A “slow” week implies lack of activity, and there was no lack of activity at LWR last week—just fewer intakes!
Sunday night another juvenile Mississippi kite came in, unable to fly. X-rays Monday morning at Smalley’s revealed a very small wing fracture; additional X-rays on the adult M. kite showed continued callus formation. Both birds have since been transferred to Steve Hicks of Bubba and Friends, who’s amassing quite a collection of kites this late summer—I think 5, at last count.
Sunday night another juvenile Mississippi kite came in, unable to fly. X-rays Monday morning at Smalley’s revealed a very small wing fracture; additional X-rays on the adult M. kite showed continued callus formation. Both birds have since been transferred to Steve Hicks of Bubba and Friends, who’s amassing quite a collection of kites this late summer—I think 5, at last count.
In return, Steve sent this gorgeous first-year female red tailed hawk for wing x-rays, as his vet’s practice is temporarily closed due to vet illness. This has to be one of the weirdest injuries I’ve seen in a long while. We’ve tossed around numerous theories as to how it happened, the most likely being she was diving after prey and her wing hit a branch or stump or fencepost at just the “wrong” angle…and the very clearly visible large callus indicates this happened some time ago. She’s thin, so she’s probably been surviving on the small prey she could snag on the ground. There’s also a stray bit of bone sticking out of her side but with new skin growth over it. Just weird all the way around…Her chances of flying again are pretty much nil; we’re debating whether she’ll make a good educational bird.
In news of the less weird, all the former flight pen denizens have flown the coop. The bluebird is long gone; I hear her out with the other bluebirds around the place. The dove is hanging around within sight but won’t come near me. The mocker and blue jay, however, are taking full advantage of my soft release policy (I continue to provide supplemental feedings until the birds no longer come down to me), the opportunistic little rascals!
Here are some videos of them bathing before their release:
Here are some videos of them bathing before their release:
And here we have a few shots of them after release (guess it's obvious I have a favorite here!):
This isn't the sharpest shot in the world, but I caught him as he launched himself off the branch--lucky shot and too neat not to share!
The chimney swifts continue to mature nicely; they’re not yet exercising those wings too often. I’ve seen a couple of tentative wing flaps in the past day or so—we’re getting there!
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