And baby season trickles along

Only a couple of new intakes since the pre-Easter update: a young adult black vulture and a nestling barred owl.

The barred owl was found on a limb in a flooded river; according to his rescuer, the water was already up to his feet and was still rising. He was definitely too young to fly, and his belly (owls don’t have crops like hawks do) was empty on intake, so his parents hadn’t fed him recently. He’s eating well at LWR and developing nicely. Within a week or two, he’ll be ready for the mini-pen.

The black vulture wasn’t as lucky; his rescuer chased him for several days before managing to catch him, and his wing was broken right at the wrist—badly. He was humanely euthanized. I completely forgot to get any intake photos of him.

The great horned is in the main flight now and loving the space to spread her wings; she’s flying well and as soon as she passes the live prey test, she’s good to go.

Taken just before her move to the main flight...

 The screech with the healing radius and ulna fractures continues to delight me with her attitude. Even for a screech, known for their feistiness, she’s full of piss and vinegar. Fingers crossed those fractures continue to heal as well as was indicated on the x-rays from earlier this month; this is one gal whose genes need to be in the wild screech gene pool! (She's also the most difficult-to-photograph screech I've ever seen...)

And in closing today, I want to offer an update on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in the state. According to a couple of our state biologists, it’s concentrated along the coast of Georgia at the moment, and they’re hopeful that as the migratory waterfowl pass through and the weather warms, it will die down and possibly disappear entirely. Sadly, it may adversely impact our coastal bald eagle breeding season. Honestly, I wonder if it’s just not been documented in other areas of the state because people aren’t sure what to look for or aren’t aware of it, but I hope like crazy our biologists are right. I just can’t help but worry, though, as usually by this time of the year I’m up to my eyeballs in nearly-ready-for-release great horneds and nestling/brancher barreds, and I currently have one of each...which may not be all bad from a financial point of view, given the rising prices of mice, which are running a good 50% higher than last year...

For the latest from DNR on HPAI in Georgia, click on this link: https://gadnr.org/avian-influenza-detected-bald-eagles-georgia.