This week in wildlife

That time of year…

6/29/2025

It’s that time of year, when the appetites of the birds under care mean new mouse orders every couple of weeks…. And that, of course, means a mid-year fundraiser. Our goal is $1500. We’re doing this low-key, through the LWR website’s PayPal links, basically because every fundraising platform out there takes its “fair share” of donations, cutting into the mouse money y’all donate. PayPal also takes a cut, of course, but their nonprofit rate is low enough to be tolerable. So…$1500 by the end of July? I think it’s doable, with y’all’s help!

As is usual this time of year, our week-long low-to-no rain chances last Sunday changed by the end of the day, and boy, am I glad we didn’t release anything banking on those original forecasts! Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, we had massive, sideways-raining, house-shaking, blinding-lightning thunderstorms that knocked the power out from 12:30AM to 8AM. We ended up with about 2-2.5 inches of rain.

So of course, the antsy red tail gal is still “antsying” in the flight, inciting similar behavior in the younger juvie and exasperating the nonreleasable to no end. The nonreleasable made her vet visit last week to get the certification we needed for Elachee to begin their paperwork to acquire her as an ed bird.

The turkey vultures are growing like weeds; they’re at that awkward half-down, half-feather stage that makes them truly funny to look at—and hissing and growling nonstop at me and each other. This morning they fought over ONE piece of food…with a dish full sitting in front of ‘em. Apparently that one piece was the best of the lot…

The red shoulder whose nest was destroyed has modified his behavior somewhat. Apparently he realized it’s not a good idea to foot the hand that feeds you! He stubbornly refuses to eat whole mice, though—still has to have them cut up like he’s a nestling. That’s gonna have to end; he needs to be eating like a young adult bird now.

He was joined at LWR last week by a Mississippi kite (MIKI) brancher from Toombs County. He’d been unnested in a storm, and the game warden who picked him up searched the area but couldn’t locate the nest. As is the case with all MIKIs, he’s just a gorgeous little fellow who likes to “pip-pew” stridently while his food is being prepared. I mean, he hasn’t eaten in at LEAST 15 years, to hear him tell it…

And after our midweek storm here in Laurens County, a power company lineman found a grounded juvenile male barn owl and called 911, who gave him LWR’s phone number. Instead of calling LWR, he took the bird to the Dublin police department, who coordinated with the Laurens County sheriff’s office to get the bird to LWR. He’s been a bit loopy since his arrival but finally started eating last night, so…fingers crossed. Barnies can be stressy, stressy birds. But so far he’s not been a “screamy-screamy” bird. Just y’all wait—the day I forget earplugs, he’ll cut loose and scream like a banshee, and my brain will try to crawl out my ears to escape the noise!

There will be no update next Sunday, July 6. Y’all enjoy y'all's Independence Day and long weekend!

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RELEASES! FINALLY!

6/22/2025

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And now we could use rain again—what’d I tell y’all last Sunday about that?

But last week was blessedly rain-free, and LWR was able to release SIX birds! I’m not sure who was happier: them, me, or the birds that ended up in bigger digs as a result of releases.

Let’s start with four of those glorious (okay, some were a little klutzy…) releases: the adult red shoulder and the barred trio. (One of the barred videos recorded sideways; I found an online site that rotated it for free but watermarked it unless I purchased their full services. Free is good. I can live with their watermark.)

This emptied the mini-pen for the red shoulder sibs, but by week’s end they were flying at the door and coming close to self-release every time they were fed. Having passed live prey testing, they were good to go, although I’d’ve preferred a little longer time in the mini-pen. But the turkey vultures also needed more space, so…compromises are sometimes necessary. The red shoulder sibs were released yesterday.

So now the turkey vultures are in the mini-pen, where they’ll remain till they’re fully feathered.

The remaining red shoulder brancher, the one from last week’s update whose nest was destroyed by an unknown predator, has morphed from traumatized baby to footy little rascal. I have to put on a handling glove just to put his food in his box!

The nonreleasable red tail will go in for a vet visit to confirm her nonreleasable status this week, after which the paperwork will be set in motion to place her at Elachee Nature Center in Gainesville, GA.

The vocal juvie is flying like a champ now and should be releasable within the week. I kinda hate to see her go; she’s a delight to watch. But she was well-fleshed when she came in, so we know she can fend for herself in the wild.

And the youngest red tail is part of the reason I hate to release Miss Vocal. I feel like he’s learning more from watching her, fresh from the wild, than he will from the nonreleasable, who’s been at LWR since the end of January.

We’ll see; she may need to hang around a while longer, till Little Feller is ready for release, too.

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Still in a holding pattern

6/15/2025

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The good news is it appears we may have several days of low-to-no rain chances beginning Monday, so maybe—just maybe—we can get some birds released and others moved around this week. Y’all keep those fingers crossed!

Only one new intake last week—a late nestling/early brancher red shoulder from Pulaski County. The couple who brought him had watched the nest in their yard from the very beginning and had been enjoying seeing the babies grow. Sadly, they came in from work one evening last week to find the nest destroyed and were able to locate only the one surviving baby in the brush nearby.

He was understandably traumatized and still hunkers down in fear when I put his food in his box, but he is at least self-feeding, so that’s one less source of stress for the poor fellow—no handling for hand-feeding.

The mature red shoulder will be the first in line for release this week if the weather cooperates. He’s SOOOO ready to go.

And the weather-contingent plan is to release the barred trio so the juvie red shoulder duo from earlier in baby season can go into the mini-pen. They’re about to go stir-crazy, poor things.

The barreds have indicated they’re quite ready to be free, so let’s hope, after two weeks of rain delays, we can finally give them their release.

The turkey vultures are growing and feathering out like nobody’s business. Soon they’re gonna need more space, too—already do, if I’m being honest.

And all three red tails are tolerating each other nicely in the main flight. The youngest, the one I thought was female, now looks like a small male in comparison to the other two. The now-second-year bird is going through a molt and has at least one red tail feather coming in; we’re still waiting to see if placement is an option since he’s nonreleasable. The vocal probable female who was new to last week’s update is flying beautifully. She apparently thinks she has to sing for her supper, as she does a beautiful although subdued red tail cry at every feeding—see last Sunday’s update for the best example of that. It rained too dang much last week to try for any video.

(And a month from now, when it’s bone-dry and hotter’n a firecracker on the Fourth of July, we’ll all be wishing it’d rain…)

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The best-laid plans, part the I-lost-count

6/8/2025

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All those plans for release and rearrangement I bandied about last Sunday? Yeah, they were based on Sunday’s week-long forecast showing no rain chances. HAH! It rained or there was a substantial chance of rain nearly every day last week, so needless to say nobody got released and there was minimal rearranging of LWR’s guests. And this week’s forecast is showing high chances of rain nearly every day. I need three days of low or no rain chances to release any birds, and I can’t do much rearranging without some releasing, so we’re spinning our wheels here.

LWR had just one new intake last week, a gorgeous juvenile red tail from Upson County who was observed having difficulty flying—according to witnesses, he could fly only a short distance and not over three feet above ground. Sounded like a classic coracoid fracture to me, and those frequently can’t be seen on x-rays. The good news is that coracoid fractures usually heal with no issues, so this vocal and quite gorgeous fellow just needs time.

The female brancher is totally self-feeding now and is sporting a bit of a Mohawk as her head feathers continue to come in.

And the older red tail still shows no signs of flight but there is a facility interested in him as a program or display bird. We’re still working out the details.

Meanwhile, to ease space constraints, the two older red tails are currently being housed together in the main flight. Given that they’re all passage birds, the plan is to move the female outside soon, too—gives the poor first-year fellow time to adjust. The juvie already continuously screams for food from the nonreleasable red tail, who glares at ME when I’m in the flight, as if to say, “What in tarnation have you saddled me with here?”

Sadly, the preemie red shoulder didn’t make it. He seemed to be doing so well, aside from those weak eyes I mentioned last week, and then, out of nowhere, he began vomiting blood and was dead within two hours. Given that it was old blood, not fresh, I suspect there was a small internal injury when the egg fell and was forced into premature hatching, and as he began to grow, the bleeding increased correspondingly.

The baby turkey vultures, on the other hand, are doing quite well and their stubby wings are starting to pin out. They’re less clownish and more aggressive than black vultures at the same age.

The concussed adult red shoulder from last week, bless his poor heart, is still at LWR since the rain precluded any releases. He’s not happy but he is eating well.

The fledgling red shoulders –which is what they’d be by now in the wild—are ready for a flight pen but both flights are full. They’re antsy and vocal.

And the barreds are actually ready for release. As much as I’d prefer they have some flight experience in the main flight, space constraints may mean they’ll be released from the mini-pen. We shall see. As I said last week, it’s that time of year when space is at a premium—and the weather leaves birds cooling their heels and me wanting to pull my hair out!

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Baby season is in full swing

6/1/2025

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Last week saw three new baby intakes and one adult intake.

Starting with undoubtedly the cutest of the babies, we have a hatchling red shoulder. A local falconer got a call from an acquaintance in Twiggs County who’d cut down a tree without realizing it had a red shoulder nest in it—and while I usually rant about cutting trees during baby season, 9 months after Helene, people are still trying to clean up trees, some of which aren’t uprooted but are leaning dangerously, in their yards/on their properties. So I’ll forgo any rants due to mitigating circumstances.

ANYway…the nest had two eggs in it; the impact from the fall caused both to hatch prematurely. One was close enough to hatching that it survived; the other wasn’t and didn’t. Its membrane was ruptured and despite the falconer’s best efforts to keep it alive until the next morning, when he could bring them to me, it didn’t survive the night.

However, the surviving preemie is doing quite well and, of course, as all raptor hatchlings are (okay, maybe not barnie babies—they’re faces only a mother could love!), is impossibly adorable. He’s at 36.4g as of today and has an amazing appetite for such a teeny little feller. His eyes seem a little weak looking to me, but I could just be paranoid.

The other two babies are a first for me—turkey vultures. If you’ll notice, their down is white, while black vulture down is yellow. They’re also more prone to stress puke, effortlessly and without warning, so I’m moving veeeerrry slowly and talking veeeerrry quietly and only when necessary around them. So far, so good—they’re now only “growling” at me before, during and after feedings—normal for both species of vultures but each species has a different tone to its “growl.”

Their back story is interesting, as well: a Laurens County deputy knew he had a female turkey vulture nesting in a barn on his property; she had nested there for several years and had become somewhat acclimated to his coming and going from the barn. He knew she had babies, but then she abruptly disappeared and he found only a pile of feathers and the babies had moved from where she had them and were cowering in a corner 10 feet away. After bringing them to LWR, he continued to search for the mother for a couple of days, with no luck.

Honestly, I don’t think they’re as cute as black vultures but these two have a hilarious habit of stomping their feet hard while being fed—I’m still not sure if it’s an attempt to hurry up the feeding or an attempt to intimidate the feeder. If the latter, it ain’t workin’!

The red shoulder twins really need to be in the mini-pen; the goal is to get them outside this week. They’re self-feeding now, so they’re good to go in an outside flight.

That will mean the barred triplets will be moved to the main flight. They’re flying well in the mini-pen and need more space.

This will, of course, mean that the red tail currently in the main flight will either be released or euthanized—I’m still trying to give him time to show me he can fly, but so far, nada. Maybe he’s flying when I’m not around the flight, but I don’t think so. I hope I’m wrong.

The brancher red tail just today started limited self-feeding, but she’s flapping those wings a good bit now, so she’ll be needing an outside pen before long. This time of year it’s always a constant juggling act: move this one here, move that one there, bigger box for this one, release that one, find space for a new intake…

The broadie I was worried would die from handling stress did, in fact, check out last Sunday afternoon, poor fellow.

And about an hour ago an adult red shoulder came in from Screven County. The finder saw him late yesterday in the middle of the road and stopped to pick him up. Nothing appears to be broken but he’s obviously concussed and a little on the thin side, so he’ll spend a few days at the LWR B&B.

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Incoming!

5/25/2025

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Multiple “incomings,” actually—last week was bookended with intakes. It’s that time of year!

On Monday, a gorgeous little broad-wing hawk came in from Treutlen County after being found by the roadside. I see so few broadies and this one was so small that I actually had to ask colleague Kathryn Dudeck at CNC to confirm that was what I had. He’s quite melodramatic, as y’all can clearly see below. He has what my vets and I call ADR—ain’t doin’ right. Nothing’s broken; his throat, nares and eyes are clear…but he refuses to self-feed, not mice or coturnix quail. Figuring he might just be ready for release after a few days of force-feedings—which are incredibly stressful for an adult bird—I tried to release him Friday. He sat on the glove. I turned my hand up and down and sideways. He sat on the glove. I raised and lowered my arm. He sat on the glove. I walked around. He sat on the glove. I lowered my hand to my side. He clung to the glove. Needless to say, we did not manage a release, but I worry that the stress of force-feeding could result in his death, so we’ll keep trying.

The broadie was followed, also on Monday, by a red shoulder who’d been rescued from an attack by another hawk in Bleckley County. His rescuer drove off the attacking hawk and called a friend who transports for Georgia Wildlife Network, a statewide volunteer transport group. She retrieved the bird and got it to LWR ASAP. He’d had the crap beaten out of him, poor baby; his head was plucked nearly bald and both eyes were swollen shut. I had little hope he’d survive the night, but he was standing with his head tucked Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, by that afternoon, he’d died, most likely from internal injuries.

On Friday, a falconer from Coffee County called; a neighbor was clearcutting some property and one of the trees they cut down had a nest with two red shoulders in it. They’d seen adult hawks flying around after the tree was felled, but since there were now no trees to attach a makeshift nest to, there was no safe place to leave the near-branchers for the parents to continue raising. The younger of the two is a voracious and eager eater; the older sustained slight beak damage that makes it difficult—and probably not a little painful—to eat, so he’s being hand-fed.

Hot on the heels of the call about these two, a call came from Putnam County about another young hawk, a red tail, that had fallen about 45 feet from the nest. She has some slight dings on her head, but nothing is broken. And here’s one of the many reasons I adore red tails—their sheer intelligence. She was hungry and vocal about it on intake. First offered morsel—nope. Had to hand feed. Second offered morsel—less reluctance but still hand fed. Third morsel—“gimme that food NOW!” She’s got quite the appetite!

The poor screech from last week didn’t survive. After 24 hours I offered him a mouse, which I thought he’d eaten, but he was perching on the side of his donut so that his tail feathers covered it. And within another 24 hours, he died, without ever fully opening his eyes. Again, this was most likely internal injuries—recall that he was hit by car.

The Ware County barred was released, but he hauled tail so quickly that I was unable to get a release video.

The first-year red tail is still showing no signs of flight. Now that the “inn” is filling up, he’s under a bit more pressure to show some significant progress, and soon.

And all the brancher barreds are in the mini-pen and doing quite well together. The two less-dominant ones like to hide behind the more aggressive one, but all three engage in serious beak-snapping when I go in to feed them. Such clowns…

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Slow but steady couple of weeks

5/18/2025

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LWR had one release and three new intakes over the past two weeks. Let’s lead with the release: the mature red tail had to get in one last threatening glare before taking his leave—recall he’s the aggressive fellow who managed to puncture my glove and give me a nice new “dimple” on my hand, so a last “I will kill you” glare was totally in character for him! (I nicknamed him Vlad the Impaler…)

His release meant the first-year red tail could be moved into the main flight. Thus far he’s not showing any progress, but it’s only been two weeks, so we’ll give him time and hope for the best. If y’all recall, ol’ Vlad the Impaler wasn’t showing progress for the longest, and he ended up being released, so hope is still warranted for this young feller.

And of course, moving him into the main flight meant the mini-pen was freed up for the barred branchers, who’ve adjusted quite well to their new digs. While both are aggressive little beak-snappers, we do seem to have a dominant personality in there…

The Monday after Mother’s Day, an adult barred came in from Ware County with head trauma. He’s since recovered nicely and is ready for release later this week.

Yesterday another brancher barred came in from Bibb County; he’s self-feeding, a necessity before he can go in the mini-pen with the other two branchers. He’ll be moved out there within the next couple of days, and oh, the beak-snapping that will ensue...

And just a couple of hours ago an adult red-phase screech came in from Putnam County after being hit by a car last night. Nothing appears broken but he’s very lethargic and his body temp is low, which could signal internal injuries. He’s currently ensconced in a donut for comfort and support, and if he makes it through the night, he’ll likely need a vet visit to confirm no fractures. Keep y’all’s fingers crossed for this poor little fellow.

And that’s about it for this week’s update. Enjoy the remainder of y’all’s Sunday!

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First babies of the season

5/4/2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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“Close but no bird”

4/27/2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Move along; nothing to see here

4/12/2025

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

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

This isn't the droop; he had it half-extended in a lackluster threat display. His heart wasn't in it, since I was delivering his morning meal!

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