July 2019 marked LWR’s heaviest ever intakes for that month, so hopefully August will see a slowdown, with baby season winding down. We shall see…
I was rather proud of myself for getting last Sunday’s update done early in the day, despite the back issues (still twingy but not excruciating; thanks for asking). HAH. Within half an hour of posting it, LWR received notice of three birds en route from two different locations…
A volunteer transporter delivered two of the birds, a first-year red tail and an adult great horned owl.
There was nothing to be done for the red tail, who’d been crammed into a box much too small for a bird his size that was then lavishly slathered with packing tape, as if the poor bird were some sort of vicious monster. His near-wrist fracture apparently had been an open one and maggots had eaten all the flesh, tendons and ligaments from the bird’s right wing. He was humanely euthanized.
I was rather proud of myself for getting last Sunday’s update done early in the day, despite the back issues (still twingy but not excruciating; thanks for asking). HAH. Within half an hour of posting it, LWR received notice of three birds en route from two different locations…
A volunteer transporter delivered two of the birds, a first-year red tail and an adult great horned owl.
There was nothing to be done for the red tail, who’d been crammed into a box much too small for a bird his size that was then lavishly slathered with packing tape, as if the poor bird were some sort of vicious monster. His near-wrist fracture apparently had been an open one and maggots had eaten all the flesh, tendons and ligaments from the bird’s right wing. He was humanely euthanized.
The great horned also came via the volunteer transporter—slightly bigger box but still taped out the wazoo. Really y’all, for future reference—in case y’all ever need to know this—a cardboard box with the flaps closed and maybe a couple of strips of tape to hold them closed if the bird gets antsy, and you’re good to go. Taping every exposed surface of the box is massive overkill!
At any rate, aside from the area around his cere being a bit bloody, the owl was fine; he now awaits his turn in the raptor flight.
At any rate, aside from the area around his cere being a bit bloody, the owl was fine; he now awaits his turn in the raptor flight.
Shortly after these two arrived, a family brought an approximately three-month-old barn owl with a wing injury. We have a fair approximation of age because the father knew the nest was in his deer stand in May and had been checking it periodically to monitor the progress of the babies. This bird is old enough to be on its own but the wing felt dislocated in the elbow to me. Sure enough, X-rays at Smalley’s confirmed a dislocation, but it had already started healing in that position. Vet Jim Hobby and I agreed it was worth trying to pop the bone back into place, and so we gassed down the barnie and Jim attempted to manipulate the bones back into proper alignment. It wasn’t happenin’, however, and Jim was afraid he’d end up breaking the bones if he kept at it. So this young barnie, full of piss and vinegar, is a nonreleasable bird and I’ve already put out overtures to see if any in-state educational facilities would be interested in her.
Tuesday, a brown thrasher nestling fell from its nest at a local daycare. One of the workers brought it to LWR, where an intake exam revealed its right leg was broken at the hip. Even though I know hip fractures can’t be fixed, I gave the poor baby 24 hours’ observation to make sure the lack of neural response wasn’t just from swelling from the injury before making the call to euthanize.
That same day, a hatchling woodpecker, probably red-belly, came in with a pretty nasty belly bruise from his fall from the nest. I was hopeful but not optimistic that there was no internal bleeding, as it wasn’t hard and swollen…yet…but sadly, he died the next morning. Belly bruises on a bird that young almost always indicate internal bleeding.
Wednesday morning a barred owl with a broken wing arrived at LWR. I was pretty sure the fracture was fatal but took him in for X-rays anyway. The x-rays confirmed the shoulder was trashed beyond repair and he was humanely euthanized.
That evening, an adult killdeer arrived, most likely a cat-attack victim. His finder said they’d had a stray cat show up on their property recently. He’s missing tail feathers and most of the primaries on his left wing but is on antibiotics and doing well.
All four red shoulders were released, finally for three of them; the fourth was the bird who’d come in with frounce and spent his last few days at LWR in the raptor flight with the other three birds. I managed short videos of two of the releases—the two who sat on the ground for a few minutes, threat-displaying, before flying away. The other two took off like greased lightning. Hey, vids of two outta four ain’t bad…
The remaining red tail is now in the raptor flight; his buddy in the mini-pen self-released when I went in to replace their water late in the week. I saw where he landed and took both a net and camera, so if I couldn’t recapture him—which I knew was unlikely—I could at least get a few shots of him after his self-release.
The ducks continue to grow; the oldest of the four has maybe another week or two before he’s releasable.
With the remaining red tail in the raptor flight, the MIKIs are now in the mini-pen. They’re still not real sure they like it, but whether they realize it or not, we’re working against a migration deadline with them, so as soon as the red tail is flying well and passes the live prey test, he’s outta here so the MIKIs can get fully migration-ready in the raptor flight. These two tickle me to death with their polar opposite attitudes toward food. The younger bird, who’s been at LWR since he was a downy handful, is like, “Oh, eating is so overrated; don’t you think? I ate yesterday, so I’m not really sure I want anything today.” The older one, the transfer from Bubba & Friends, is like, “Ooooh, grub! Praise the Lord and pass the mouse bits!”
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