And we’re gonna focus heavily on that thrush this week, because it’s also another first for me and LWR, and sadly, it’s not lookin’ good for the sweet bird.
​
Friday night, colleague Libby Parker, a mammal rehabber, called about a bird that had been pulled from an oil pan. She sent me photos of the bird post-bath and asked what else she needed to do. His eyes looked weak and irritated, so I suggested a saline rinse, followed by nonsteroidal ointment or drops to soothe the irritation. 

At this point, I was guessing as to species. The oil and subsequent dampness of the feathers had me confused; I thought it might be a young brown thrasher. I’m notoriously bad at IDing birds from photos.

Saturday a transporter brought the bird and two more flyers from Libby to LWR. The flyers, of course, settled in with the new sibs overnight, while the bird, now that it was in hand, was obviously a thrush, not a thrasher. But what kind of thrush?

Since we’d just had the hermit thrush last week, my immediate thought was that this was also a hermit thrush. But something seemed off about the wing feathers, and when he started vocalizing, the sound was wrong. Hmmmm…Swainson’s thrush? I knew them only from name, as they don’t breed in Georgia; we only see them during migration.  Time to consult Sibley’s and see…

Yep, the sweet little fellow is a Swainson’s thrush—a first, as I said earlier, for me and LWR. That’s one of the neat things about working with birds: there are so many species that every year can bring a “first” of one or more species.
​
But his eyes still looked awful.

I contacted vets Peggy Hobby and Richie Hatcher late Saturday evening, after the now-identified Swainson’s thrush came in, to make sure I was on target with the saline rinse, followed by nonsteroidal drops/ointment. I left messages for both, and within 15 minutes had replies from both that this treatment was appropriate, so I continued it through today.

Honestly, I’m not seeing improvement. His eyes are swollen and weak-looking, and the oil seems to be literally seeping out of his erstwhile clean head—perhaps from his ears; I’m not sure. I’ve swabbed down his head with Dawn again to clear away the oil that collected overnight. (Dawn is the rehabber’s go-to for oiled and greased wildlife.)
​
Meanwhile, he can fly for short distances, as I tested him in the songbird flight today. His vision precludes proper flight, however, and while Dawn is excellent at removing grease and oil, it does have the downside of also stripping the natural oils from bird feathers, meaning a loss of waterproofing.

After seeing his vision was still definitely an issue, and given his lack of waterproofing for the next several days, until he can preen enough natural oils back into his feathers, I brought him back inside where it’ll be easier to medicate him and monitor his condition.

However…he’s stressed; he can’t see properly, which means he can’t eat properly, and he was already thin on intake; and his eyes look, if anything, worse today than they did yesterday.

I’m cautiously hopeful but not overly optimistic that we can set this precious little bird back on his migration within the week. We’ll see. It’s honestly not looking real promising right now.

And that brings me to this week’s rant: People, for God’s sake, dispose of oil and grease properly. You don’t just leave stuff like that sitting around openly. It’s an invitation for disaster. Here’s a helpful rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t want your toddler getting into it, it’s also not safe for wildlife. And someone’s callous disregard for the safety of children and animals may end up costing this bird his life.

In happier news, the gunshot red-tail is chomping at the bit to get out of confinement, which is a good sign. He’s headed for the raptor flight this week.

The head-trauma red-tail will be transferred to colleague Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends this week; as his vision improved, he developed a nasty food aggression, literally attacking me as I walked in to feed him. That, coupled with his calm perching on a glove, leads us to believe that he may have been in the hands of an ill-trained wannabe falconer who fed him a crap diet, hence the vision issues, and not enough of it, hence the food aggression. Rather than release him and risk his attacking someone for food, we feel his best bet is for Steve, who is a Master Falconer as well as a raptor rehabber, to work with him to “retrain” him away from food aggression.

We lost another flyer this week, the runt female from the twin females who came in a few weeks back. It was a classic case of failure to thrive: she was eating well, growing just like her sib, and then suddenly she wasn’t. Appetite decreased, appearance was scruffy, and weight dropped precipitously. It was like she ran full-tilt into a growth barrier and slid backwards. Unfortunately, this scenario isn’t uncommon with runts—it’s as if they reach a certain point of development and stop, period.

However, with the two flyers from Libby, there are six adorable babies who will be in new digs for next week’s photos. And in a rare occurrence, we have a dead-even gender mix: three of each!
​
Not as many photos of the flyers this week, and no video, but I’ll try to make up for it next week.

​Oh, almost forgot—next week’s update will be a day late, on Monday, Oct. 23.

It was one of “those” weeks, with a mix of good news, heartbreak and anger. Let’s start with some good news, shall we?

The vision-impaired red-tail seems to’ve totally recovered from his head trauma and is not only continuing to perch on the high perches in the raptor flight, but is also sailing smoothly to snatch his food from the forceps before I can even lay it down anywhere. This is beyond good news; it’s excellent! If you’ll recall, I was worried he might have permanent vision issues. Apparently not! I tried all week for a short video of him snagging his food, but he’s sitting on “ready” the moment he hears the latch on the flight door, and I barely even make it in the door now before he’s snagged his food and hit the ground to eat, so…maybe next week we’ll have a release video!

There are actually three entries into the “bad” and “infuriating” categories this week, all of them intakes on the same day.
​
First off, this gorgeous adult male red-tail came in with a wing injury. Nothing felt broken but he had a “ding” that looked suspicious to me, so he made a trip to Smalley’s Animal Hospital, where x-rays confirmed my suspicions: he has a pellet lodged in his wrist. The x-rays also confirmed no fractures, so vet Peggy Hobby and I feel pretty confident he should be flight-capable once the wound has healed.

On the heels of the GSW red-tail, this little hermit thrush came in, found the previous night with what appeared to be puncture wounds all over his back and plucked nearly bald in the same region, a probable cat-attack victim. The finders, before calling LWR, slathered Neosporin on the wounds.

And here let me stop to beg you PLEASE not to do that. I understand the desire to do “something” when you find a wounded bird, but antibiotic ointments gum up their feathers something awful and can even cause them to fall out. Clean the wound(s) with sterile saline, NOT tap water, and let that be the extent of your “treatment” until you’ve spoken with a rehabber. PLEASE.

Unfortunately, it didn’t really matter for this sweet little bird. The wounds and the stress were simply too much; he barely lasted an hour after intake. He was the first hermit thrush LWR has ever taken in; they’re not in Georgia except during migration, and some few overwinter in South Georgia. Those of you who’ve been with me for a while know how I feel about thrushes in general. I adore every single species in the thrush family, and to have the very first hermit thrush I’ve ever had the privilege to see die from someone’s stupidity and carelessness in letting their cats roam free just quite frankly broke my heart and infuriated me, as well.

And number three in the “bad” and “infuriating” categories was this sweet little Eastern cottontail, the victim of someone’s out-of-control dog. Now, normally, LWR doesn’t handle cotties; for one thing, they have a bad tendency to stress out and die and as a colleague once said, I’d rather let someone else dig those graves. For another, LWR specializes in birds of all species and flying squirrels. But this poor baby was the sole survivor of a dog attack on the nest that killed Mama and all sibs, and he was in the hands of someone I knew would attempt to rehab him without proper permits or knowledge if LWR didn’t take him, so…I crossed my fingers, held my breath and hoped—and he made it!

He had only a slightly sprained back leg on intake, but his eyes were open and he was eating solids, so after a couple of days of observation to make sure the leg wasn’t gonna be a major issue, he was released. Now, I already hear some of you saying, “But he’s too small!”
​
Nope. If a wild rabbit is large enough to cover half a dollar bill, he’s old enough to be on his own. He may still return to the nest to sleep with Mama and sibs, but he’s independent as far as food and survival.

​And finally, we have the flyers for your weekly dose of adorable. They’re growing like weeds and will soon need bigger digs.

​Oh, and for a bonus, I surprised these wild turkeys yesterday as I was freshening up the outside feeders. I love how, in the video, the tom herds his “harem” to safety out of my sight!

Not much to report this week: the two flyers en route last Sunday arrived; two more came in Monday, and that’s it for new intakes for the week!

The two Sunday flyers were both male; the runt struggled for four days before finally giving up. He was eating but exhibiting classic “failure to thrive” and I didn’t hold out much hope for him. As long as he was fighting, though, I wouldn’t give up on him. It’s heartbreaking when a baby tries so hard and ultimately just can’t survive.

The Monday flyers were both female, eyes still closed on intake, although they opened the very next day. They’re both doing well.

The two older flyers have taken over “parenting” as far as cleaning the younger ones and nestling up with them. It’s just adorable.
​
Of course, there are photos and video aplenty of the sweet little rascals:

​The mourning doves were released after a few days in the songbird flight; I still see one or two of them every couple of days, often behind the songbird flight. 

​And in what may be a promising sign from the red-tail, yesterday he snatched his mouse from me before I could place it near his feet; this morning he was perching on the high perch when I went in to feed him. It would appear his vision might be improving, albeit slowly! Fingers crossed this is true progress and not just a fluke.

​And that, folks, is it for this week—I think I could get used to this!

With no new intakes, it was definitely a slower week for LWR, and no one here’s complaining!

The red-bellied woodpecker was released; he’s not coming down for handouts but I hear him in the trees, so that’s good.
​
The mourning doves are headed to the songbird flight next; they need another day or two inside, just to  make sure they’re self-feeding sufficiently to be outside.

​The single hummer still with us has picked at his injured wing until he’s further damaged it, probably beyond repair—you can see the scabbed spot in the photo below. Sadly, he’ll more than likely require euthanasia now.

​The red-tail in the raptor flight is proving to be more severely vision-impaired than originally thought. He simply cannot find his food if it’s more than a few inches away from him, and forget perching—the best he can do is stumble around till he lucks up on a low perch. It’s not looking good for him right now, but I’m trying to give him a little more time in hopes that perhaps the vision issues are lingering aftereffects of head trauma that will slowly resolve.

​And, of course, the flyers are, as is always the case, too adorable for words. They’re getting a bit more active near feeding time now, and have started playing with solid food—not really eating it yet, but teething on it. 

This just in! (Sorry, couldn’t resist…) The flyer “twins” are about to be “quads,” as while I was finishing up this update, a text came in from one of my local game wardens, who’s en route with two more flyers.
​
Finally, although LWR doesn’t work with arachnids, who could resist sharing a shot of a banana spider? Her web was so large that I managed to catch the far edge of it even while trying to avoid it, so she scurried over to see what she’d “caught” and I snapped this shot with my cell camera. Banana spiders (aka giant wood spiders or golden orb spiders for the goldish tint of their webs), despite their fearsome appearance, are actually fairly shy and not at all dangerous to humans. Their bite is milder than a bee sting, and you’ve got to actually work hard to get bitten. The males, a drab brown, are Lilliputian in comparison to the females, who can be upwards of five inches, legs included. Their large webs are very strong and are actually being studied by scientists, as apparently the material they’re made of is stronger than Kevlar. Interesting, huh?!

​LWR escaped mostly unscathed from Irma’s destructive path through Georgia: power out for 70 hours but no loss of frozen mice, small limbs scattered all over the place, a medium-sized chinaberry tree down over the path to the raptor flight—nothing that can’t be fixed. Irma also resulted in 13 intakes in two days, after people’s power started being restored and roads cleared.

​The poor red-tail who was awaiting Irma’s departure for x-rays didn’t survive, however. She died Tuesday night but I took the carcass in for x-rays Wednesday, anyway, as we needed to know if the GSW had caused her death. She’d been eating well and just keeled over, but she was also starvation-thin on intake. Surprisingly, the x-rays revealed only one pellet near her shoulder that wouldn’t have precluded flight after the wound healed; vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital and I feel it was the stress of the wound, compounded with her emaciated state, that caused her death. The game warden does know who the guilty party is; in this instance there was an eyewitness, so the shooter will be prosecuted.

​The MIKIs were all released late this morning and were quite happy to gain their freedom, although I’ll miss the mouthy little rascals. Safe migration, babies, and Godspeed!

​Their release meant the red-tail with possible vision impairment could go into the raptor flight, where he put on a good threat display and gave me lovely stink-eye in an attempt to intimidate me. Oooh, I’m shakin’ in my boots…

The hummer from last week who had a probable coracoid fracture died mid-week this week—stress from captivity and the urge to migrate without the physical ability to do so most likely caused his death.
​
Three additional hummers came in, all on the same day. One was DOA; one was released after 24 hours’ observation; one is still with us.

​A very young quail didn’t last three hours after intake. Quail are stressy little things when they’re young, and this poor wee one wouldn’t self-feed, which quail normally do from hatching. This meant further stressing him out by handling him to force-feed—never a good thing with a bird that’s already showing massive signs of stress and debilitation.

​Three pre-fledgling red-bellied woodpeckers also came in after the tree their nest was in was downed by Irma. One, the one on the far right in the photo, died overnight; a second died the next night. The first death I expected—you can look at the bird in the photo and see it’s not looking healthy. The second death took me by surprise, as the bird was eating well and active right up till lights-out and dead the next morning. The third red belly is in the songbird flight now and will be released in the coming week.

​Three mourning doves were also orphaned by Irma, two about the same age and one a little younger. All are doing well and have healthy appetites.

​And the week ended with the intake of three flying squirrels orphaned by Irma, two females and a male. Sadly, the runt female didn’t make it through her first night at LWR. The surviving flyers are doing well and gaining weight daily. They’re still in the “eat and crash” phase; within another week or so, they should become slightly more active.  These babies are about four weeks old and flyers aren’t released until they’re about 20 weeks old, which would put their release date in late December/early January. Obviously, that ain’t gonna happen; you can’t release flyers into a winter landscape with no nest and no larder of winter goodies, even though they’d join the colony in the woods here. They’ll overwinter at LWR.

 Yeah, Laurens County—and indeed, it appears, all of Georgia—is gonna be slammed as Irma moves northward. So I’m breaking from prepping for probable power outages to fill you in on this week’s critters, the good and bad news, and will provide a few wildlife tips for post-Irma—or any severe storm, for that matter.

Let’s get the sad news outta the way first: the WNV red-tail died, despite all our efforts. If you’ll recall, I mentioned last week that I suspected he was in Phase 2; he struggled for two more days before giving up the fight.

Also, on Labor Day, two barred owls came in. While one showed no signs of injury, he could not stand—at all. This is usually a sign of a pelvic fracture, and since he also refused to eat—very unusual for a barred owl—I opted for euthanasia. Pelvic fractures in birds are very iffy as far as recovery, and chances for recovery are nonexistent if the bird goes on a hunger strike from stress.

The second barred owl seemed fine aside from a little swelling at his wrist; I was debating whether he needed x-rays, but he died overnight, so apparently there were internal injuries.

The Coop with the wing fracture didn’t make it in for x-rays; he died Monday night. Coops are high-stress birds, and it was more than likely stress rather than injury that led to his death.
​
The barred owl from last week’s update was released. It was a messy release; he hem-hawed around until I was about to turn the camera off, then he took off and made a godawful awkward landing in a tree. I did manage to get video of the release and a not-great shot of him in the tree after he got his wings under control. The shot was a long zoom and the camera decided to focus on the crabapples in front of the owl instead of the owl himself…

​The second red-tail, also originally suspected to have WNV, actually seems to be severely vision impaired. He’s not blind; he just has real trouble seeing low-contrast items. This is more than likely a dietary issue, as he’s showing marked improvement now that he’s getting steady food. If you’ll recall, he was also rail-thin on intake last week.

​We also had a juvenile ruby-throated hummingbird come in this week. Nothing appears broken; wings are perfectly level and move as they should…but the bird cannot fly. At all. It could be a coracoid fracture, which you may remember is similar to a clavicle fracture in humans. These just require time to heal, and sometimes they don’t heal to allow flight. We’ll just have to wait and see on this little fellow.

​Yet another red-tail came in last night, this one brought by a game warden from another county. She’s a first-year bird, rail-thin, and has a gunshot wound in her right wing. On intake last night, it felt as though it may have missed the bone; this morning, with swelling down somewhat, I’m not so sure. It will require x-rays, which she won’t get until Wednesday, more than likely, thanks to Irma passing through. Even if Smalley’s is open Monday and Tuesday, the rough weather they’re predicting for our area means this rehabber will not be on the road.

​And the MIKIs that I was afraid would be unreleasable have proven me wrong, which I’m delighted about! If not for Irma, they’d’ve been gone this week. As it is, they’re safer in the raptor flight for the next few days.

Now, for those of you in Irma’s path through Georgia, while there WILL be wildlife needing assistance, please be smart and stay safe. If the winds are taking down trees around you, yes, there may be nests of flying squirrels in them, and there may be birds slammed into trees, buildings, etc., but you can’t help them if a tree lands on you. Wait till the worst of everything passes over before you start trying to assess damage and check for injured/orphaned wildlife—and for God’s sake if there are downed power lines, stay away till they’re taken care of by professionals. When it’s safe, look around downed trees for birds or baby squirrels—and this is gray squirrel breeding season, as well as flyer breeding season. Look amongst the branches and check for cavities that may contain babies.

If you find injured birds or orphaned squirrels, the first thing to do is contain them safely.

For songbirds, a small cardboard box lined with paper towels or an old T-shirt will be fine. For raptors, use a larger box but also line it with paper towels or an old T-shirt.  Once they’re safely contained, call a rehabber for further instructions. DO NOT FEED.

For gray or flying squirrels, DO NOT FEED. Place them in a cardboard box—a shoebox lined with an old T-shirt will be fine. For eyes-closed babies, place a heating pad on the lowest setting under one end of the box. If it’s an auto-off heating pad, check it frequently to make sure it’s on. No heating pad? Use Hot Hands or a similar product, wrapped in a paper towel and placed beneath the T-shirt in the box. No hand warmers? Fill a sock with rice and microwave it for a minute or so, then place it under the T-shirt in the box. Then call a rehabber for further instructions.

Keep in mind that, depending on the severity of Irma’s trek through Georgia, rehabbers may be without power as well, and roads may be impassable. Cell phones should still be functional, so you should be able to contact one of us, and if there will be a considerable delay in your getting the critters to us, we will provide you with emergency feeding instructions at that point. Please, please, puh-leez DO NOT FEED any injured/orphaned wildlife you find UNTIL YOU’VE SPOKEN WITH A REHABBER.

And for those of you in Florida already getting slammed and here in Georgia about to be slammed, batten down the hatches. It’s looking to be a rough few days.

With baby season over and first-year raptors being told by the resident adults to pack their bags and get outta Dodge, raptor rehabbers will begin seeing more first-year birds in trouble. That was certainly true at LWR this week, with intakes of two first-year red-tailed hawks, a first-year Cooper’s hawk and a young adult barred owl, all with varying degrees of trauma.
​
The first red-tail came in early in the week and was thin, lethargic and having tremors. I suspected West Nile, but withheld judgment till the bird had seen a vet. At Smalley’s Animal Hospital the day after intake, vet Richie Hatcher agreed that the symptoms could be WNV. The problem was that those symptoms could also be from a combination of capillaria and head trauma—and the bird was found by the roadside. We agreed that general supportive care and treatment for the possibility of capillaria was the best course of action. Thus far, the bird isn’t responding to treatment. It’s not looking promising.

According to the University of Minnesota (UMN) Raptor Center website, there are three phases to WNV:

• Phase 1: Depression, anorexia, weight loss (in proportion to duration of anorexia), sleeping, pinching off blood feathers. Elevated white cell count.
• Phase 2: In addition to the above, head tremors, green urates (indicating liver necrosis), mental dullness/central blindness and general lack of awareness of surroundings, ataxia (clumsiness), weakness in legs.
• Phase 3: More severe tremors, seizures.

​I’d guess this bird was solidly in Phase 2, heading toward Phase 3, given that he doesn’t respond to his surroundings to any great extent and we were able to sit him unrestrained on the exam table, where he rocked and nearly tipped over sideways.

Sadly, there is no treatment for WNV; all rehabbers and vets can do is provide supportive care and hope. Again, according to the UMN Raptor Center, “There is no prescribed treatment. But supportive care can be provided, and it is possible for birds to recover. In general, the likelihood of recovery depends on what phase the bird is in. Phase 1 birds respond reasonably well to supportive care. Once they reach Phase 2, some birds respond to supportive care, but others do not and proceed to Phase 3. Complete recovery is uncertain. Birds suffering from the severe tremors and seizures characteristic of Phase 3 are close to death.”

The second red-tail came in a few days later; his symptoms and response to treatment are eerily similar to the first. If they’d come from areas close to each other, I’d honestly warn the county officials they might have a West Nile outbreak, but they came from counties north and south of Laurens County.

​The Coop has a broken right wing. He came in late Saturday and with Monday being Labor Day, it will be Tuesday before we can get x-rays. I’m not real hopeful; there’s a scab right at the elbow that leads me to think we have an open fracture. He’s typical Coop feisty and crazy, but the wing just doesn’t look like the x-rays will be good news.

​The barred owl apparently hit someone’s vehicle running board and was left for dead. A neighbor saw the bird and sought help; he was transported to LWR late yesterday, as well. Nothing feels broken, which is good news. His left eye is cloudy and he’s got some major head trauma going on, but with time and supportive care he should be okay.

​In more upbeat news, the mourning dove was released and still shows up every couple of days or so.

​The great horned owl was also released, but I have no footage or photos of the actual release. The snot barreled out of the box before I had the camera fully focused, sat on the ground and stared at me, so after a couple of seconds, I turned off the camera and turned to put it down and grab the gloves. I turned back around to see the uncooperative doofus headed for the tree line. I ran over to where he entered the woods, hoping for a couple of post-release perching shots, but when a GHO doesn’t want to be seen, you’re not gonna see him. Sooo…below is the video of him sitting on the ground…for what it’s worth…

The Mississippi kites are showing some improvement in their flight skills. I’m still not sure they’re gonna be capable of the sustained, swift flight they need, but they’re already doing better than I thought they would, so I’ll be delighted if I’m wrong.

The photos below show the difference a cloud passing overhead can make in the quality of the image. In the video you can hear two characteristic MIKI vocalizations.

With no new babies for two weeks, it appears baby season might be over, for feathers, at least; it’s just hitting full swing for flying squirrels. No flyer calls yet, though. That’s a hit-and-miss thing; some years we don’t see any in rehab; others, like last year, we see flyers out the wazoo. And we could still see some late-season mourning doves; I’ve had them come in as late as early October—but not often.

So now, as early migration begins, we’ll start seeing the injured migrants—there’s always something “in season” for wildlife rehabbers. Nothing is quite as intense and exhausting as baby season, though!
​
The mourning dove is in the songbird flight now and unsure if she’s happy about that or not. Poor baby wants to remain a baby forever, and that’s not happening!

​The screech finally passed his live prey test late in the week and was subsequently released.

​So now the MIKIs are in the raptor flight, and I have to confess it’s not looking promising for any of the three. Nobody can fly; nobody’s even attempting to “ladder up” the perches for added height.  We’ll see what happens over the course of next week, but at the moment their futures are in serious doubt.

​We had two hit-by-car victims this week, a quail and a great horned owl (GHO). The quail, a juvy, had open fractures of the left leg and wing and was DOA.

​The GHO was luckier; he had a deep cut to his cere (right above beak) and a scraped eyelid. He also had a little road rash on his legs and a shallow puncture wound on his chest, but no obvious wing fractures. He came in late Saturday, so we’ll play it by ear and see how he’s faring Monday morning before planning a vet visit. As of this afternoon, he’s looking more alert, so that’s a good sign! His mouth looks a little pale, so he’ll get treatment for capillaria before release, just to be on the safe side.

Not as impressive as last week, but still not a bad week, overall. Just keep your fingers crossed for those MIKIs…

This update will be the very essence of brevity itself: only one new intake, FIFTEEN releases, and just five still under care!
​
The screech is doing the typical owl doofus routine and hasn’t mastered the live prey skill yet, so he’s still in the raptor flight.

​However, he’s got to get his act together, because all three MIKIs are rarin’ for their turn in the raptor flight. 

​The mourning dove needs to figure out the self-feeding bit so she can go into the songbird flight.

The single new intake was a juvenile barred owl, most likely hit by car, who presented with a right leg fracture that felt like it was near the hip and extreme lethargy, making me suspect internal injuries—which must have been the case; he died 20 minutes after intake.

The remainder of the week was pretty darn upbeat, with those FIFTEEN releases.
​
The Eurasian collared dove was released and still shows up occasionally to eat where I scatter seed on the walkway.

​The red-headed woodpeckers, after most of the week in the songbird flight, took leave of LWR’s facilities and didn’t look back. I’ve noticed red-headeds as a rule tend to cut the apron strings, as it were, much more quickly than other woodpeckers.

​And the mockers also spent most of the week in the songbird flight before heading for freedom when offered the chance. 

​The Canada geese—remember them from months ago?—were finally released…

​…as were all seven wood ducks.

​And the barred owl who’d come in the previous week with a concussion was released, as well.

​And YES, in case you’re wondering, it’s a mighty fine feeling to see so many successful releases in one week!

August does mean a slowdown in baby intakes, which no bird rehabber I know of complains about; by this time of year we’re all rehab “krispy kritters” and ready for a break—was just discussing this with a colleague yesterday, in fact. Of course, for mammal rehabbers, second baby season for gray squirrels is now in full swing, so they’ll be busy right up till late fall/early winter. We bird rehabbers will start seeing migrating birds in our facilities in the next month or so; sadly, many of them will be beyond help.
​
Including today, LWR saw another six birds come in over the past week; number six arrived earlier this afternoon—another Mississippi kite (MIKI), this one a little older than the previous two. He’d been found the previous night when a dog was circling him in a field. Finders reported him circling on the ground with one wing sort of thrown out; an intake exam revealed no obvious fractures, so…we’ll see how things look in the morning and decide whether x-rays are warranted.

​MIKIs 1 and 2 were already bunkmates, so MIKI 3 is now in with them. Honestly, once the screech currently occupying the raptor flight passes the live prey test, these three fierce little rascals should be next in line to try their wings.

​And look at the feather regrowth we have on MIKI 1! If you’ll recall, he came in with a huge chunk of feathers and flesh ripped out of his wing. We were initially worried the missing flesh might have resulted in follicle damage that might hinder feather regrowth, but this is looking pretty darn promising.

​The screech, as previously mentioned, is good to go flight-wise; he’s just gotta pass that all-important live prey test to ensure he can feed himself upon release.

The Eurasian collared dove is also good to go as soon as we have three days of low/no rain predicted.
​
As for the erstwhile common ground dove…weeellll…as the little darlin’ feathered out, she turned out to be a mourning dove! Honestly, the poor little thing must’ve been only a few days old on intake; her tiny size had me convinced she was a common ground dove. And then she started growing…She’s still a beauty, though!

​The wood ducks are also good to go; rain shouldn’t be an issue for them—I mean, they’re ducks, right? Still, it’s just so ingrained in me not to release unless there’s a three-day good weather prediction…In the meantime, they can get in and out of the tub as they please, so this is frequently what I walk in to find when they're swimming…

​Sadly, the red tail we thought had capillaria began spitting back his food, completely undigested, last Sunday night and was dead by Monday morning. I honestly suspect secondary rodenticide poisoning, given his overall lethargy.
​
While I was NOT happy that the tree these red-headed woodpeckers’ nest was in was cut down, apparently at the homeowner’s insistence, I will give credit to the person who cut it down—as soon as he saw the babies in the remains of their nest, he had his wife call LWR and got them here ASAP. They’re doing great and should be ready for the songbird flight within the next week.

​As is typical for mockers, these two unnested clowns were found wandering down a road in an area infested with feral cats, with no nest and no parents in sight. Mockers are the world’s worst about not staying near their nest when they fall out or are frightened out. These babies were very close to fledge-age, so within a few days of intake they were already perching and have started testing those wings, so they’ll also be in the songbird flight within the week.

When this barred owl was seen by the roadside in the early morning, the passerby didn’t think much about it; when he came back by near midday and the bird was still sitting there, he knew there was an issue. He took the bird to his local sheriff’s office, where he remained until late afternoon, when a county employee in another department got off work and volunteered to drive the owl the two hours to get him to LWR. Kudos to him and his co-worker for their willingness to spend four hours round-trip on the road after working a full day.
​
The owl has no fractures and while both eyes are clear, he does favor that left one. He’s eating well, though, so he should be releasable as soon as we get that owl equivalent of a black eye healed. Basically, he just needs a safe place to get over a massive concussion.