, so I’m aiming at releasing the three red shoulders tomorrow, Good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.

The sharpie remains antsy but not psychotic, thank goodness, although he does enjoy trashing his box regularly. Hey, whatever keeps him amused while we wait for that wing to heal, right? It’s not like he can settle down with a good book to pass the time...

And the vulture, bless his heart, is taking forEVER to finish feathering out. But he’s got the growling, head bowing and wing flapping down to an art. I gave up on a photo of him this week and recorded a short video of feeding time instead.

And that, friends, is it for this week. Several callers last week were re-routed to rehabbers closer to them, as I can’t see putting people on the road for a 5-hour round trip when there’s someone only a 2-hour round trip from them—especially with gas prices what they are.

As I’ve been saying for months now, it’s a weird year. My colleagues at Chattahoochee Nature Center are bustin’ at the seams; LWR and other home-based raptor rehabbers seem to be slow but steady. And again, this is a probably a good thing for us smaller rehabbers from a financial standpoint: Last year a bag of 100 small mice was $44; this year a bag of 100 small mice is $72.