So maybe I’m still not the most emotionally stable person right now, but honestly, this week saw its share of sheer idiocy.
First off, a caller originally had four Carolina wrens; they’d been fed cat food every few hours for four days and the person waited till one was dead and another dying before deciding to bring the birds to LWR. One of the surviving three was dying on arrival; the other two were dead within three hours.
Folks, first off, baby birds MUST be fed every half hour. Period. Second, while cat food is an acceptable EMERGENCY diet, it should NOT be used for more than 24 hours. Nutritional deficiencies will start to kick in after that, and may be irreversible.
Then a call came in about another set of what I figured was Caros, as well—recent hatchlings. The caller couldn’t get them to LWR till after work, so I carefully explained keeping them in a warm place and giving them tiny bits of cat food every half hour. To this person’s credit, they did try; the intellect just wasn’t there. The birds, Caros as I thought, were tiny ice cubes floating in cat food juice when they arrived. They barely made it overnight.
And then we had the purple martin who’d been fed dog food for TWO WEEKS before a miracle occurred and the finder was able to locate LWR. By this time, there was nothing I could do. The bird had MBD (severe calcium deficiency) so bad he couldn’t stand up; his attempts at wing-waving to beg for food were little shimmies close to the body, and the inside of his beak was near-white. He didn’t last the night.
Contrast this, however, with the people who found a nestling/almost fledgling grackle in their yard and had it to LWR within the hour. He’s in the flight pen with his awkward, ungainly, loveable self.
First off, a caller originally had four Carolina wrens; they’d been fed cat food every few hours for four days and the person waited till one was dead and another dying before deciding to bring the birds to LWR. One of the surviving three was dying on arrival; the other two were dead within three hours.
Folks, first off, baby birds MUST be fed every half hour. Period. Second, while cat food is an acceptable EMERGENCY diet, it should NOT be used for more than 24 hours. Nutritional deficiencies will start to kick in after that, and may be irreversible.
Then a call came in about another set of what I figured was Caros, as well—recent hatchlings. The caller couldn’t get them to LWR till after work, so I carefully explained keeping them in a warm place and giving them tiny bits of cat food every half hour. To this person’s credit, they did try; the intellect just wasn’t there. The birds, Caros as I thought, were tiny ice cubes floating in cat food juice when they arrived. They barely made it overnight.
And then we had the purple martin who’d been fed dog food for TWO WEEKS before a miracle occurred and the finder was able to locate LWR. By this time, there was nothing I could do. The bird had MBD (severe calcium deficiency) so bad he couldn’t stand up; his attempts at wing-waving to beg for food were little shimmies close to the body, and the inside of his beak was near-white. He didn’t last the night.
Contrast this, however, with the people who found a nestling/almost fledgling grackle in their yard and had it to LWR within the hour. He’s in the flight pen with his awkward, ungainly, loveable self.
And when this near-fledgling martin was found on the ground, his finders wasted no time getting him to LWR; he’s also in the songbird flight.
The caller who found these Carolina wrens also called immediately; the runt didn’t make it but he was looking rough on intake—probably hatched a day or so after his sibs and just couldn’t keep up.
The big news this week, however, isn’t really even a proper intake, as it’s from my own yard—or my parents’ yard, more accurately. I’m still spending most of my time with Mama at the moment, so when we heard Daddy’s elderly dog barking late yesterday, it was a little odd; he seldom barks anymore. When I walked out he was circling something that initially looked like a bullfrog from a distance but when I got closer I could see he had a hognose snake, aka puffing adder, cornered. The dog will kill a snake, so I ran to grab gloves and snagged the dog by the collar with one hand as I snatched the poor hognose up with the other and held him above my head to keep the dog from snapping at him.
Hognose snakes aren’t as common as they used to be; in fact, the Southern hognose is considered a vulnerable population. I’m lousy at differentiating between the two, but my rescue looked like an Eastern to me.
These are snakes I utterly adore. They’re nonvenomous, small, nonaggressive—although they’ll spread those heads flat like a cobra in a threat display—and play dead when threatened. What’s not to love?
Below are some photos of this adorable fellow, and a less-than-stellar video of him playing dead and then slithering away as he realized the coast was clear. I took him to a safer location for release, away from elderly marauding dogs.
Hognose snakes aren’t as common as they used to be; in fact, the Southern hognose is considered a vulnerable population. I’m lousy at differentiating between the two, but my rescue looked like an Eastern to me.
These are snakes I utterly adore. They’re nonvenomous, small, nonaggressive—although they’ll spread those heads flat like a cobra in a threat display—and play dead when threatened. What’s not to love?
Below are some photos of this adorable fellow, and a less-than-stellar video of him playing dead and then slithering away as he realized the coast was clear. I took him to a safer location for release, away from elderly marauding dogs.
More on the “ongoing” LWR guests next week; time is short this week and I’m juggling editing deadlines, feeding birds, and fielding calls on injured/orphaned birds.
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