Ending a months-long stretch of successfully reuniting babies and parents, LWR received our first babies of the season on May 1—both barreds, both branchers.

The first barred was reported to Laurens County 911 as being on a sidewalk downtown; the caller made no attempt to rescue the bird, so 911 dispatched a Dublin City police officer, who transported the bird to the 911 center, where a Laurens County deputy picked it up and brought it to LWR. Thanks to all three agencies for ensuring this baby’s safety!

The second “baby call” came in moments after 911 reported the deputy was en route with the first baby; this one was from DNR. Their baby had been “deposited” at their office, with no details as to where it was found, so there was no way to reunite it with its sibs and parents. The game tech who delivered the bird was a bit disappointed that his months-long streak of reunification had also ended—we always, always prefer to keep the babies with their parents when possible!

Since both barreds are very close in age, we were able to house them together, thankfully, and both are self-feeding—even better news!

The mature red tail is ready for release, hopefully Monday, as we have much-needed rain predicted starting mid-week.

And the first-year red tail will then move from the mini-pen into the main flight, just in time since the barreds are actually ready for an outside pen.

There will be no update next Sunday, Mother’s Day.

LWR received numerous calls over the past two weeks, most of them “baby calls” that were resolved by reuniting brancher great horneds, barreds and screeches with their parents. We seem to’ve hit a spate of folks who have the common sense to seek ways to reunite babies and parents: one creative soul used a game tracker to ensure the baby she placed back in the tree was being fed by his parents; another kept looking till he found the nest and used a ladder to renest the baby. Can we clone these folks?

While we love raising baby raptors, it’s always best if the parents can finish the job they started, so the willingness of these folks to go above and beyond to reunite babes and parents is a welcome and refreshing development!

Because of their willingness to work toward reunification, LWR had only one new intake over the past couple of weeks, an adult barred found by the roadside. He had minor head trauma on intake but was alert and feisty within a week. Because the finders suspected he came from the woods near their house, he went back to his home territory for release. We have no videos of that release.

In amazingly good news, the mature red tail FINALLY started flying. He still droops that wing at rest, but he’s flying strong, so the goal now is to release him as soon as possible so the first-year red tail can be moved into the main flight.

The first-year bird’s wing is looking great—nice and even—but he can’t really test it in the mini-pen.

And since I can get no firm quotes in writing from any contractor I’ve spoken with, Operation Eagle Flight is on hold until I can locate someone willing to provide a quote and do the work once funding is secured. I’ll update y’all as soon as I know anything definite, but it’s not looking promising at the moment.

Really. There were no new intakes last week, and LWR still has no quote for Operation Eagle Flight, so…

The mature red tail’s future isn’t looking promising; his wing droop is very pronounced when he’s at rest, and he “ladders” up to perches rather than flying.  If y’all recall, he was a likely victim of “spray and pray” over a dove field back in January, and his x-rays showed a fracture very close to the elbow, so the risk was that the joint would freeze when it healed. This would seem to be the case, sadly, but we’ll give him another week or so.

The first-year red tail’s February x-rays showed his fracture was closer to mid-bone and he’s holding his wing level at rest and pretty close to level now when he flares his wings. He needs to be moved into the main flight to have room to really test his flight capability, hence the need to decide the final disposition of the mature bird fairly quickly.

Remember that there will be no update next Sunday, April 20, Easter Sunday.

It was a strange week at LWR. We almost had our first eagle of the year, and we almost had our first two babies—both great horneds—of the year. And we did manage a release in the midst of the chaos, too!

The eagle, apparently a young adult, had been found hanging by his wing from fishing line in South Georgia last week and had been taken by DNR to UGA for treatment before transfer to a rehabber; because CNC is bustin’ at the seams already, DNR and FWS worked together to obtain authorization for LWR to hold the eagle once it left UGA. Unfortunately, the vets at UGA determined the injuries to the wing were so severe that it required euthanasia.

Then two calls came in almost back to back, both with brancher great horneds in the brush near trees in their yards. I have nothing but kudos for these two families, as they did EVERYTHING right. They contacted LWR to see what needed to be done; when I questioned them about the demeanor of the birds, the callers said their respective birds were quiet and calm except when approached. Both callers indicated they could hear adults in the woods. Both callers said there were no dangers (dogs, cats) to the birds in their yards. I suggested monitoring the birds and if they hadn’t moved along within four hours or so, we might need to intervene. In both cases the parents coaxed the errant branchers back into the woods, where they could complete their job of raising their babies. Way to go, finders! Y’all’s common sense and willingness to follow instructions kept those young birds with their parents! (Can we clone these folks???)

Now for the release: The adult red shoulder wasted no time vacating the premises once he was offered his freedom. He showed out a good bit before realizing I actually was barely holding him back, then bounced off the ground before taking off.

The one new intake was a small male great horned found in the road. He had no fractures and his pupils were even and responsive but I still suspected head trauma and possible optic nerve damage. Unfortunately, there were apparently also internal injuries; he didn’t last 48 hours.

Both red tails continue to “keep on keepin’ on,” as it were. No real progress, but at least no regression either, so I guess that’s good. We shall see…

Nothing to report on Operation Eagle Flight; we’re still in a holding pattern awaiting the quote.

Next week’s update will be early, on Saturday the 12th, and there will be no update on Easter Sunday, April 20th.

Hard to believe we’re already heading into the fourth month of this year; at this rate, next week will be Christmas!

LWR had a slowish week, with only one new intake, a very angry and discombobulated adult red shoulder. He was pulled from a dog pen after apparently falling or being dropped into it near dark. He was brought to LWR, where he was kept for observation for several days to ensure there were no soft tissue injuries. Luckily, he was only stunned, although he remains a disgruntled guest at LWR until later this week, when the rain chances drop so he can be released.

Aside from that, the two red tails continue to show little to no improvement. The mature bird will flare both wings perfectly level, but his left wing still droops at rest, and while he’ll ladder up to higher perches, he’s making no real attempt to fly.

The younger bird seems to be extending his wing a bit more but it’s still level when at rest and drooping when partially extended—the exact opposite of the mature bird.

We’ll continue to give both birds as much time as possible to see how this plays out, but with baby season looming on the horizon, space may quickly become an issue.

No progress yet on Project Eagle Flight. The contractor and I talked last week, and the holdup is still the flight “roof,” but he thinks they’ve solved that and will have a quote as soon as possible. He’s given me a rough figure but I won’t discuss it till we have the details ironed out, other than to say I think it’s a very reasonable amount for the size pen we’re talking about.

After several weeks of weather delays, the sharpie and screech were finally released late last week, and I’m not sure who was happier—them or me.

Of course, not every release goes quite as planned. The sharpie flew off the glove to the closest tall(ish) object, which happened to be my head… *sigh*…Put the camera away and re-glove the hand that had been holding the camera so the sharpie can be extricated from my hat while leaving my scalp and hands/arms intact…and the doofus then flies away. So there’s no release video for him.

The screech was so eager to leave I was unable to get the camera focused before he took off for freedom, so his release video is rather blurry.

The barred owl who was supposed to go in for x-rays last Monday didn’t survive through Sunday night. Given that he was found by the roadside, most likely had a hip fracture, and was breathing heavily on intake, a logical assumption is that there were also internal injuries.

Meanwhile, the two releases meant that the two red tails could be moved outside. The first-year bird went into the mini-pen after his wing was unwrapped.  He’d begun a molt while inside, so he’s got some feathers coming in on the left wing. The more worrisome situation is the wing still droops. We’ll have to give him time and see how this develops.

The mature red tail—who, if y’all recall, had likely been a victim of “spray-and-pray” over a dove field—also seems to be struggling with a droopy at-rest wing and not flying well in the main flight. Again, time will tell. As always, when there’s a chance of recovering full flight ability, we want to allow the birds that chance.  A phrase we often use in wildlife rehab is “you can always euthanize later, but once it’s done it’s permanent.”

And Operation Eagle Flight remains “grounded” while we sit in hurry-up-and-wait mode awaiting a quote from the contractors. Maybe next week; we’ll see…

But things are lookin’ up for this week, so keep y’all’s fingers crossed we can have some releases this week!

Last week LWR had two new intakes, a turkey vulture and a barred owl.

The turkey vulture had a fracture right at the shoulder joint, as well as some serious road rash/self-mutilation on the underside of the wing. It looked as if it started as road rash but he picked at it and made it worse…not that it mattered, as the shoulder fracture required euthanasia. Have I mentioned how much I hate having to euthanize vultures in particular? Those intelligent eyes just haunt me…

The barred owl appears to have a hip fracture and is resting in a donut; we’ll be aiming at x-rays this week to see if it’s fixable.

The barred whose vision was in question did turn out to be blind and was euthanized.

The screech awaits release, hopefully this week.

Same for the sharpie, who’s really eager to regain his freedom.

If, good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we can get these two released, both red tails are ready for flights. Keep those fingers crossed!

No news on Project Eagle Flight—we’re still waiting on the quote. Contractors, as of last week, were waiting themselves on a quote for a portion of the project they’d have to subcontract out, so hopefully as soon as they get that, we’ll have a firm figure to work with.

I’m not sure who’s more frustrated, me or the birds who’re ready for release but have been cooling their heels for the past week while the weather laughed at us. The clear days were too windy for release; the days with lighter winds were either rainy or had rain predicted within three days of a potential release. So here they sit, the sharpie and the screech, awaiting their freedom, while it rains AGAIN today…

The sharpie is flying beautifully, the full length of the flight and back again.

The screech is doing the same in the mini-pen.

The mature red tail is ready for a flight as soon as one’s open.

The first-year red tail has about another two weeks before he’ll be ready for a flight; hopefully we’ll have one open by then.

The barred still has a bit of blood in his right eye, and optic nerve damage is still not off the table, as he also still seems to struggle to find his food.

On the eagle flight front, we’re still awaiting a quote for its construction. County officials have indicated this is a project they’d likely back, while city officials have flatly stated they see no benefit in it for them. We’re in a holding pattern until the quote is done, and given the intricacies of a flight this large (100 ft. long, 20 ft. wide, 16 ft. high), I’m impatient but not surprised that it’s taking a while to nail down an estimate. Keep saving those pennies and keep those fingers crossed!

The end-of-February winds and those heralding March’s arrival have been insane. “In like a lion, out like a lamb,” indeed! The gusty, nearly non-stop winds have precluded any releases at LWR. A slight, even a stiff, breeze is one thing; winds that nearly blow your chin-strapped hat off don’t make for good release conditions.

So that means the screech is still at LWR, although he’s more than ready to go. Maybe this week; we’ll see…

The sharpie who may be a runt red shoulder is flying consistently from one end of the flight to the other, so he’s also ready to go once the wind stops trying to blow us off the map.

The mature red tail is ready for a flight pen as soon as one’s free.

The first-year red tail still has a few weeks to go before we can even consider moving him to a flight.

The red tail with the damaged head feathers died unexpectedly late last week. Still not sure what was going on there; he was alert and eating well one evening and dead the next morning. I’d love to have been able to get a necropsy to see why, after 17 days of textbook perfect behavior, he dropped dead with no signs of any problems, but UGA charges both DNR and rehabbers for necropsies, so we avoid them in most cases.

An adult great horned owl who came in early last week had a blown eye and a leg fracture; the plan was to get him in for x-rays but he died from apparent internal injuries before that could happen.

This morning a barred owl came in with an open wing fracture; he was humanely euthanized.

The barred owl from last week’s update continues to do well but may have some vision issues. Both pupils respond normally to light but he seems to have problems finding his food. We’ll give him more time to see if this resolves.

And while I don’t have all my ducks totally in a row, I won’t keep y’all in suspense any longer about last week’s cryptic announcement. As y’all know, LWR sees several bald eagles a year and must triage and transfer them, since I don’t have an eagle permit. I don’t have an eagle permit because LWR doesn’t have an eagle flight pen.

I hope this year to change that and ease some of the pressure on my colleague Kathryn Dudeck at Chattahoochee Nature Center. Currently Kathryn is the only eagle-permitted rehabber in the state of Georgia, and CNC has the only eagle flight in Georgia suitable for rehab. She and I agree that having one eagle-permitted rehabber/facility in the northern part of the state and one in the southern part of the state would be ideal, but I have to get that eagle flight built first.

I’ve got contractors working on a quote and once I have that quote, I will be approaching city and county governments to see if they’ll pony up funds to assist with the construction. I’ll also be starting a long-term fundraiser once I have that quote in hand, as this will be a major expense.

So right now, keep your fingers crossed the quote isn’t too eye-wateringly high and that city and county officials will see the benefit of having one of only two eagle rehab facilities in the state…and start saving those pennies for when we’re able to officially start a fundraiser!

The predicted lows this week are the same temps we had as highs last week. A colleague has reported getting TWO raptors with brood patches already. I have a Carolina wren building a nest under my shelter…and YET…spring won’t really have “sprung” for good till after Easter, which is in late April this year. Gonna be an interesting year…

LWR had only one new intake last week, a barred owl found by the roadside and brought to LWR by a local game warden. He’s got some head trauma but is alert and eating well.

The purported sharpie, who's looking and sounding more and more like a runt male red shoulder, is in the mini-pen and doing well enough that this week he’ll be moved to the main flight, which will free up the mini-pen for the screech.

The screech will only need the mini-pen for a week or so, as his only injury was head trauma, and the mini-pen is plenty large for flight conditioning for a tiny screech.

The red tail brought by the game warden, despite having really trashed head feathers on intake, is alert, active, and inhaling food. He’ll be the next for the main flight, once the sharpie who may actually be a red shoulder has had time for flight conditioning and can be released.

The first-year red tail is doing great with his wing wrap but not so great with cameras; he hates the camera—as you can see!

And the mature red tail is slated be the next resident of the mini-pen, once the screech is released.

Meanwhile, we’ll have some exciting plans to share within a week or so, once we have all our ducks in a row. At the moment, all I’ll say is that if the plans can be brought to fruition it will mean an expansion for LWR and a potentially long-term fundraising effort to allow for that expansion. Got y’all’s curiosity piqued? Good! Maybe I’ll be able to spill the beans next week!