It’s turning out to be a busy fall, with raptors out the wazoo. At one point this week LWR had 10 raptors crammed into flight pens and the rehab room. I was doing the rehab version of gymnastics just to move around between boxes to feed everybody and change their paper.
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Yet another red tail came in, another first-year bird. This fellow has a fracture right at the elbow. It’s pretty close to the joint but not badly displaced, so we’re gonna give him some time and hope the joint doesn’t freeze.

​My game warden sent me a first-year sharpie—we debated whether Coop or sharpie, as neither of us was sure and the juvies and adults of both species are remarkably similar. His behavior initially suggested Coop but his size suggested sharpie. Now I’m pretty sure he’s a sharpie. His x-rays showed no wing fractures but he does have a broken toe on his left foot, so he’ll stay with me for a while to give it time to heal.

The Coop that came in last Sunday didn’t survive; he was standing up glaring at me and then half an hour later he’d keeled over. Coops are really stressy birds, so it could have been internal injuries or it could have been sheer stress.
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About the smallest male barred owl I’ve seen in a while came in from DNR. He has some head trauma but no fractures.

​A juvenile turkey vulture wasn’t as lucky; he was seen flailing by the side of the road in the rain. Initially, because he was still wet, I thought he was a black vulture, but as the feathers began drying the brown began to show. Sadly, he had no neural response in his legs and required euthanasia.

The former stargazing red tail was transferred to a falconer for further training. I’d planned to release him but the more I watched his behavior, the more convinced I was he wouldn’t survive in the wild without better hunting skills. Transfer to a licensed falconer will give him additional time to learn those hunting skills and when the falconer releases him in a couple of years, he’ll be a skilled and confident hunter.
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Red tail #2, with the eye injury, is looking excellent. The eye is probably always gonna be a little scarred but he’s seeing out of it and flying beautifully in the raptor flight, so in another week or so, he’ll be released. 

​And red tail #3, with the hand fracture, is healing nicely. He’ll move from the mini-pen into the raptor flight when his hand is sufficiently healed.

​The red shoulder is eating like a vacuum cleaner and looking good. Once the mini-pen opens up, I’ll draw straws to see if he or the sharpie goes into it first.

​The great horned owl’s eyes still look funky but he’s finding his food with no problem at all and is getting antsy at his captivity. I’d prefer at least one of those eyes to look “normal” before release but I’m beginning to think this is as normal as they’re gonna get.

​The screech’s dislocated shoulder appears to be healing nicely. Most of the time he’s holding it perfectly level with the “good” shoulder so I’m fairly optimistic at the moment that he’ll continue to heal for release. 

​And, of course, the black vulture twins are still hanging around...I end up with more photos of them than the rehabbing birds each week because they tend to follow me as I go about my daily activities. It’s a vulture thing; they will eventually stop coming around. It just seems to take vultures longer!

With fall right around the corner, injured first-year birds start filling rehab centers everywhere. LWR is bustin’ at the seams at the moment, and the calls keep coming.
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Where to start...let’s start with last week’s screech with the potentially broken wing. As luck would have it, it’s merely dislocated—see the x-rays below of the normal left wing and the dislocated right wing. Given the already fragile nature of bird bones, this is a toughie—twisting and popping it back into place could actually result in a shoulder fracture.  Vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital and I discussed options and decided supportive care was the best option, allowing the muscles and tendons to gradually pull the wing back into near-normal position. The wing is actually looking less droopy and he’s able to extend it to assume threat stance, so it may be working. Below you can see the “fun” involved in getting photos of screeches when they go into “bob and weave” mode, too...

​Today a first-year sharpie with a right leg fracture came in. He’s rail-thin and his scruffy tail feathers would indicate he’s been down a while. The leg itself seems fairly stable, as if the fracture has already started healing, but it’s right at the joint so we’ll wait for x-rays to make any definitive statements.

​The former stargazing red tail is STILL awaiting good weather for his release. And most of next week also looks wet, so... We need at least three days of low-to-no rain chances, and last week it rained nearly every other day; this week shows no clear skies till around the end of the week. 

​The red tail with the swollen eye still has a blood clot sitting right on the pupil but the eye itself looks much, much better. Swelling is down and it’s pretty clear aside from the clot. He’s eating well and I may move him outside into the raptor flight this week, rain notwithstanding.  The raptor flight has a sheltered area for inclement weather.

​The third red tail, with the hand fracture, is in the mini-pen after staging three jailbreaks and wreaking havoc each time in the rehab room. He’ll remain there until the hand heals well enough for the raptor flight.

​The great horned’s eyes still look weird, with dilated pupils and the right pupil still misshapen, but he’s finding his food when I hide it under the paper lining his box to test his ability to locate it, leading me to think that as weird as they look to me—and to vet Jim Hobby—this may be the norm for the bird. I mean, he’s finding that food... And they might look “normal” again once he’s fully over the head trauma.

​The red shoulder is alert, aggressive and eating well as he recovers from the soft tissue damage to his elbow.

​And the vultures are still hanging around, sometimes together, sometimes separately. How often I see them seems to depend to a great extent on the weather and whether they can find carcasses in the woods.  They know the LWR diner is open if the wild pickin’s (not possessive; apostrophe replaces the ‘g’) get slim.

Currently LWR has three red tails, a red shoulder, a great horned owl, and a screech owl—and, of course, the vulture twins continue to visit at least once daily. Space is getting tight inside, as of the six recovering birds, only one is in a flight pen—the former stargazer.
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He’s doing well and would have been released last week except for significant rain chances that cropped up beginning early in the week. And this week is looking to be the same—too few rain-free days to get him released, so he’ll be in the raptor flight another week, poor fellow. He’s so ready to go!

​The second red tail, the one with the massively swollen eye, has equally massive amounts of blood in that eye and still squints badly with it. On his vet visit we did determine his eye is intact; it was so swollen and draining so much I worried it had ruptured. Vet Jim Hobby at Smalley’s said he’s got a blood clot right on the pupil, so we’ll just have to give him time—and eye drops—to see how it heals.

​The third red tail, if you recall, I suspected was a spray-and-pray victim since dove season opened the first Saturday in September and he came in the very next day with a wound that, to me, screamed gunshot. X-rays proved me right, although he wasn’t shot with normal birdshot (shows up as pellets on x-rays). His “hand” is pretty mangled but Jim and I think that with proper management he should heal for flight, given that none of the damage is near a joint. Again, time will tell.

​The red shoulder does not, in fact, have an elbow fracture as I suspected; the elbow remains swollen but the x-rays were clear. Jim manipulated it a bit and found the problem; he has a seriously pulled muscle or possibly torn tendon that’s causing some dislocation of the elbow. It’s not an injury we can treat with anything but time. Soft tissue damage is the most uncertain, honestly: It may or may not heal for flight. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but time will tell.

​The great horned owl has a few scraped toes, a broken blood feather—he’s in a molt—a bloody beak, and some serious head trauma. He’s literally blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other. Given the misshapen right pupil, I was afraid the lens was luxated but it’s not. Jim said lens and retina looked fine, so we’re not sure why the pupil is misshapen unless it’s just from sheer blunt force trauma. Neither pupil is responsive to light, however, so again—say it with me—“Time will tell.”

​The screech came in Saturday afternoon and hasn’t been to the vet yet; aiming at x-rays Monday. His right wing droops badly and there’s some scabbing at the shoulder and elbow that may be hiding exposed bone—hard to tell. He’s a typical feisty screech with a hearty appetite, though. Fingers crossed for this peeved little fellow!

​And, of course, the vultures are still dropping by. Apparently carcasses were in short supply this week, as they hung around a bit more than usual, demanding handouts. Yeah, some of y’all saw this video when I posted it on my personal page yesterday, but it’s too good to share with everybody!

Well, okay, a red tail trio, to be more accurate. Still...been a while since LWR’s hosted three red tails simultaneously. This is the time of year the juvies start running into trouble, though, so it’s not surprising I’m seeing more.
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The former stargazing red tail is flying well and antsy, and the weather is looking good for release early in the week.

​A second red tail came in late Friday from Eatonton, home of Joel Chandler Harris of Uncle Remus fame. A huge thanks to the Eatonton PD for making sure this gorgeous fellow arrived. He’s got a massively swollen left eye and had had a bloody nose before intake. He may also have a wing fracture; we’ll need x-rays to be sure. He’s alert but still reluctant to eat. 

​The third red tail arrived just a few minutes ago, and the bloody left wrist wound and possible fracture near that joint lead me to believe he might have been a victim of “spray and pray” dove hunters, as Saturday was the opening of dove season in Georgia. Again, we’ll need x-rays to be sure.

​The red shoulder still hasn’t gotten his x-rays yet; the sooner the better is the general rule but scheduling conflicts on my end prevented a vet trip last week. He’ll also go in this week for those delayed x-rays.

​The vultures ditched their wild buddy and are now showing up in shifts, for the most part: one in the morning, one in the evening. And yes, I can tell them apart by the differences in their heads, so I know which is which when they show.  And one is a bigger clown while the other tends to be more serious and apparently thoughtful. They definitely have their own personalities!

​We reached 85% of our goal on the fundraiser, for a total of $2555. Thanks to the 17 donors who made this possible. For those who missed the fundraiser deadline, there are PayPal links on each page of the website; you don’t have to wait for another fundraiser to donate.

​We’re at $2085, 70% of the $3000 goal, with just three days to go—and that $2085 came from just 12 people.  Folks, if you’re waiting for “somebody” to donate, guess what? YOU’RE that “somebody!”  We need $915 to meet our goal, so if you’re the procrastinating type, you’re running out of time to donate toward keeping our raptors fed.

​The no-longer-stargazing red tail was moved to the full raptor flight last week, where he ran around on the ground for several days before finally rediscovering his wings. This morning he flew from one end of the flight to the other—low, but he was flying, so I’m happy. He’s made tremendous progress, as you can see from his intake photo and those taken two days ago. 

​In new intakes, an adult red shoulder came in with a broken left wing; it feels like it’s far enough away from the joint to be fixable but it’s still pretty swollen so it’s hard to be certain. He came in after my vets had closed on Friday, so we’re aiming at x-rays this week to see if it is indeed fixable. Meanwhile, he’s alert and has a healthy appetite.

​The juvie sharpie who came in this morning wasn’t as lucky. In addition to a shattered left hip, his left wing had an open fracture with a good inch of bone exposed. He was humanely euthanized.

​And not content with freeloading off me still, a good two months after their release, the vulture twins invited a third juvie to join them at the LWR buffet. He’s skittish but follows the twins’ lead when around me—albeit at what he considers a safe distance. The now-triplets aren’t around all the time but they’re hysterical to watch when they show up for a handout.

It was a slow week from both the rehab and the fundraising aspects. The late summer lull is a welcome break before dove season kicks in on Sept, 5, which means a likely influx of wounded raptors, victims of “spray and pray” dove hunters. The lull in donations isn’t as pleasant...

Both MIKIs were released last week; no video or post-release photos, as I simply left their flight pen door open during the day for a couple of days and let them choose when to take their leave. Oddly enough—or maybe not, given the plethora of dragonflies we still have—one is still hanging around the fringes of the hay field. I hear him more often than I see him.
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The fundraiser, with just 9 days left, is currently at $1660; we still need $1340 to meet our goal. That $1660 has come from just 9 donors, y’all. That’s kinda sad that more people haven’t seen fit to donate. “Attagirls” and “God bless yous,” while appreciated, don’t put mice in the freezer to feed our raptors. Thanks to those who’ve donated; to those who’re procrastinating, time’s a-wastin’!

​The stargazing first-year red tail is currently the sole guest at LWR. He’s doing much better—has moved up to the top perch in the mini-pen and is hopping around on it like a pro. His head tilt is less pronounced. I’m not sure it’ll ever go away entirely but then, I also wasn’t sure he’d make the progress he already has.  He has a great personality—as do most red tails, honestly—and in another week or two we’ll see how he does in the full raptor flight.  Sometimes a little time, a steady food supply, and a safe place to mend are all a bird needs.

​And the vultures are still hanging around but are much more independent now. I often see them perching in a tall snag in the woods or circling overhead with several wild cousins. They frequently fly down to be nosy when they see me looking up at them—kinda like that old song: “I was lookin’ back to see if you were lookin’ back to see if I was lookin’ back to see if you were lookin’ back at me.”

​Again, we have just nine days left in the fundraiser and while LWR has few guests at the moment, with the fall migration beginning and first-year birds running into trouble, that number will rise and fall unpredictably into the fall and winter. Let’s make sure the freezer stays full so they can be fed!

As of today, we’re at $1560 (52% of the $3000 goal) with 15 days to go. A hearty thanks to those who’ve donated; to those who haven’t, your “mouse money” is also needed!

​In more good news, the mourning dove was released last week. 

​And the stargazing red tail is looking less “stargazy” but still tends to run in unsteady circles when he gets excited/stressed. He also managed to reach the low perch last week, for a day. Then it was back to the “ground perch.” Baby steps...I honestly wasn’t sure he’d improve this much, so every little bit of progress is amazing.

​A first-year Cooper’s hawk—possibly sharpie but I’m thinking Coop; they’re so similar in coloration even as adults—came in with a totally ruptured crop. The bird was rail-thin and, given the bedraggled state of his tail feathers, had been grounded for a while. He was so desperate for food that even with a ruptured crop he’d tried to eat insects. The crop tissue itself was already necrotic—see the circled areas on the photos—so we had nothing to work with as far as attempting to repair it. The bird was humanely euthanized.

​The MIKIs are ready for release and will be given their freedom as soon as the weather permits. We have a week of predicted rain, so it’ll be late week before rain chances drop to low enough levels to consider releasing them.

​And, of course, the vultures are still hanging around, although I’m seeing them with adult vultures more and more often. Just this evening, they briefly flew down from a snag where several adults were perched, then headed right back up to be with their own kind. The twins are truly growing up!

It was a fairly quiet week rehab-wise, which I’m not complaining about. A series of back-to-back editing deadlines means I’ve had one full night’s sleep since last Sunday; a heavy intake load would’ve put me over the edge!
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The folks whose neighborhood the barred owl came from picked him up Monday evening to release back in his home territory. The screeches were released the following night. I did snap final photos of them before leaving the mini-pen door open, which they wasted no time taking advantage of.

​Of course, the fundraiser is ongoing for the remainder of the month—or till we meet the goal, whichever comes first. At the moment we’re nearly halfway there, with $1225 of $3000 raised. While baby season is grinding to a halt, now’s the time of year we start getting in injured adults and starving juveniles in larger numbers, so LWR still needs that “mouse money” to keep the freezer full!

With both flights empty, the red tail and MIKIs headed outdoors, the MIKIs to the raptor flight and the stargazing red tail to the mini-pen.
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The MIKIs are flying well although you’d never know it from any of the photos I attempted last week; this was the best of the lot. Another week or so and they should be good to go.

​The stargazing red tail had me about ready to throw up my hands and call it. His severe stargazing only seemed to worsen once he was in the mini-pen, his balance is obviously off, and I’ve had to put near-ground-level perches in for him, as he can’t reach the lowest existing perch in there, which is only about two feet off the ground. Add to that the fact that for three days he couldn’t seem to coordinate himself to eat but wouldn’t accept hand-feeding from me, and...well, it wasn’t lookin’ good. I was bracing myself for a hard decision.

​But yesterday he finally started eating and this morning when I went to feed him he was perched on the side of the water dish and his stargazing was less pronounced, winning him a reprieve. He’s got a loooong way to go before we can talk about release but at least that option’s back on the table now.

​An adult MIKI was found by the roadside by someone on their way to work at the Base, and when she brought it to LWR, the poor thing’s left leg was literally hanging by a tendon—and the right leg was broken too. Most likely he hit someone’s side-view mirror in hot pursuit of a dragonfly. There was nothing to be done but humanely end his suffering.

​The nestling mourning dove is now a fledgling mourning dove—stubbornly refuses to self-feed but is otherwise a veritable blur of motion—see for yourselves:

​The vultures are now soaring with several older black vultures and at least one turkey vulture. They’re still showing up for handouts but seeing them circling overhead, slowing, and diving down to land right in front of me and start growling and bowing for food is a real treat. *sniff* “My babies is all growed up.” And such gorgeous babies they are, too!

​And now I have to feed everybody, get one more short editing job knocked out, and then hopefully crash early for a full night’s sleep. There’s a reason sleep deprivation is considered torture...

As some of y’all may have noticed, LWR is having a raptor-heavy year. That means an extra-expensive year: We’ve needed rodent orders every 2-3 weeks since February so we can keep these birds fed —and each order has been a minimum of $500. Add to that the boxes, liners, gloves (do y’all KNOW how much exam gloves cost in this Covid-crazed world??? It’s insane!) and other essentials for healthy birds, and we’re running low on funds. I’m aiming at one big fundraiser this month, and if we meet the goal, there won’t be another fundraiser for the remainder of the year. The goal? $3000. I’m counting on y’all to help keep the raptors LWR takes in well-fed!

​The barred owl who’d been possibly hit by car is ready to go; because he’s an adult and his finders say he’s one of their neighborhood owls, they’re picking him up tomorrow to release back in his home territory.

​The screeches are also good to go; the mini-pen door will be left open tonight to give them their freedom.

​The MIKIs are ready to be moved to the raptor flight. Yes, their box is filthy—the photo was taken before I moved them into a clean box because I knew getting a decent shot of them after the stress of being handled would be impossible.

​The red tail will go in the mini-pen if the screeches seize the freedom offered them tonight. He still stargazes badly, even after steroid injections. This is gonna be a long haul with him, I suspect.

​In new intakes, a red shoulder pulled from a truck grille had no external injuries but his right shoulder was shattered. He required euthanasia.

​This sweet little barn swallow leapt or was shoved from the nest at my grandparents’ house I’m renovating and when the parents didn’t coax him to a safe place after an hour and sunset was approaching, I brought him home with me for safekeeping overnight, with the goal of reuniting him with his sibs ASAP. Sadly, the poor fellow died overnight.

​A barred owl was found in the road with a broken wing. Unfortunately, it was an open fracture and the bird required euthanasia.

​Yesterday evening, as mammal rehabber Charydi Gambill was on her way home from work, she saw a blue jay attacking this nestling mourning dove. Seeing no nest around, she retrieved the dove and brought it to LWR. His crop was hard as a rock, which had me worried he might also check out overnight, but he’s doing well and his crop feels normal again today.

​And of course, we can’t end without an update on the black vultures, recently released and now inviting their friends to the party. Three times this week I’ve seen two adult black vultures hanging out with the twins, and at least once a turkey vulture joined the festivities. Meanwhile, I’m threatening to give my family exam gloves and trash bags for when they see fresh road kill...

Yup, you read that right! Used to be, LWR would see a bald eagle every 4-5 years; for the past several years they’ve been coming into rehab at least once a year and frequently more often.
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This one was a three-and-a-half-year-old bird; we know this from the mottled head and tail feathers. It had bands on both legs; the numbers on those were reported to Bob Sargent, head of Georgia DNR’s Eagle Program (he found out the bird had been banded in Florida in 2018). It weighed 8lb, 10oz on intake and was alert but docile and unable to stand and its breathing seemed shallow and labored.  Vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital noticed a small fracture of the left radius and pointed out that the left lung also looked cloudy.  Additionally, as we positioned the bird for x-rays, it sliced the nastiest, smelliest pea soup-green, gritty poop I’ve ever seen or smelled from an eagle. 

Given the bird’s increasing lethargy, I was eager to get it transferred to Auburn’s Raptor Center for more extensive care than LWR can provide. Volunteer transporters Doug and Joy Daniels came through at a moment’s notice, literally, both coming straight off full days of work to transport the eagle to Auburn. We were all honestly afraid it would die en route.

The good news is that according to Auburn’s case updates, the eagle is eating on its own and more alert but not yet standing. They suspect “organophosphate toxicity with secondary trauma,” meaning the bird likely has some form of insecticide poisoning along with the physical injuries. Their exam caught a coracoid fracture we missed in our focus on that cloudy lung, and they noted a very low heart rate, which has since begun improving.
For the full details on the eagle’s treatment at Auburn, go to http://w2.vetmed.auburn.edu/rm1/html/2021-203.html. Their most recent updates are at the top, so you’ll need to scroll down and start reading from the bottom of the page up.
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DNR also delivered another MIKI, this one slightly younger than the one that came in the previous week, so they’re both remaining inside till the younger one is ready for the raptor flight.

​A concussed barred owl came in Tuesday and, after a couple of days of being too out of it to eat, he started eating well and will go in the raptor flight for a few days just to make sure he’s flying well. 

​Unfortunately, two other barreds weren’t as lucky. Both came in with fatal wing fractures requiring euthanasia. The second of the two, a juvie, came in the same day as the eagle and was euthanized at Smalley’s.

​A first-year red tail came in with a swollen right eye and stargazing, but no fractures. Vet Peggy Hobby also examined him and concluded the neurologic symptoms were treatable with time and steroids. The steroids we’ve managed; the time—well, it will take care of itself. The good news is his depth perception is improving as the swelling in the right eye slowly goes down, and the stargazing isn’t as severe as it was. He’s able to pick up mice he drops in the bottom of his box now; two days ago if they fell from his beak as I hand-fed him, I had to pick them back up and hand-feed them to him again. Baby steps!

​The screeches are enjoying the mini-pen, although it’s hard to tell that from their expressions...

​And, of course, the recently released black vultures are still hanging around being goofy juvies and sunning—a LOT—and I’ve seen a couple of adult vultures starting to check things out.