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…