And the babies keep rollin’ in…

Not quite at last week’s intensity, but not far off.  So between the older “inmates” and the newer ones, releases and rearranged living quarters, plus the shameless beggars still showing up for handouts, it’s been a “don’t take time to breathe” week.

The house finch and mocker that were in the flight last week have been released. The mocker is an infrequent beggar; the finch shows up more often.  The blue jay who was released last week is a demanding little beggar who’s quite aware he’s gorgeous!

The big news, however, is that the great horned owl passed his live prey test and was released! (And high time, too; two red shoulders were chomping at the bit to move into the raptor flight.)

Continuing with updates on last week’s babies, the chimney swifts have TRIPLED their weight! Remember they came in at 5g each; as of last night’s weigh-in, they were at 15g and 18g. They’re also now clinging like “proper” swifts, although their box remains on low heat in case they want it.

The red bellied woodpeckers “fledged” from their nest box over a 24-hour period and are now in the flight pen. As well as they’re flying, though, I suspect they’ll be released by this time next week.

The great crested flycatcher with suspected pelvic/spinal trauma is now perching and taking short flights; she’ll be in the flight pen by next week.

She briefly had a companion, as early last week a lady called with a fledgling great crested flycatcher with “wing damage.” Turns out the people had a ceiling fan on their front porch, knew the nest was there and the babies were about to fledge, and left the damn ceiling fan on anyway. This poor baby fledged right into the fan. Surprisingly, nothing was broken, probably because of her relatively slow fledgling flight. The flesh was chewed up, though.

Despite oral and topical antibiotics, the wounds abscessed, and draining did no good. The poor little thing died in her sleep.

Folks, if you KNOW there’s a nest near your porch, carport, dog pen—whatever—monitor it, even from a distance, and make sure YOUR actions or lack thereof don’t doom fledglings to death before they have a chance at life. It’s not that difficult: keep your dog or cat inside or confined somewhere away from the nest. Make sure there are no flystrips or other potentially deadly traps that poorly flighted new fledges can hit. Close up chemical containers and clean up any spills—thoroughly. Turn off any outside ceiling or other fans unless you’re outside using them. It ain’t rocket science, people; it’s just plain common sense and caring about your native wildlife.

Two additional mockers came in after a hawk raided their nest and they jumped to safety. Luckily, they were close to fledging so when their rescuer, who had witnessed the attack and subsequent escape, found them, they were unharmed.

These recent hatchlings were brought to LWR after the person monitoring their nest realized that one of the babies had disappeared overnight and the remaining three were cold and lethargic, indicating that whatever took the fourth baby also likely took the mama. With babies this young, it’s a crap shoot. The odds are stacked against them, and they usually don’t fare well. Two of these poor wee ones died within an hour of intake; the third lasted until dark.

Birds hatch with sterile guts; they get the proper gut flora from their parents’ saliva as they feed them insects and such. While rehabbers do use probiotics to mimic the parents’ gut flora, what we use is a sort of broad spectrum stuff. It works well for older hatchlings on up in age; it’s hit and miss with babies this young, who really need their parents’ gut flora to get them started.

When a friend called about a dove her husband had found with a deformed beak, I agreed to meet her and see what could be done. The poor dove—probably a Eurasian collared, although I didn’t see the tell-tale neck band—was starvation thin on intake and, given the severity of the damage to the beak, would have required euthanasia anyway, had he not died on the way home.

The Carolina wrens who came in last week began getting really scruffy-looking and dying, one by one. We don’t know the full story—how long were they without food in that jet-ski nest? What other factors were at play? How many people handled them before they came to LWR? All of these are factors that could cause them to “fail to thrive.”

These three Carolinas were found in a field, with no nest in sight. How they got there is anybody’s guess; luckily the lady who found them near dark called LWR the next morning. They’re doing quite well and even act more alert and “with it” than the four Carolinas from last week who didn’t make it. Who knows what factors are at play when these birds come in from the wild?

The cardinal remains in the flight pen and the fledgling blue jay from last week has joined her and the mockers and mourning dove and now the red bellies.

And like a Depression-era flophouse, the raptor flight didn’t have time to “cool” from the great horned owl’s departure before two red-shouldered hawks took up residence.

The adult red shoulder may have tendon/ligament damage. He’ll fully extend the wing but is incapable yet of real flight. For the moment, though, he gives the juvy red shoulder some company and an example of how to be a “real” red shoulder.

The juvy’s head feathers, as they come in, are giving him a nice punk rocker look. Kinda fits, considering that all he does is scream…