16 days, 16 animals…

…and no, you don’t get pix and backgrounds on every single one—this is an update, not a novel!

Let’s start with the unpleasant stuff first, so we can go out on a high note with some of the good stuff: last week I received a call to pick up an adult robin that the callers thought had a broken wing. When I got the bird, I suspected pesticide poisoning because he couldn’t use his legs, so I took him to Smalley’s.  Shelley Baumann and I debated euthanizing, but the robin actually got loose in the exam room and flew quite nicely, so we decided to give him an anti-inflammatory and 24 hours’ observation. Unfortunately, he began showing clearly identifiable signs of pesticide poisoning as the evening wore on: poop with a sharp chemical odor, loss of balance, difficulty breathing…he died during the night.

 

Folks, this photo might not be all that gruesome to you, but realize that when I snapped it, the poor robin’s legs were paralyzed, his wings were headed that way, and he was struggling for every breath because the pesticides work by paralyzing the nervous system.  So why did I photograph a dying bird and post it here? Because I wanted you to see what birds suffer when they ingest the chemicals you think are so necessary to keep your lawn perfectly manicured. The poisons can get on their legs/feet, where the skin is thin and exposed, and be absorbed into their systems; they can get them on their feathers and ingest them when they preen; they can eat plants/insects with the poisons on them; and perhaps most horrific, they can take these poisoned insects/seeds back to their nests and kill their babies simply by feeding them—all so people can satisfy their vanity and have weed-free and truly sterile lawns. I ask you again, which would you rather have: a “perfect” yard that’s toxic to wildlife or a slightly scruffy, weedy yard that’s safe for wildlife?

On a happier note, the wrens and finch have been moved to the flight pen and are actually good for release as soon as the weather cooperates. Here are a couple of shots of some of them in the pen. Can you spot the finch, boys and girls?

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And this is turning into the year of the rabbits and wrens. Yep, got in another rabbit and another entire nest of wrens!

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Here are the Carolina wrens on May 11, the day I received them...

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...and three days later, on May 14...

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...and today, May 17.

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Amazing how quickly the little rascals grow, isn’t it?!

I also have one fawn at the moment. I had two come in from separate locations on the same day; one didn’t make it through the night. I suspect malnourishment, although I can’t be sure—he was rail-thin, undersized and very shaky. He’d been bottle-fed for a week before I got him, but I don’t think he’d been getting enough and by the time I got him, there was nothing else to be done for him. This little one, however, is normal size and weight, with a healthy appetite.

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And we currently have a nestling mockingbird at LWR, the first of the year—just look at that face!  Mockers are really sweet nestlings; they turn into bullies as fledglings; and they’re aggressive, territorial, terroristic little snots as adults, but ya gotta love a diurnal bird who’s so self-assured that he’ll burst into song at night, announcing his presence to all nearby predators!

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