It’s been a weird year all the way around: two bald eagles nearly back to back, a nestling crow, a nestling osprey, and now a pair of pre-fledgling catbirds—none of which LWR sees too often.

Catbirds aren’t uncommon birds; they’re just uncommonly shy, preferring to remain hidden in thick brush. They’re in the same family as brown thrashers and mockers but have much better temperaments than mockers. LWR seldom sees them in rehab; I think the last one might have been over ten years ago.

These two were cat-attacked; the younger, who still has some pin feathers, has a damaged foot and had some belly bruising on intake. I’m not sure whether the foot injury is from the cat attack or a nest injury, but we have it wrapped and she’s doing well. Her sib looks as if he might have already fledged before the attack by feral cats.  Both are just typically sweet little catbirds.

Earlier in the week, two barred owls came in on two consecutive days. Both required euthanasia. One had an open wing fracture; the other had a hip fracture.

Toward the end of the week another MIKI arrived, this one slightly younger than the MIKI already at LWR. This little fellow is just starting to attempt self-feeding, so I haven’t put the two together yet, although their boxes are right next to each other.

The older MIKI is actually ready for the flight pen now but a) both flights are currently occupied and b) I want the younger bird to be placed with him inside for a while before putting them in a flight. No photos of him this week; he’s too antsy now. Definitely needs to be in the flight pen!

Saturday, a late first-year/early second-year red tail came in after being left at the police department of a town in a neighboring county. Nothing is broken, and he’s much more alert today than he was on intake yesterday. We’ll give him another night inside and then put him in the mini-pen with the older red tail.

The older red tail was quite happy to be placed in the mini-pen after the Coop release.

The Coop, obviously,  was released and wasted no time skedaddling. Not a great shot, but Coops aren’t known for being cooperative.

The two barred owls are tolerating each other better now; it took the slightly older juvie most of the week to decide to perch, so he still has some lingering head trauma. He’s eating, though, and the younger gal who’s been at LWR longer has decided she can handle sharing her digs with him—which is good, given that I have nowhere else to put him!

And for those who’ve been reading along, anxiously wondering when I’d announce the results of the crow-naming fundraiser, the name garnering the largest donations ended up being…POE! The amounts donated toward each name are listed below:

1. Poe $225
2. Crowvid $135
3. Corbeau $50
4. Cawrona $45

Poe still has some foot/leg issues but we’re fairly confident we can work through them. It’ll just take some time and patience. Meanwhile, he’s looking like a real little crow now—look at those raised head feathers in the last two shots: he’s not so sure he likes the camera!

LWR has had its share of juvenile and adult ospreys through the years, but never a nestling. This bird came from a neighboring county and because it seemed late in the year for a baby I called DNR’s Bob Sargent, who’s over the state’s eagle program but also monitors osprey nests, for some guidance. He said it wasn’t unusual to have nestling ospreys as late as early August, so this fellow’s right in line with that time frame. Look at those blue-tinged baby feet!

I knew Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends had a better setup for ospreys—meaning a larger flight pen—so I contacted him upon intake of the bird Thursday, and we set the transfer in motion. Thanks to intrepid volunteer transporter Joy Daniels, the bird headed to Bubba & Friends this morning.

Also on Thursday an older juvenile barred owl came in with a concussion. After 48 hours of dark, quiet isolation, he perked up yesterday and ate his first meal since intake last night. Although he’s still a bit loopy, he’s now in the raptor flight with the slightly younger juvie already in there, and she ain’t happy about it!

The MIKI is self-feeding now but still requires his mice to be chopped up. Mice aren’t their normal diet; MIKIs are aerial insectivores: They snag and eat their insect prey on the wing. However, in a rehab setting, they generally readily accept mice.

The red tail is going through a complete molt. The bottom of his box is lined with molted feathers every day!

The Coop is rarin’ to go and will be released next week, making room for the red tail in the mini-pen.

And, of course, we have the crow, who has grown so much in the past week that he doesn’t even look like the same bird. He does have a left leg/foot issue, which could be a nest injury or the result of his fall from the nest. Nothing is broken; he just tends to curl that foot inward. That’s something I see fairly often in smaller songbirds, so I’m leaning toward nest injury—improper positioning of the foot in the nest.  Most birds adapt and by the time they’re releasable it’s not even obvious they ever had a problem.  Since he’s considerably larger and heavier than the average nestling songbird, though, we may end up having to brace or boot that foot/leg to give him a little help. I’m waiting a few more days to see, as he’s showing improvement on his own at the moment, just not as quickly as I’d like.

It’s not at all obvious who’s my favorite current guest, huh?!

Don’t forget about the Name That Crow fundraiser, ending July 31. Participation has been sparse, which kinda surprises me. I thought folks’d be eager to have a say in naming this gorgeous fellow! Fundraiser details are below:

1. From now till the end of the month, y’all can make donations and LIST YOUR FAVORITE NAME from those below with the donation. Donations can be via PayPal or mailed check; PayPal links are on each page of the website and here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=aO-V5zbhpx1TToyCsUjfOlBVCJTO5t2FwAxt7l6IsAfqUWrA1vMLXrBIv2zxb6LqR0AoH0&country.x=US&locale.x=US. Mailing info is under the “How can I help” tab here: http://www.laurenswildliferescue.org/how-can-i-help.html
   
2. The name that receives the highest amount in TOTAL donations by July 31 will become the crow’s name.
   

As y’all can see from the total donations listed below, Crowvid is currently in the lead. We’ll see if that changes before July 31…

1. Crowvid—$60
2. Poe—$25
3. Tarbaby
4. Cawrona —$25
5. Br’er Crow

​Just look at this baby—just LOOK! Y’all know I adore corvids, and I seldom get fledgling or adult crows—and never a baby, in 20 years of rehab. So yeah, I’m just a wee bit thrilled to have this little darling in the LWR nursery.

He (I call most birds “he”—easier) weighed a whopping 174g on intake, after being found the evening before near a golf course in a neighboring county. Honestly, when his finder sent photos, because she included nothing for scale and they were taken from a distance, I thought she had a grackle. When she arrived at LWR and I opened the box, though, it was quite clear this wasn’t a grackle. And yet I still couldn’t believe that I actually had a nestling crow. It took a while for it to sink in. 2020 may have thus far been an all-around crappy year for the world in all other respects, but I’ll now remember it fondly because…BABY CROW!!!

He seemed a bit off to me, which I knew could be stress and dehydration, but I was taking no chances. I hied me hence to my computer and emailed Dr. Kevin McGowan of Cornell University, the leading expert on crows. By the next morning I had a reply, thus beginning an invaluable two-day email correspondence with a man who’s, as a friend said, “rock star status” in the bird world. If you’re a rehabber or a birder, you know Kevin McGowan’s name immediately.

He was very interested, very helpful. We sorted the “off” issue—yep, most likely stress and dehydration.  He aged this baby, based on photos I sent him (app. 18 days on intake), and confirmed my ID as a fish crow—smaller than American crows. Georgia has both and the few crows I’ve seen in rehab have been a fairly equal mix of the two species. Additionally, he provided enormously helpful care advice based on his research on crows, as well as a chart to aid in aging young crows.
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This “leetle feller” is doing quite well, alert, eating voraciously and pooping like a pro—y’all know how important poop is to a rehabber!  And he’s THE most endearing little darlin’…

​So we’ve debated names here at LWR—while other birds are seldom named, all crows MUST have names—and here are our top picks:

1. Crowvid (courtesy of my niece, who shares my dark and twisted sense of humor)
2. Poe
3. Tarbaby
4. Cawrona (sorry; we like a good pun…)
5. Br’er Crow

To make this fun and raise a little money for LWR, we’re gonna do a sort of mini-fundraiser: Name That Crow. Here’s how it’ll work:

1. From now till the end of the month, y’all can make donations and LIST YOUR FAVORITE NAME with the donation. Donations can be via PayPal or mailed check; PayPal links are on each page of the website, and mailing info is under the “Contact us” tab.
2. The name that receives the highest amount in TOTAL donations by July 31 will become the crow’s name.

Let the naming begin!
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Obviously the crow wasn’t the only intake of the week. Monday an adult little green heron came in with a nasty wing fracture that required euthanasia.

​Midweek, a brancher Mississippi kite arrived, the first young MIKI of the season. This is about the time of year for them to start showing up in rehab, so I was expecting a nestling-to-juvie MIKI or two any day now when this mouthy little fellow arrived.

An adult great horned owl arrived via Animal Control from a neighboring county and died within hours of intake. He was bleeding from a minor wing wound on arrival, and it smelled infected although the blood was fresh. Unfortunately, it appeared he was the victim of rodenticide poisoning. Nothing I did stopped the bleeding. Every time I thought I had it under control he’d move and it would start again. He literally bled out as I tried to staunch the bleeding. Not a pleasant experience, and that’s probably the understatement of the year.
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Friday a juvie little green heron came in with a swollen elbow. Even though it was a Friday afternoon and Smalley’s was bustin’ butt, they managed to squeeze me in for x-rays on the little fellow. Nothing was broken but the elbow looked as if it might’ve callused over from a small fracture earlier. I stopped by my cousin’s bait and tackle store and got a bucket of minnows for the bird and headed home. Once in his box he perched on the side of the bucket, snagged a few minnows, and seemed fine. The next morning he was dead. Not a clue as to why. If I had to guess, I’d say there was some underlying systemic issue. We’ll never know for sure.

An adult barred owl also came in Friday, from a vet clinic in a neighboring county. The vet there did x-rays and showed them to me on her cell phone; it looked as if his hip was fractured. Ultimately, it was a non-issue, as he died overnight. I’m guessing hit-by-car and internal injuries.
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Yesterday, a nestling barn owl arrived—the third barnie this year. He’s alert and vocal—I use earplugs to handle him to change his paper or feed him. Again, because Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends already has three barnies now, this little one will go to Steve next week to be with his ever-growing “collection” of barnies. I feel kinda bad; it’s been a bit one-sided this year: I’ve sent Steve two, soon to be three, barnies and he’s only sent me the one Coop. Usually we’re a bit more even in our “trades.”

The screeches were soft-released late in the week and promptly vanished. Soft release gives them the option of leaving or not and hanging around should they want handouts to supplement their hunting.  Screeches, being T. rexes in their minds, don’t need no stinkin’ help. When they leave, they leave!
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A soft release means no release videos and no post-release photos, so here are the last photos and videos I took of them pre-release.

 ​With the mini-pen empty, the Coop got moved outside. Typical uncooperative, psychotic Coop, he lunges off the perch to the ground every time I go in to feed him, so the photo below is the best I’ve managed thus far. (And no, those aren't his feathers. I seldom remove the odd stray feathers from the various birds that've been in the mini-pen. Gives each new resident something to play with.)

​The barred owl is maturing nicely and should be releasable soon.

​And the red tail still favors his right wing, although nothing is broken. He apparently has some soft tissue damage that needs a bit more time to heal. He’s also going through a molt and has several more red tail feathers, although you can’t see them in the full-body photo.

Just because there was no update the weekend of the Fourth doesn’t mean nothing was happening at LWR, although it was a mercifully slow couple of weeks.
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The bluebird trio, both blue jays, Eastern phoebe and both mourning doves were released; the bluebirds, having been so close to fledging when they came in, wasted no time “getting shed” of human contact. The jays, surprisingly, stopped coming down fairly quickly too, although I can still hear them around the yard. The phoebe and doves also are around but not coming down for handouts. I managed post-release photos of a couple of them.

​An adult turkey vulture came in with no apparent injuries; after observation he was released. Not a great photo but he didn’t hang around to pose.

​A juvenile barn swallow dropped off by the public at Smalley’s wasn’t as fortunate; his right wing had an open fracture. He was euthanized.

​The Coop is maturing beautifully and is totally self-feeding; he’ll go into whichever flight opens up first.

​A slightly older Coop came in June 29 with a mild concussion and some minor eye swelling. After a couple of days to get over his headache, he was released. Yeah, see that tiny moving blur in the video? He didn’t hang around for post-release photos.

​The barred owl, after a three-day hunger strike, finally started eating like he should. It’s not unusual for raptors to refuse food for several days after being moved into an outdoor pen: new environment leads to stress. This is why we make sure they’re well-fed before a release, as they may go several days in the wild before snagging prey. He’s looking good and eating well now, though.

​On the Fourth a second-year male red tail came in, rail thin and with a nasty case of frounce. Luckily, we caught it in time and within 24 hours of his first treatment he was already self-feeding. Now his only problem is that I have no elephants to feed him. Honestly, his appetite is VASTLY out of proportion to his size; he’s a small male—like female red shoulder-size.

​Saturday a couple saw a cattle egret fly into a power line and immediately retrieved the injured bird and brought it to LWR. Unfortunately, the left wing was shattered. The bird was euthanized.

​The screeches continue to entertain me when I place their food in the min-pen or freshen their water. So much attitude in such a tiny package!

Last week was a frenetic few days, with five intakes all in one day and 13 total for the week…in addition to the 12 already in care. LWR is about officially at capacity, even with releases and euthanasias balancing out the number.

Where to begin? Although he came in mid-week, let’s start with the adult Mississippi kite (MIKI) who was found in the middle of a four-lane road on Wednesday. Two cars stopped to check on him, and the ladies in one car and gentleman in the other worked together to box the bird and get him to LWR, where—to my great delight—he appeared only stunned. Y’all have to understand that adult MIKIs seldom come into rehab with even fixable injuries, much less totally uninjured.
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He was bouncing off the walls by Thursday afternoon, so I released him and he took off across the hayfield in short order. Gorgeous!

​Another mild head trauma case came in Tuesday, an adult barred owl. By today he was also ready to go and was released. Got video of his release but no post-release photos.

​Also on Tuesday a second nestling Coop arrived, a transfer from Bubba & Friends raptor rehab. He’s considerably younger than the first Coop who arrived a couple of weeks ago but is already self-feeding.

​The first Coop was released today after passing his live prey test. I didn’t manage video but he did pause long enough for one really good post-release shot.

​A nestling what-I-thought-was-a-phoebe came in Tuesday, as well, but as he matured, feathers came in and he started vocalizing, he’s looking and sounding more like great crested flycatcher—although he’s very small for a great crested. He was found sopping wet on the ground after a storm, and he’s still struggling from the aftereffects of that, I think.

​And a way-too-friendly fledgling blue jay came in Tuesday, after his finder reported he followed her around her yard for several hours and even came on her porch, begging for food. When he arrived he was less than half the weight of my somewhat younger other pair of jays, leading me to believe he’d been raised illegally on a crap diet and had MBD (metabolic bone disease) from a calcium-poor diet. He didn’t last 24 hours, poor baby.

Y’all, THIS is why it’s important to have the proper training and permits to work with ANY wildlife. There’s a helluva lot more to raising a wild bird than just feeding it some crap recommended by some fool on the Internet. In addition to a getting proper diet while it’s maturing, the bird must learn to self-feed on the diet it would find in the wild, have properly waterproofed feathers, build its flight muscles, etc. These wannabes who feed their egos by breaking the law and consigning the birds they screw up to death infuriate me.

Another brown thrasher arrived Tuesday, also—cat-attacked. He came in Tuesday night and though I started meds on intake, he didn’t survive the night.
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In addition to the aforementioned MIKI, an adult great horned owl came in Wednesday. He was found in a ditch in a neighboring county and looked quite rough on intake, although nothing was broken and he showed no signs of frounce. Sadly, his condition deteriorated over the next few days, to the point he couldn’t even grip a perch. He was humanely euthanized.

​A red shoulder who arrived Wednesday also required euthanasia, as his right wing and leg were broken at the joint and his right eye was swollen shut. The eye we could’ve worked with; the joint fractures weren’t fixable.

​Friday people cut down a snag without checking first for nests and destroyed the home of three pre-fledgling bluebirds. Another 48 hours and they’d’ve been out of the nest—the first “fledged” from his box at LWR this afternoon. They’re not happy campers, bless their sweet little hearts, and I can’t blame them.

Also Friday, a nestling barn owl arrived after being found with dead siblings in a toppled deer stand. Since Bubba & Friends has two barnies currently, this leather-lunged little rascal will be headed to form a trio tomorrow.

​In news of ongoing guests at LWR, the brown thrashers and grackle were released.

​I tried the blue jays in the mini-pen and they were none too pleased so they’re back inside for the moment.

​The mourning doves are also less than pleased with me at the moment, as I’ve cut back on their feedings to encourage self-feeding. They scatter the seed like pros but actually EAT it? Hah!

​The barred owl is now in the raptor flight; he’s only a brancher but he needed room to stretch his wings.

​And since the blue jays hated the mini-pen it was freed up for the screeches, who had me in stitches at their expressions in their new digs.

​There will be no update next Sunday—just a heads-up this week.

Yeah, so last Sunday I blithely announced just how the fruit basket turnover would go as birds were released and moved around, and of course, none of it panned out the way I’d intended, so nobody’s where I’d planned—aside from the releases, that is. Typical…
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Before getting to the releases, last week was loosely bookended with the arrivals of two blue jays. Wednesday’s jay was a true nestling and adorable as only baby jays can be.

​Friday’s jay was *thisfar* from fledging—if he’d been able to stay nested for another couple of days he could have properly fledged. However, he and the younger jay have bonded nicely—young jays are neat in that respect—and are doing beautifully together.

​The only other new intake, early in the week, was a young female sharpie who apparently just had some minor head trauma; she was released Saturday, along with the red tail and both red shoulders.

​No video of the red shoulder releases; they were in the same box and shot out in different directions. But I did track them down by listening to the nuthatches in the woods raising Cain, so I managed a couple of photos of them post-release.

​The red tail didn’t hang around for post-release photos; I barely managed the video of his release.

​The plan last Sunday was to move the screeches into the mini-pen once the red tail was released; the brown thrashers, grackle and flicker needed to be outside sooner, though. The flicker self-released, not ideal but always a risk using a pen not really designed for songbirds while the songbird flight remains out of commission. The other three are more content to keep the handouts going.

​So the screeches went into a slightly larger box for another week or so, bless their impatient little hearts.

​The mourning doves, as I predicted last Sunday, aren’t even recognizable as the same little “cactus fuzz” babies! They’re starting to flap those wings in the nest, too.

​The Coop with the black eye is self-feeding entirely now, whole mice, and in the raptor flight as of today. I’d really planned to hold off and place him in the mini-pen after the screeches but he’s a Coop. He was literally bouncing off the walls of his box, so…

​And the original plan was for the barred owl to go in the raptor flight, rather than the Coop, but the barred refuses to eat whole mice. As long as they have to be cut up, they’ll attract ants too quickly in the raptor flight, so…picky eaters have to stay inside a while longer. But look at how this baby has grown!

You know, wildlife rehabbers emphasize over and over the importance of getting orphaned, injured or ill wildlife to us ASAP. Last week LWR had a prime example of exactly why this is so important.

Monday a caller reported having found a downed baby red tail, probably unnested in Sunday night’s storms. Wrong time of year for red tails to be nesting, so I suspected late-breeding red shoulders. When she arrived with the bird it was a nestling Cooper’s hawk.  Oh joy…if any hawk makes a rehabber cringe, it’s a pissy, psychotic Coop—and yeah, the babies are just as bad as the adults.
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ANYway…his intake exam revealed a beauty of a shiner on his left eye and some bruising under his left wing, both most likely sustained when he fell from the nest. Aside from that, he was textbook Coop. And because his finder had sought help immediately, he suffered no lasting damage or nutritional deficiencies. Today he’s started attempting to feed himself, to this rehabber’s delight. Fighting with a Coop to get him fed ain’t on my Top 10 list of favorite things to do!

And then we have nestling Coop 2. Coop 2 came in Friday. The urgency of the call suggested the caller had just found the bird, but when he arrived he said he’d had the poor nestling Cooper’s hawk a WEEK, feeding it CATFISH  and CHICKEN—and based on the dark green in his poop, not a lot of that. And as for the poop, it was CAKED to his butt and his cloaca (his rectum) was red and swollen from sitting in his own waste for a week—he had a pelvic fracture and was unable to stand at all. So for a week this bird sat in a chainsmoker’s house (his car reeked when I retrieved the bird), being fed too little of an inappropriate diet and sitting in his own waste—and the finder admitted this isn’t the first time he and his wife have screwed over our native wildlife, because they “just looove nature” and are “real animal lovers.” (And yes, they’ve been reported.)

Initially, I’d planned to euthanize as soon as the poor bird had experienced a couple of decent meals comprised of proper food. But he went from feet dangling uselessly to at least tucking them against his body when I picked him up to feed him. And consultations with Kathryn Dudeck of Chattahoochee Nature Center and Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends Raptor Rehab led us all to the conclusion that maybe giving him the weekend wasn’t a bad idea—and he seemed to be making promising progress: After he’d been soaked in warm water to remove as much of the caked-on poop as possible, he was flaring and spreading his tail feathers. Saturday morning he’d sliced (pooped) a wee bit outside the nest, cast a small pellet, and was moving his tail feathers more. And the swelling and redness in his cloaca had diminished considerably after just one night in a clean nest. Another soak Saturday night removed even more of the caked-on waste, and there was slightly more motion in his legs this morning. Sadly, a week of crap nutrition was more than his little body could take, and he died sometime after his first feeding this morning. He was sprawled in his nest when I went in to give him his second feeding.

Could his fractured pelvis have been treated when it was a fresh fracture? We’ll never know now. In a young bird whose body is still growing, a week of improper caging, diet and nesting is an eternity of improper healing and malnutrition, as well. Pelvic fractures can frequently be successfully treated. This poor fellow had no chance, though, because some fool decided it would be fun to try and raise an injured baby with no clue what he was doing.

​Also on Monday, a nestling grackle came in, another storm victim. Young grackles aren’t especially attractive and their call is harsh and demanding. But their personalities are so endearing it’s impossible not to love ‘em. I’ve seen them called the “poor man’s crow” but they’re not corvids; they're icterids--in the blackbird family. Adults have long, slender bodies, dark iridescent feathers and striking yellow eyes—it’s an utterly gorgeous combination. But their poor voice never changes! This little fellow has matured rapidly over the past week and is ready for new digs with a perch.

​And Monday also saw the arrival of a pre-fledgling flicker, thoroughly stressed from being unnested when the tree his nest cavity was in was felled. Flickers are in the woodpecker family but the feather pattern and coloration on young flickers is noticeably different from either young red-bellied or red-headed woodpeckers. Stress isn’t an issue now, as he calls loudly if I’m two minutes late feeding him!

​Thursday two nestling mourning doves were found on the ground after a storm—it was a week of hit-and-miss storms throughout Georgia. They’re growing nicely; by next week you won’t recognize them as the same birds!

​An impossibly tiny pre-fledgling blue-gray gnatcatcher also arrived Thursday, weak and lethargic from an extended period without food before she was found. She rallied with warmth and appropriate food and I thought the danger was past, but she died overnight Friday.

​Thursday night a caller reported an unnested brown thrasher and was willing to bring it immediately, even though it was after 10 pm. He was placed with the surviving of the two cat-attacked thrashers, and both are thriving.

​The barred owl is now self-feeding and testing his wings.

The red tail will be released as soon as we have three consecutive days of low/no rain chances—this gives released birds time to acclimate to their new surroundings before experiencing any inclement weather.

​The red shoulders are also rarin’ to go.

​And the screeches will go into the mini pen as soon as the red tail’s released. And yeah, they do make just that big a mess in their box overnight…

And I obviously got to see a really neat bird last week—an anhinga! In twenty years I’ve only had one other anhinga, an adult male. This one was either a juvenile or an adult female—their coloration is the same. I’m leaning toward juvie, as this guy wasn’t nearly as aggressive as the only other one I’ve seen.

Friday evening one of the local game wardens called with the anhinga—also called water turkey for their turkeylike tail feathers or snake bird due to their unique method of swimming with their bodies submerged and only their head and neck above water.

This anhinga had a fish hook embedded in his neck. Initially I thought the game warden and I could probably handle it but it was embedded too deeply, so I called vet Jim Hobby of Smalley’s after hours to give him a heads-up I’d be bringing the bird in Monday, as Smalley’s is closed on the weekend. Jim, God love him, told me to bring the bird by Saturday morning while they were feeding and medicating the animals at the clinic. It took him less than five minutes to remove the hook—skill is everything!

While the anhinga ate the fish I force-fed him, he was not thrilled at the method of delivery and refused to eat the live fish from a deep dish of water. They’re more diving birds—and those beaks have sharp edges in addition to that pointed end. I sliced my fingers through gloves at every feeding—it was like rubbing a razor blade.
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So given that I’d medicated the entry and exit sites for the hook for a couple of days, I decided today to release him. Sorry the for the quality of the video; my “real” camera froze—wouldn’t zoom, wouldn’t start recording, wouldn’t take photos, wouldn’t turn off—so thank God for cell phones, even if it is a really awful digitally zoomed video—at least you can see how anhingas earned the nickname snake bird!

The anhinga bookended a week that started with a nestling barred owl who’d been found May 29 and fed NOTHING until June 1, when he was fed “a few worms and 10 crickets.” Yeah. Some cretin kept a BABY owl all weekend and fed it NOTHING until Monday morning, and it was Monday EVENING before the bird arrived at LWR.

Angry doesn’t come remotely close to describing me at that moment. The poor bird was begging for food and so hungry he was trying to eat my fingers. I couldn’t slice up his mice fast enough—and he inhaled them like the starving baby he was.

For the record, if you wouldn’t let a human child go an entire weekend with no food, what the hell makes you think it’s okay to let a baby raptor go hungry all weekend? I won’t even get started on that rant again; I’m furious all over again just thinking about it.
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The sweet little fellow is doing well, despite his harrowing weekend. He’s alert, when he’s awake, and eating very well. Below are some shots of him, and a short video of him sleeping. Baby owls face-plant to sleep—they literally fall face forward, legs outstretched, and sleep. It’s adorable.

​Friday and Saturday saw two cat-attacked brown thrasher fledglings come in, from two different counties. Both are doing well and on meds. Friday’s bird has some nerve damage to his right leg; Saturday’s has a neck wound.

​An adult barred owl also arrived Saturday, emaciated and lethargic. Nothing was broken but his left eye was totally trashed, and it was an old wound. Normally an owl with only one good eye will still be able to hunt and survive, as they hunt primarily by hearing rather than sight. Apparently this poor bird never adapted to having only one good eye. I’d planned to euthanize but he died quietly before I could.

​The blue jay I thought I might have to evict from the mini-pen decided to leave on his own and is, of course, still screaming down for handouts. I love blue jays; they’re such intelligent clowns.

​The red shoulder juvies are in the raptor flight and doing well. As soon as they pass their live prey test, they’ll be releasable.

​The red tail is in the mini-pen and intimating he’s ready to go. I disagree; he needs another week to ten days. I have opposable thumbs and can work the lock; he doesn’t and can't. He’s staying another 7-10 days.

​The juvie barred owl from last Sunday’s update not only has the wing fracture to deal with; he also has some vision issues and he’s still really loopy. Head trauma can take a while to fully resolve. We’ll see how this plays out.

​And the screeches would very much like their turn in the mini-pen, which should come soon. They’re getting antsy!

Nope, no joke—another bald eagle arrived at LWR early in the week, leading your intrepid rehabber to come close to a nervous breakdown: “What the…? Not another one! I’m only supposed to see an eagle every couple of years or so!”

This was a mature adult male, banded, severely underweight, lethargic and with a scabbed right wing and massively swollen and obviously broken right leg. Cue more panic: I was unsure the bird would even survive the night, as he arrived from Bulloch County after Smalley’s had closed for the day and was all but comatose by nightfall, leading to a series of panicked texts to state and federal officials. Eagles still have a lot of regulations surrounding them that “regular” raptors don’t.

He did survive, however, and x-rays at Smalley’s showed an old, healed wing fracture and a massively displaced tibiotarsal fracture. The scabs on the wing were from using it as a crutch. This bird was also headed to Auburn.
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Now, to back up a bit, yes, he was banded but the bander had not reported using this band yet, so we still have no idea as to age, where he was banded, etc. Given his recognition of feeding forceps and willingness to accept food from them, I’d guess he was in rehab for quite a while somewhere, and that’s probably where he was banded, as well. The link to his patient profile at Auburn is https://w2.vetmed.auburn.edu/rm1/html/2020-134.html. 

Y'all enjoy that video; it's probably the first and last time you'll ever see an adult bald eagle willingly accept food from feeding forceps!

The same day the eagle arrived, a juvenile red-bellied woodpecker came in after having hit a window as he fell from a tree. There was something neurological going on with the bird, possibly as a result of his fall, and he began having seizures and died within hours of intake.

​The day the eagle went in for x-rays, DNR delivered a juvenile barred owl to me at Smalley’s, which was a good thing—the poor fellow has a wing fracture but it should heal for flight. More worrisome was his dazed demeanor, which lasted for about 48 hours after intake. He had obviously suffered some sort of head trauma. He’s still, even now, a bit loopy acting, but he’s eating so I can handle loopy and eating.

​And a nestling blue jay who fell from his nest came in that night with massive belly bruising. I hoped it was only bruising and not internal bleeding, but he died overnight, without ever fully regaining consciousness, the poor baby.

​Two days later a game warden brought a juvenile barn owl to LWR, after his sib was killed by a dog and the surviving bird took flight—with no real skills or experience at flying yet—and soared over a pond, only to drop like a rock into said pond. According to the game warden, two 14-year-old boys dove into the pond to rescue the barnie. Well done, young men! This guy is well-fleshed and not a happy camper, not at all. Again, however, as with the barred, he’s eating, and eating well. Since Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends currently has a barnie, slightly older and already in a flight pen, this barnie will be joining Steve’s later in the week.

​Hot on his heels, an adult male red tail came in after I think everyone in his neighborhood called or texted about him being down. He has no obvious wing fractures, can spread both wings equally, but cannot get lift—classic coracoid fracture symptoms. He just needs time and a safe place to heal.

​Saturday an adult red-headed woodpecker came in after he was seen falling from a tree. Nothing broken, seemed alert, well-fleshed—should’ve been an easy rehab. But he died overnight. Not a clue what was going on.

In news of older rehabs, the blue jay is currently in the mini-pen and may need eviction, as he seems quite content to remain there indefinitely. It’s a jay thing—I’ve had jays I rehabbed the previous year sit in the tree and give me a somewhat shamefaced begging call and wing shimmy, like it’s worth a try; maybe she’ll still feed me a year later. 

​The two bluebirds spent very little time in the mini-pen before deciding they’d rather join all the other juvenile bluebirds hanging around the yard. They’ve almost stopped coming down for supplemental feedings, too, following the lead of the older, previously released juvies. I didn’t even manage a photo of them in the mini-pen, just these from several days before they went into it.

​The two red shoulders still inside have been moved to slightly bigger digs; they need to show me they can eat their food without it being sliced and diced before they can go into the raptor flight.

​The wood ducks were released and seemed quite content with their newfound freedom.

​The two red shoulders in the raptor flight passed their live prey test with flying colors and were also released. They both flew out of the box at the same time and in different directions, so I was only able to get one on video.

​This hummer arrived today after being cat-attacked. Honestly, she looks quite rough and that right wing doesn’t look promising, but she’s on antibiotics and we’ll see how things play out…

​And the screeches continue to grow apace. And get cuter daily. Screeches just ooze personality. All of it bad. Which is probably why I love them so much!

It’s nonstop full throttle at LWR these days, hence the even later than usual update today. I mean tonight. Whatever. It all starts running together...

Let’s lead with the older two red shoulders, who’re in the raptor flight now and liking it quite well, thanks.

​Red shoulder #3, a nestling, came in Monday and was joined just an hour or so ago by red shoulder #4, an older fledgling but painfully thin. Number 3 ain’t real happy to be rooming with #4 overnight but, to adjust a phrase from my childhood to deal with birds rather than humans, he can just get glad in the same feathers he got mad in. Space is at a premium around here these days!

​Late last Sunday night a fledgling brown thrasher came in having seizures; he didn’t survive the night.

​Tuesday another nestling bluebird came in, this one found in a barn with no nest in sight. He looks to be male; his feathers are slightly brighter in certain lights than the little female’s. She’s a bit older than he is, and he's a bit on the timid side.

Wednesday an as-yet unidentified hatchling came in, found on the ground with a dead sib. As you can see, he’s pretty tiny. Beak kinda makes me think phoebe but voice doesn’t sound like a phoebe. We’ll see; the feathers are starting to come in nicely…

​And later that day an adult female cardinal came in with a swollen left wing. She was alert Thursday and eating well but died sometime Thursday night.

​Thursday an adult barred owl came in with an open wing fracture; there was nothing to do but humanely euthanize.

Friday a fledgling robin came in with a leg fracture and some other underlying issue(s); he died within 2 hours of intake, which I honestly wasn’t expecting, as he was alert and eating well.

Today a barred owl came in with a massively trashed wing after getting hung in the ropes of someone’s tire swing. The broken feathers, raw flesh and maggot eggs were all “fixable” issues; the wing fracture right in the joint was not. He was euthanized humanely.

No new photos of the barn swallow, who will be released as soon as rain chances drop; right now we have a spate of high rain chances over the coming days.

The wood ducklings are fast approaching release size—and not a moment too soon, honestly. They’re getting too big for the limited space I have available at the moment. No new photos or video of them; the focus kept struggling on the video for some reason.

The blue jay with the leg injury and busted hip surprised me by perching late in the week. I honestly wasn’t sure he’d be able to perch, given that hip, but he’s perching like a pro and flying some, too. And, of course, I adore him…Y'all know how I am about my corvids!

​The screeches are growing too fast; they’re still half-down and half-feathers but they’re starting to test those wings and are now eating mice halves rather than mouse “cutlets.” Won’t be long now before they’re ready for the mini-pen, which is an ideal size for screeches.

​And we met the $1000 goal in the fundraiser, so thanks to all who donated!