This week in wildlife

Raining great horneds!

3/26/2023

The brancher great horneds flooded in last week, along with a couple more barreds. It was an...interesting week, to say the least.

The singleton great horned was joined by THREE “sibs” in one afternoon. Two of the three came from Henry County; the third came from Bibb. Attempts were made on the third to convince the property owners to allow renesting using a laundry basket tied to a tree, but according to the Animal Control officer who picked up the bird, they refused. So all three ended up at LWR to make a quartet. They’re a bit too young for harmony, so a career on the road as a gospel group is off the table...They’re quite a photogenic group, though.

A fourth great horned brancher came in Friday from Jefferson County, with a broken wing. The x-rays showed what would have been grounds for immediate euthanasia in an adult bird, but vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital and I decided to consult with Carolina Raptor Center to see if their avian vets thought it was fixable, given the bird’s young age. Sadly, they reported that the proximity of the fracture to the joint and the shortness of the bone ends precluded pinning it surgically and recommended we go ahead and euthanize. And if you think euthanizing an adult bird sucks, let me be the first to tell you euthanizing a baby sucks even worse.

The concussed great horned from a couple of weeks ago was released. The goal with adults is always to release them back in their home territory but so many of the adults LWR receives are found “on I-16” or “somewhere on 441” or the like that it’s frequently difficult or impossible to do so. In this case the finders knew he’d come from their property and were delighted to pick him up and release him. As the video they graciously shared shows, it was a beautiful release!

The sharpie x-rays showed a fractured ulna and “hand.” Peggy and I agreed that since neither fracture was displaced, he should have a good chance at healing for flight. The ulna fracture IS pretty close to the joint, but not so close it should freeze the joint. Thus far, he’s a fairly calm patient—unusual in accipiters, but I’m certainly not complaining!

The concussed barred owl who favored his left wing still favors it a bit but is hopping from perch to perch in the mini-pen. He’s headed to the main flight this week.

Thursday afternoon an adult barred owl came in, emaciated and lethargic. There were no apparent injuries, and given his behavior and the risk of avian flu, I quarantined the bird. He remained lethargic and refused food, which isn’t unusual for the first 48 hours or so after a head injury, but when he started having small seizures, one after another, I opted for euthanasia. I don’t suspect avian flu, as infected birds don’t usually last 48 hours; it looked more like he’d gotten into some sort of poison.

And Thursday morning a young man called with a barred owl he’d found by the roadside on the way to high school. He skipped his morning classes to bring the bird to LWR—after alerting his teachers of his activity. I commend this young man for his actions; he gives me hope for the future. His bird was also concussed with no other signs of injury and will go into the mini-pen once the current occupant moves to the main flight. And the young man has already been back in touch to check on the bird and ask if he can release it back where he found it when it’s ready to go. We’re a week or so away from that, but again, that would be the ideal scenario!

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Inclement weather brings in birds

3/19/2023

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LWR had three new intakes this week, all most likely related to our weather, which issued a firm reminder that, true to the old wives’ tale, there will always be cold snaps until Easter.

Monday saw an adult barred owl and an adult screech come in. The barred favored his left wing and was concussed out of his gourd. However, by Wednesday he was alert and by Saturday morning, he’d figured out how to get out of his box and fly through the rehab facility, so into the mini-pen he went, where he still favors that left wing a little but is making great progress.

The screech had somehow managed to get in the vent of someone’s cooker, where he apparently spent the weekend; upon the person’s return from out of town, he found the bird after hearing a commotion in the cooker. Upon intake at LWR, the screech was alert, aggressive and a little on the thin side. He ate very well Monday night but didn’t touch his food Tuesday night, which wasn’t especially concerning since he’d eaten three mice the previous night and raptors in the wild don’t always eat every day. But Wednesday night, he died. All I can figure is exposure to some sort of chemicals in the cooker.

Saturday afternoon a first-year sharpie came in, rail-thin and with a fresh ding on his right wrist; he’d been down for some time before that, though, based on the shredded tips of his tail feathers. He didn’t eat at all and was quite lethargic Saturday but was much more alert and ate eagerly this morning. Given that his dinged wrist felt a bit crunchy during his intake exam, the goal at this point is to get x-rays to see what’s going on there.

The adult great horned is flying and should, if his progress continues, be ready for release by the end of this week or early next week. When I go in the flight, though, he still prefers to hit the ground and try to intimidate me with a truly gorgeous threat display.

And the nestling great horned continues to grow and inhale mice. He’s also started wing-flapping, which means he’ll pretty soon need a larger box to have room to fully exercise those massive wings.

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First baby of the season

3/12/2023

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What started out as a truly heart-rending fatal week ended with the first baby of the season—a very late-hatch great horned owl nestling.

This “leetle feller” was found on the ground Wednesday night in Emmanuel County. His finders said they thought they could see the nest but there was no way to reach it to be sure, so they took him in for the night and called LWR the next morning.

On intake, he was quite vocal about his hunger, and quite eager to eat. Great horned babies are bottomless pits! He settled down once his hunger was sated, though.

His intake sort of made up for the two euthanasias, also great horneds, that we had this week.

Monday morning, Smalley’s Animal Hospital alerted me that someone had dropped off an adult great horned. The bird was starvation thin and lethargic, and his right leg seemed “not right” so we x-rayed to see if we could find the problem. He had a femur fracture that resulted in his being grounded so long that he was virtually at death’s door when he arrived at Smalley’s; we euthanized.

Wednesday a nuisance animal trapper from a neighboring county called with an adult great horned caught in a leg hold trap they’d put out. Don’t even get me started on what I think of anyone who uses a leg hold trap; they’re cruel and unusual even for the “target” animals and fatal for raptors that get caught in them. The poor owl’s leg was trashed; there was nothing to be done but euthanize an otherwise perfectly healthy, alert, aggressive, well-fleshed bird. And yes, I was and am livid.

And finally, last week’s concussed great horned is in the flight pen, where he favors his left wing when trying to fly, but he managed to get to the highest point in the flight overnight, so that’s promising. It’s not broken so we have some sort of soft tissue damage and will just have to give him time to see if it heals for flight.

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Whoooo has a headache?

3/5/2023

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Only one intake for LWR this week, an adult male great horned owl who was found by the side of the road in a nearby county yesterday morning—and he had no fractures, miraculously. He was concussed and a bit shocky on intake, and a bit on the thin side.

By the evening of his intake he’d perked up a bit but it was still pretty obvious he’d had his bell well and truly rung.

By this morning he was even more alert but still subdued and not eating; that’s not unusual for concussed birds—it generally takes them 24-48 hours to get their horizontal and vertical holds adjusted and for their heads to stop aching. By Tuesday at the latest, he should be the typical great horned bottomless pit.

The couple who found him have already indicated their willingness to pick him up and return him to their property, so once he’s alert, eating and flight-tested, he’ll be returning to his home county, barring any soft tissue damage that might take longer to assess and heal. Fingers crossed for a quick recovery for this fellow so he can go home soon!

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Early spring releases

2/26/2023

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With gorgeous weather, moderate temps and a yellow cloud of pollen about to suffocate us all, LWR was able to release both the red tail and the screech!

Given that the moderate temps and low-to-no rain chances were predicted to last into late this week, the timing was finally right for releases, and both birds were happy to check out of the LWR B&B.

The red tail was first, earlier in the week, and while he was a bit hesitant to leave the glove, he finally did realize freedom was his for the taking. I love releases!

A few days later it was time for the screech to regain his freedom, at long last. Recall, if you will, that he came into LWR in September last year, after being held illegally for 3 months. His feathers were trashed, his talons were overgrown, and he had a beginning case of bumblefoot. Proper diet, meds and a talon trim, followed by a late-season molt, had him physically ready for release by December but with no cavity to roost in for the winter, he had to overwinter instead. He was one more eager-to-leave screech! Sorry for the blurry release video; once he started flying away the camera’s focus system decided a nice abstract effect would be lovely, and it wasn’t like I could call him back and say, “Let’s try that again.”

LWR had no new intakes last week, so we currently have no birds under care. However, nature abhors a vacuum, so we’ll see how long that lasts...

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Oops—the Great Backyard Bird Count is underway!

2/19/2023

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Last week was coolish, windy, and a bit rainy, so the mature red tail in the main flight is still at LWR. The weather’s looking promising for a release this week. He’s good and ready to bid us adieu, too!

Unfortunately, the second mature red tail wasn’t as lucky; as I feared, once the swelling went down on his wing, it was obvious this was not a healable fracture. He was humanely euthanized.

The screech—well, there’re only so many ways to describe a screech, and I’ve used ‘em all on this ill-tempered spitfire who’s SOOOO ready to go once the weather warms up a little more reliably. Currently, we’re having near-80-degree days one day and 50 the next, with nighttime temps fluctuating between 50s and near-freezing—not ideal weather to release a small bird who normally roosts in cavities during the day and is actually most active at dusk and dawn. Gotta love ‘im, though, the pissy little fellow!

And finally, I owe y’all a bit of an apology: Normally I push the Great Backyard Bird Count pretty hard and encourage everybody who can to participate, but this year I had too many irons in the fire and it slipped up on me before I knew it. Tomorrow’s the last day, so utilize today and tomorrow to participate if your schedule allows. Remember, it’s very flexible; you can count for as long or short a period as you like, and your count can be in your yard, in a field, in a park—wherever you see or hear birds. You also don’t have to list all the birds you see or hear, if you run across one or two you’re not familiar with or, in the case of warblers, you’re unsure exactly which warbler you’re seeing.

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A rainy week finally ends

2/12/2023

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After a week where I expected to see the animals lining up two by two, the rain has finally ended. Now we just have to dry out...and assess the damage to wildlife. LWR will either be swamped with calls or it’ll be crickets—there’s almost never a happy medium, and we have no way of predicting which way the dice will fall.

We had one intake last week, another mature male red tail. His right wing is broken near the shoulder but he was still too bruised and swollen on intake to fully determine the extent of the injury. My gut says it’s fatal, but we’ll wait and see if x-rays are warranted once the swelling is down somewhat—probably Tuesday.

The first mature male red tail is still progressing nicely; I think another week or so if the weather cooperates, and he should be good for release.

The screech is just biding his time until March and his release. And plotting ways to kill me in my sleep. It’s what screeches do to amuse themselves, I’m sure...

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Winter one night, spring the next—our wildlife must be SO confused!

2/5/2023

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Georgia’s weather alternates weekly—sometimes daily— this time of year, so one night we hear frogs and crickets and I see a lone bat flitting about at dusk; the next night it’s frigid out and nearly dead silent...The wildlife HAS to be confused; I know I am!

Only one new intake last week—one of the local game wardens brought a barred owl that had been caught on a barb-wire fence. His wing was pretty rough looking and raw but nothing was broken and he was alert and active, albeit a bit thin, so the plan was to treat the wing and hope there was no tendon or ligament damage. Unfortunately, he died the night of intake. We don’t actually know how long he hung from the fence before being discovered, and we’d just had a couple of near-freezing nights, so exposure and stress were most likely contributing factors.

The mature red tail is in the main flight and slowly regaining his flight skills. He’s gone from unable to gain lift to flying in short spurts at the full height of the flight in under a week, so if he continues to progress at this rate, within a couple of weeks, he should be good for release.

And of course, the screech remains pissy. It’s a particularly endearing screech character trait and a large part of the reason raptor rehabbers love screeches. If the weather has warmed up enough by early- to mid-March, he’s good to go, so he’s got another month or so at LWR to give me daily stink-eye...

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January’s nearly done?

1/29/2023

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Wow, the first month of 2023 flew by!

Unfortunately, last week saw a couple of euthanasias and a DOA (dead on arrival), so the end of the month isn’t shaping up to be all that spectacular on the rehab front.

As indicated was likely last week, the Coop was euthanized. He was unable to fly more than two or three feet, only a couple of feet off the ground, after almost two months in the flight pen. I’m not even gonna attempt to sugarcoat it; it hurt my heart to put down this Coop. He was probably the calmest healthy accipiter I’ve ever worked with.

With his euthanasia, the main flight was open, so I moved the first-year red tail into it before taking him in for x-rays...and realized x-rays weren’t needed. The droop in his left shoulder from the old, healed fracture was much more pronounced once he was out of the indoor housing. This wasn’t an injury he could ever learn to work around; he flat-out couldn’t fly ever again. And red tails are hard to place as ed birds—not because they’re difficult to work with but because they’re SO easy to work with that every facility needing or wanting a red tail (or two) already has its full quota.

Sadly, he also required euthanasia.

A first-year sharpie came in after he jumped into a woman’s kayak and sat there, sopping wet and lethargic, until she returned to shore. She said she placed him on the shore and then waited to see if he’d dry off and fly away. He didn’t, so she called LWR. On intake, the sharpie could barely lift his head and he was starvation thin. I told his rescuer his chances were slim, at best, but at least he didn’t drown or end up freezing to death, as we were about to have another sub-freezing night. I’d placed him in a donut to make it easier for him to breathe and was about to mix up a slurry to try and get some nutrition into him when he flared his wings and tail and died.

Within an hour of the sharpie’s intake and death, a mature male red tail arrived. He’d been seen sitting by the side of the road the previous day and when he was still there the following day, he was captured and brought to LWR. On intake he refused to stand, although nothing felt broken anywhere. His eyes, nares and throat were clear, which is always good. By the next morning he was standing but would hunker down like a setting hen whenever I walked over to his box. As of today, he’s standing (except when I walk over to check his food) but still not eating, but his intake weight was reasonable and he’s alert, so we’ll see what happens with him.

And with the temps bouncing from above freezing to below freezing on two nonconsecutive nights this past week, the screech had to come in for two nights, and lemme tell y’all right now, he’s about fed up with this in-and-out business. He purely cusses at me now when I go to bring him inside, and he really, really likes to bite my fingers in protest while giving me pro-level stink-eye. I swear, it is impossible for anybody with a soul not to utterly adore a screech...so much attitude in such a tiny package!

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More o’the same

1/22/2023

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It was another slowish week, with just one intake, a first-year red tail.

The red tail was found in a neighboring county and taken to a falconer there, who called LWR to make sure we had room and were taking birds, since many facilities still aren’t due to HPAI, the avian flu.

This fellow has an old almost-open fracture under his left wing. It’s healed already aside from some outer scabbing, but I still wanted x-rays to see just how bad the break had been and how “wrongly” it had healed. Unfortunately, my car has been in the shop for repair, so his vet visit will come next week after I get the car back. The flip side of that is that it’s fortunate that it’s an old injury and didn’t require immediate vet attention.

The Coop’s flight hasn’t improved at all, so it looks as if we’ll need to make a decision on his fate this week. As harsh as it may sound, from a purely pragmatic point of view, he’s consuming resources needed for other birds; from a humane viewpoint, he’s not likely to ever be happy as an ed bird. Coops are psychotic and despite this fellow’s laid-back (for a Coop) personality, it would likely be a struggle to glove-train him and the stress of public programs on a high-strung bird would likely kill him.

The screech continues to bide his time till spring, when he can be released. His appetite is good; his flight is good—he just needs to remain at LWR for another couple of months so when he’s released he’s not struggling to find shelter in cold and inclement weather.

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Raining great horneds!

Inclement weather brings in birds

First baby of the season

Whoooo has a headache?

Early spring releases

Oops—the Great Backyard Bird Count is underway!

A rainy week finally ends

Winter one night, spring the next—our wildlife must be SO confused!

January’s nearly done?

More o’the same

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