We had two releases and a resumed migration at LWR this week: the cranes, after a week of increasing restlessness, finally flew the coop, and we wish them good luck and Godspeed. But I did manage to snag way too many new photos and videos of the stilt-legged beauties, so enjoy their last week hanging around LWR!
Just thought the shadow was neat...
And after so long that his release seemed like an unlikely event, the cedar waxwing finally regained his freedom last week. Not sure who was happier, him or me. Probably him, but I won’t swear to that, as I nearly danced a celebratory jig!
Love this silhouette!
AND…the red-tailed hawk who’d come in as a traumatized bird was also released. Her release was a bit of a nail-biter to begin with, but she quickly showed her stuff and soared to freedom.
This poor adult male red-shoulder hawk wasn’t as lucky. He came in with an old open fracture that had already begun healing incorrectly in the wild—that it didn’t get massively infected is a minor miracle, but not enough to save the bird. The wing was, unfortunately, trashed and he was euthanized.
The rabbits didn’t make it—no surprise, given the stats I quoted you last week. Cottontails and rehab are generally not a good mix, unfortunately.
The kingfisher, after a valiant struggle all last week, gave up Saturday. His wing wounds were healing nicely, so that wasn’t the cause. I suspect sheer stress was the culprit; he refused to self-feed so I had to force-feed several times a day, and I could feel his heart about to pound out of his chest each time. The colleagues I spoke with about kingfishers all mentioned their proclivity to extreme stress, so this seems a likely cause of death.
And the barred owl continues to heal nicely and gets more aggressive with each passing day—always a good sign, although I am worried about the possibility of limited mobility in that wing. We’ll have to wait and see…
The kingfisher, after a valiant struggle all last week, gave up Saturday. His wing wounds were healing nicely, so that wasn’t the cause. I suspect sheer stress was the culprit; he refused to self-feed so I had to force-feed several times a day, and I could feel his heart about to pound out of his chest each time. The colleagues I spoke with about kingfishers all mentioned their proclivity to extreme stress, so this seems a likely cause of death.
And the barred owl continues to heal nicely and gets more aggressive with each passing day—always a good sign, although I am worried about the possibility of limited mobility in that wing. We’ll have to wait and see…
Wait, I blinked--can you try again?
Better!
The squirrel is more active and has been moved to more spacious digs.
And the fill dirt is completely down in the songbird flight and nearly done in the raptor flight. By next week the gravel should be down and hopefully we’ll have perches in place!
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