It’s been a rough couple of weeks for our local wildlife, with torrential downpours last weekend, cold temps in between, and more heavy rain and, in some areas of the state, snow, this weekend. Intakes have been low because people are just not getting outside to see wildlife in need; for the most part, they’re staying inside where it’s warm and dry.

That said, LWR had two intakes this week, a screech owl and a barred owl, both found in the road.
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The screech, a tiny red-phase male, came in midweek; he was found in the turning lane of an exit to the interstate. Upon examination, it was obvious he had a ruptured eye and at least one broken wing; the other also felt as if it might be broken. His stress poop, which should have been black, oily and smelly, was instead rust-colored. None of this boded well for the little fellow but he was fairly alert and even tried to preen his wings a bit, so I was hopeful I’d overstated the extent of his injuries.

​However, x-rays at Smalley’s confirmed my initial assessment: the left wrist was shattered; the right ulna was broken in three places, and the right eyeball was totally trashed.  

Obviously, the most humane option for this poor fellow was euthanasia. Given that the entire staff of Smalley’s shares my utter adoration of screeches, none of us were happy about the outcome but we also knew we were ending his suffering quickly and humanely.
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This morning, a barred owl, also male based on his size, came in after being found in the middle of the road several counties away. His right hip feels broken, and his finders attempted to splint his leg to stabilize it somewhat.  He has no neural response in his foot, though, and he also had fresh blood in his poop, in addition to the inside of his mouth being totally white—this indicates internal bleeding. None of this bodes well for the poor bird, but if he makes it through the night he’ll head to Smalley’s for x-rays, as well.

With the weather like it is—cold, wet and nasty—it’s hard for raptors to find food. They’re hunting near roadways because people toss their trash on the side of the road, attracting rodents. When the hawk or owl focuses on its prey and swoops in for the kill, it doesn’t see oncoming traffic; it only sees that potential meal. This is how they get whacked by vehicles. The bird may successfully capture the prey and get hit as it lifts back into the air, or it may get hit as it’s diving after the prey or chasing it across the road. Regardless, vehicle versus raptor seldom ends well for the raptor.
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What can you do? Aside from either not driving at all or driving so slowly that impact with a raptor would cause minimal damage to the bird—neither of which is practical or practicable—be alert when you’re driving. It’s not called defensive driving for nothing. If you’re alert and watching the sides of the roads you may be able to slow, stop or swerve to avoid hitting a hunting raptor. And for the love of all that’s holy, DON’T toss your trash, not even fruit or other foodstuffs, out on the side of the road to attract raptor prey to dangerous hunting areas. Keep a bag or box in your vehicle for your trash; it takes all of maybe 60 seconds to empty it at home or at a gas station. Those 60 seconds could mean the difference between life and death for a raptor.

In other words, a typical week for any rehabber at any given time...LWR had both an unexpected death and a much-anticipated release this week.
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Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: the red shoulder’s x-ray showed a fracture that should have healed perfectly, with no flight impairment at all. 

However, two days later, he keeled over overnight.  Some birds just don’t deal well with the stress of captivity, and that’s all I can figure was going on with him.
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The excellent news is that the red shoulder who’d been recovering from the wing fracture forever and was flying so beautifully in the raptor flight was released. No video, although I tried; he burst out of the box like he had a rocket booster on his tail. After some searching, though, I did manage to locate where he’d landed and get some pretty decent post-release photos.

All calls this week were from folks way out of LWR’s range and were referred to rehabbers closer to them. 
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And that, people, is the sum total of this week’s update!

The first rule of wildlife rehab is never complain about a slow week! Breaks are always nice, especially this time of year, with baby season behind us and annual reports looming. Having a chance to sit back and catch your breath, figuratively speaking, is always welcome—and it’s been a long time since I’ve actually had a really slow “slow” season.
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The red shoulder from last week did turn out to have a wing fracture; it’s close to the wrist and we haven’t gotten x-rays yet—that will be this week. Raptors especially have very strong muscles that can hide a fracture because they support the bones so well initially—and in his case, there was no swelling at the outset, so those strong muscles masked the break quite effectively.  The good news is that he’s holding the wing perfectly level, so I’m cautiously optimistic that x-rays will show a fixable fracture.

​The news is very good indeed for the red tail who finally got his turn in the raptor flight. He’s able to traverse the entire length of the pen airborne, so his stay at LWR is about to end. We have rain predicted here the next few days, but by midweek things are looking good for a release. He’s quite ready to go—whatever end of the raptor flight I’m in, he makes sure he’s at the opposite end!

​And that, folks, is it for this week, so you can get back to watching those feel-good Christmas movies or posting cute Christmas memes on Facebook…or whatever… 

​Yep, the poor lacerated-cornea red tail who’d healed weeks ago FINALLY flew the coop, after a two-week “rain delay.”  He wasted no time bolting from the box and kept soaring farther and farther from me when I tried to “stalk” him for a decent post-release photo. Below is the best I could manage, but I’m not complaining; his flight was strong, straight and utterly gorgeous to behold.

​This means the red tail whose wing fracture healed weeks ago finally has his time in the flight pen. Recall, if you will, that his fracture was pretty close to the joint so we’re not sure he’ll be able to fly but he’ll have several weeks to test his ability in the raptor flight.

​And now for the promised rant. LWR received a call early in the week about a barred owl a few hours’ drive away. It took all day but with the help of WREN (Wildlife Resources Education Network, a volunteer transport coordination group), one of our stalwart transporters picked up the bird and got it to LWR late that night. Why the haste? We discovered that the bird had been held illegally for TWO WEEKS with a broken wing because the finder “didn’t want him euthanized.”  But she was scared of him, so these are the conditions he lived in for two weeks:

The transporter said the steak in the bottom of the pen was crawling with maggots and there was moldy bread in there, as well.
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And when the poor owl reached LWR, his right wing was so badly broken that it faced upside down—see the post-euthanasia photo below.

​And he’d been in so much pain for two weeks that he’d begun to self-mutilate, gnawing at his own wing trying to stop the source of the pain.

All because some fool “didn’t want him euthanized.”

People, let me explain something to you: Euthanasia is often the kindest, most humane option we can offer badly injured wildlife. This bird’s suffering could have been ended two weeks earlier; instead, he sat in filth and agony until rescued and brought to LWR, where his suffering ended immediately.

If wildlife can’t be “fixed”, at least a properly licensed rehabber has the means to end its suffering quickly and humanely. Don’t fall into the “I’ll save it” trap and keep injured wildlife for days or weeks before contacting a rehabber—by the time you do, a fracture that might have been fixable earlier may be past repair now, or systemic infection may have set in or maggots may have infested the wound to the point that the tissue has been totally consumed down to the bone. Yes, I’ve seen all these conditions, and they all required euthanasia—and all might have been “fixable” had the wildlife been brought in earlier.

Time is of the essence with injured wildlife. Would you sit for days or weeks with an ill or injured pet or child before seeking treatment? Of course not! So why would any sane person think that was a viable option for wildlife?
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Contrast the above disaster with this red shoulder hit by a college student. The bird flew out in front of her in the rain; she couldn’t brake in time. She called LWR almost immediately afterward and because it was near dark, raining heavily and she was a couple of hours away, I explained how to secure the bird overnight. She didn’t need to be driving in the dark on rainy, unfamiliar roads. The next morning she had the bird to LWR ASAP. She didn’t ask on the phone if it could be fixed or what I’d do with the bird; she just did the right thing and brought the bird. As it turned out, he had a nasty open wing fracture, with a good two inches of bone exposed. When I showed her the wound and explained he’d require euthanasia, she accepted it with a simple, “I was hoping for a better outcome but I understand.” And she still made a donation to LWR. THIS is the type of young person who gives me some small hope for our future.

​And earlier this afternoon, the area FWS agent called with a HBC hawk—it was found by the roadside and seemed unable to fly. This didn’t bode well, I feared, but when he showed up, the red shoulder actually had only a minor ding on his foot and the tip of his beak had been peeled, exposing the softer keratin beneath. He’s still woozy and reluctant to perch but is well-fleshed and otherwise healthy-looking. No fractures, amazingly. 

​But the beak worried me; I didn’t want it to break in the wild and cause the bird problems. I consulted with colleague Kathryn Dudeck of Chattahoochee Nature Center, and after seeing a photo of his beak, she recommended just trimming the exposed softer portion and then seeing if he can tear into a rat or mouse. If so, he’s good to go; if not he’ll stay at LWR till the beak tip grows back. The trim was no problem at all, partially because the poor fellow is still a bit discombobulated. But it will be tomorrow before we try feeding; head traumas never eat when they’re still woozy.

​Hope y’all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and if I can offer a recommendation, spend “Black Friday” in nature’s majesty and not in stores fighting crowds of crazed bargain hunters.

It was a thoroughly exasperating week; between the weather and an inconsiderate public with zero follow-through, my patience was tested to the max. So you reap the benefits with a list of what should be common-sense rules of etiquette when dealing with wildlife rehabbers.

Before diving into the list, however, let’s get the true update out of the way: no new intakes, and a week of rain prevented release of the red tail in the flight pen, so the red tail in the house is still awaiting his flight time…no rain is currently predicted after Tuesday of this week, so…fingers crossed….
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Now, to some basic, common-sense-if-your-mama-raised-you-right rules of etiquette when dealing with wildlife rehabbers:

1. ONE CALL is sufficient. If you leave a message and the rehabber returns your call and sets up a time for you to bring the bird, leave it at that unless something changes—the bird dies or your schedule changes, etc. DO NOT blow up the rehabber’s phone with calls and texts every couple of hours with cryptic “Call me” messages.  
2. If you set up a time to bring the bird that day, the next day or in a couple of days, HAVE THE COURTESY TO NOTIFY THE REHABBER if there’s a change in status. It’s not our place to ride your arse to get the bird; YOU called US. Believe it or not, we do have other things going on in our lives: other wildlife to care for, jobs to keep our lights on, family matters to deal with, etc.
3. DO NOT bypass the rehabber’s voicemail message with an immediate hang-up and text. There is important information in the voicemail message. When you do an “end-run” around the voicemail message, you miss vital information and irritate the rehabber.
4. Text ONLY when the rehabber hasn’t responded to the voicemail you left within thirty minutes to an hour. We don’t have time to text back and forth with you for half an hour when a five-minute phone call could have addressed the issue.
5. In voicemail messages, leave your location as well as your phone number.  Feel free to send a CLEAR photo of the bird via text but mention in the voicemail message that you’re doing so; that way we know where that random bird pic came from.
6. If you insist on texting first, send a CLEAR photo of the bird to begin with—saves time. Also, see #5 above—include location and phone number.
7. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO GET THE BIRD TO THE REHABBER. We are NOT employees of DNR or FWS. This means we actually have paying jobs in addition to our VOLUNTEER work as rehabbers. Whether we work outside the home or freelance from home, we CANNOT drop what we’re doing and ignore deadlines and the wildlife currently in our care to drive up to 150 miles round-trip multiple times a day to pick up more wildlife. And if you live less than 50 miles from a rehabber and balk at driving  the wildlife to the rehabber, SHAME ON YOU.
8. Just because we’re home-based—and most rehabbers are—doesn’t mean we don’t eat or sleep at some point during the day/night. If you call during normal meal times—which 90% of people seem to do—there’s a good chance we’re at least wolfing down a pack of crackers at that point and would prefer not to try to talk to you while chewing our food. WE WILL CALL YOU BACK. Give us time. Similarly, if you call after 8pm and we say wait till the morning to bring us the wildlife you found, PLEASE DO NOT INSIST ON BRINGING IT THAT NIGHT.  We do need time to bathe and sleep, and even continue working on our paying jobs in many cases. Hard as it may be to believe, we’re more effective as rehabbers when we have a few hours’ rest a night.
9. LEARN THE GENERAL GEOGRAPHY OF YOUR STATE. If the rehabber you’re about to call is a day-trip away, be sure you’re willing to drive three or more hours one way to get the bird to them. If not, seek help closer to home. There IS a public list of licensed rehabbers available in every state. Most game and fish agencies have that list on their website; many rehabbers also post the list on their websites. Please DO NOT call a rehabber 150 miles away and then tell them it’s too far to drive and ask them to spend 15 minutes trying to locate a rehabber near you—the lists are out there and easily accessible.
10. DON’T EVEN call/email a rehabber in another state and ask for advice on caring for wildlife illegally. The rehab community is fairly small and we tend to at least know each others’ names if we’re not personally acquainted. And we talk to each other. So we KNOW when you’re lying about there not being a rehabber near you. Chances are, we know the rehabber who lives less than 10 miles from you that has already told you to bring them the bird.  And we tend to get a bit pissy when we’re blatantly lied to.
11. (Yeah, I know—even God only had ten commandments.) Please understand that as a rule, rehabbers are NOT “people” people. We don’t like people too much; we deal with them only because we have to in order to help the wildlife. So if, when you bring us a bird or other wildlife, we ignore you while examining and actually talking in dulcet tones to the wildlife, it’s not personal. We just prefer the wildlife to you.

There were no new intakes last week; this week looks to be busier. LWR already has two birds on the way in the next couple of days.
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The barred owl from week before last that I was not real hopeful about did indeed have a nasty, unfixable fracture. He was humanely euthanized.

The red tail with the healed corneal laceration is still in the raptor flight; weather hasn’t been cooperative for a release. That means the red tail with the healed wing fracture hasn’t been placed in the raptor flight yet.
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And that, folks, is this week’s update. And I’m really not complaining. A slow week here and there gives me time to catch my breath.

LWR only saw a couple of new intakes last week, typical for fall, and we had one release, with a couple more slated for this week.
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Leading with excellent news, the red tail in the raptor flight, the one recovering from a lacerated cornea, is flying beautifully now, his eye looks great, and he should be ready to go this week. His release will be early in the week, as we have rain forecast for the end of the week.

​And the slow-to-independence Eurasian collared dove finally got his act together and was released—more good news! He perched at one point after release in a Confederate rose bush, which made for some pretty photos, even though it’s about played out.

​This adult red-bellied woodpecker was a cat-attack victim and although she appeared to’ve escaped with no serious damage, she still needed antibiotics. Cat saliva is toxic to wildlife—yet another reason to KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS.  She also apparently had a slightly sprained back toe (woodpeckers have two forward-facing toes and two backward-facing toes, to aid in clambering up and down tree trunks). She could move it but was initially reluctant to do so. In the third shot you can see the source of the red belly’s name. Neat, huh? As of today, she’s perching well in her crate and is the second slated release of this week.

​The family that brought this barred owl to LWR had a long-term “nodding acquaintance” with him; he visited their yard frequently. So when they and a neighbor both saw the owl grounded for two nights, they got worried and captured him. When they called LWR, they reported the bird seemed weak and lethargic. Upon his arrival here the next day, he was more alert, albeit thin, and has since exhibited an excellent appetite. His left wing is broken in or near the elbow; he’ll need x-rays to confirm the exact location of the fracture. As I told the family, however, it’s not looking hopeful for him; the break isn’t recent and feels as if a callus has already formed. (That blood on his beak and on the paper in his box is from his recent meal, which he apparently enjoyed immensely.)

​And just a heads-up: next week’s update will be late Monday evening, rather than Sunday.

However, we were without power for 116.5 hours (not that I was counting or anything…) so I was unable to post an update last Sunday.
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“Michael eve” an adult barred owl came in after being pulled from a barbed wire fence. The damage to his wing was too severe to repair; he was humanely euthanized that evening. The photo below was taken after euthanasia.

​Two days after Michael, two mourning doves came in, a fledgling and a nestling, both victims of the storm.  Sadly, neither survived, but the older mourning dove from earlier this month was released late this week.

​The Eurasian collared dove is now a fledgling but he stubbornly refuses to self-feed.

​The great horned owl who came in as a days-old baby in March FINALLY got his act together and was released this afternoon. I’ll be honest; I had my doubts this bird would ever be releasable and actually came *thisclose* to euthanizing him three weeks ago. He still has a tendency to fly to the ground but his flight is strong and steady and he’s perfectly capable of perching when the mood strikes.

​His release freed up the raptor flight for the red tails. Normally I can stick a few first-year red tails in the raptor flight together with no problems but these two immediately squared off and bowed up at each other. 

​Given their levels of aggression, I brought the one recovering from the broken wing back in; he’ll likely need considerably more time in the flight than the one who flew through the window and lacerated his cornea—but look how well that eye is healing! It appears to be throwing his flight off somewhat still, but I think he’ll be just fine with a little practice in the raptor flight—and the eye continues to clear, so that will help, as well.

October is usually a fairly slow month but LWR saw five intakes in this first week of the month. Sadly, the majority were DOA. But there IS good news—read on.

On the same day midweek, an adult mocker and an adult female house finch came in, brought by the same volunteer. The mocker was literally DOA; the house finch lasted about 30 minutes after intake. Later in the week, a juvie ruby-throated hummer arrived just moments after dying en route.

Adding to the week’s death toll, the cat-attacked juvie mourning dove died. He was still on meds, was starting to attempt self-feeding—everything looked promising. And he died overnight late in the week.
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On the brighter side, a second mourning dove, also a juvie, came in. This one had not been cat-attacked; he’d just gotten separated from his parents somehow—his finders suspected a neighborhood hawk might have had his parents for dinner. It happens; it’s in a raptor’s job description: they eat songbirds. This little one is doing well and should be releasable as soon as he decides to self-feed.

​And in the “we didn’t get the memo” category, apparently some mid-state European collared doves weren’t told that breeding season for songbirds is over. This nestling collared dove was found by a lady out raking her yard.

The red tail who flew through the window and lacerated his cornea is doing very, very well. His eye looks great and he’s feisty as all get-out—and when I took these photos, he flinched at the focus assist lamp, so he can see from that eye. Great news!
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In the photos below compare his eye on intake, then last week, and finally the last two were taken today. Lookin’ good!

​And that, folks, is all the news there is for this week—short and sweet. Honestly, just knowing the red tail has vision in that eye is cause enough to break out the confetti, as far as I’m concerned.

It was a slowish week, which I never complain about. Rehabbers learn to appreciate downtime whenever it occurs.

A barred owl, hit by car, came in Monday morning, and his wing faced backward but wasn’t an open fracture. I knew this was a “euthanasia fracture” but wanted to see just how bad the damage was—call it morbid curiosity. An x-ray revealed that the bones were completely separated at the joint—it wasn’t dislocated, the fracture was literally right in the joint. ​

​The red tail who’d flown through the window also went to Smalley’s on Monday, where vet Peggy Hobby said the cornea wasn’t actually as bad as I’d thought. It was lacerated and swollen but the laceration had already sealed, so he’s on medicated eye drops for a while. The eye, while still cloudy, is noticeably less swollen and not as cloudy as when he came in. Compare the first photo, from last week, with the one below it, taken just yesterday.

The poor little cat-caught flyer struggled for five days. He must’ve been the runt of his litter. He constantly threw up his food—and he wasn’t eating near enough, anyway—he stayed dehydrated despite rehydration efforts, and he just generally wasn’t doing well. It was no surprise, therefore, when I walked in for his second feeding Thursday and found him dead.
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Then, Saturday, a lady brought a crow to LWR. Based on her description, I suspected West Nile virus in its advanced stages. When he arrived, my suspicions were confirmed. He was rail thin, couldn’t stand at all, and was too weak to even keep his eyes open for long. I started a thin slurry every few hours to see if he’d rally, and he seemed more alert at bedtime but it was too little, too late. He was dead this morning.

West Nile (WNV) isn’t contagious; animals (including humans) get it from being bitten by mosquitoes carrying the virus, who got it from biting infected birds or animals—it’s kind of a vicious cycle. Most humans have only mild symptoms, may not even realize they have WNV, and recover without ever seeing a doctor. But it’s a nasty little virus for birds, especially crows for some reason. There is no treatment aside from supportive care; there’s no vaccine, no meds—rehabbers simply provide a safe environment, food and water, etc., and hope for the best. From what I’m seeing from colleagues, this fall there seems to be a rash of WNV cases.
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And rounding out the week, this juvie mourning dove was taken from a cat this morning. He has a couple of small puncture wounds on his right wing and is missing the vast majority of his tail feathers but has no life-threatening injuries. Because cat saliva is toxic to wildlife, however, he’s been started on antibiotics.  He arrived at LWR hours after he was attacked and got his first dose of meds immediately after an intake exam, so he should be good to go in a couple of weeks.

And again, people, I cannot stress this enough: KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS.