And the carnage continues unabated…

Sadly, it’s not just me reporting an unusually high number of DOAs/euthanasias. Several other rehabbers are experiencing similar situations, leading us to believe it’s gonna be a really awful season. So…the “unpleasantness” marches on…

The sapsucker, who was eating well and drumming away, also was losing weight and the inflammation in her wing continued to spread, even though I had put her on antibiotics. I took her back in for Shelley Baumann at Smalley’s Animal Hospital to re-examine, and she agreed with me that whatever was going on wasn’t responding to treatment, so we euthanized. Because the only facility in the state that performs necropsies charges rehabbers full-price for them, we opted not to have her necropsied, although it would have been nice to know what the problem was.

This is a situation other rehabbers and I have discussed at length and if you’re reading this, anyone at UGA, it would be really nice if UGA offered rehabbers just one or two free necropsies a year. We don’t often require them, but when we think they might be beneficial, we have to make a choice between paying for a necropsy or using those funds to benefit the animals that still have a chance at survival. Most of us opt to focus on the critters we still have a chance at saving.

This poor barred owl was found sopping wet by the side of the road on a Saturday evening. When I met his rescuers, I knew his chances weren’t great after a cursory parking lot exam. Nothing was broken, but he had severe head trauma, one eye was definitely trashed, and the other looked questionable. 

By Sunday he was able to raise his head slightly, but his eyes remained shut.

Monday morning, the right eye had opened nearly completely, but the left was still mostly shut and filled with blood.  Again, it was Shelley Baumann at Smalley’s who agreed with me that this was quite literally a case of being blind in one eye and unable to see out of the other. Given the extensive damage to the eyes, we had no choice but to euthanize. A raptor can learn to hunt with one eye; a totally blind raptor has no chance whatsoever.

What made this even sadder was the fact that this little male was one of this winter’s babies. He hadn’t been long on his own and still had “downyish” feathers around his face.

Easter Sunday afternoon, I received a panicked call about baby birds that had fallen from their nest. The finders were unable to locate the nest and one of the babies was already dead when they found them on the ground.

When I met them to retrieve the three surviving hatchlings, which looked to be catbirds, none were in good shape. All were ice-cold.

One had the lower half of his leg nearly chewed off and was already almost dead from blood loss. He died before I got home with him.

One had massive internal bleeding, and his little belly was swollen beyond belief. He died within half an hour of my getting him home.

The third had a “hip” fracture (actually, a knee fracture, but on birds, it looks as if it should be the hip). It wasn’t exactly an open fracture; the skin was ripped but no bone was exposed, so I thought he might have a chance—after all, the bones are still soft and growing in a hatchling or nestling bird. I kept him on heat, treated the wound and stabilized his little leg. As soon as he warmed enough, I started fluids and then food and had him gaping for his food by “lights out” Sunday night. Alas, it was not to be; he didn’t survive, either.

It’s my guess that a squirrel raided this nest. Nature is all too often “red in tooth and claw.”

I don’t want to leave you with all death and destruction, however. This utterly gorgeous “blonde” barred owl, a very large female, has been frequenting my yard for several months, and I lucked up toward the end of March and had the camera handy when she was out shortly before dusk.

Technically, she’s slightly leucistic, but hey, “blonde” works for me! She’s a real beauty, and I’ve never seen her around before this year. I do, however, hope to keep sighting her here and there!