Another bald eagle? You have GOT to be kidding me!

Nope, no joke—another bald eagle arrived at LWR early in the week, leading your intrepid rehabber to come close to a nervous breakdown: “What the…? Not another one! I’m only supposed to see an eagle every couple of years or so!”

This was a mature adult male, banded, severely underweight, lethargic and with a scabbed right wing and massively swollen and obviously broken right leg. Cue more panic: I was unsure the bird would even survive the night, as he arrived from Bulloch County after Smalley’s had closed for the day and was all but comatose by nightfall, leading to a series of panicked texts to state and federal officials. Eagles still have a lot of regulations surrounding them that “regular” raptors don’t.

He did survive, however, and x-rays at Smalley’s showed an old, healed wing fracture and a massively displaced tibiotarsal fracture. The scabs on the wing were from using it as a crutch. This bird was also headed to Auburn.
​
Now, to back up a bit, yes, he was banded but the bander had not reported using this band yet, so we still have no idea as to age, where he was banded, etc. Given his recognition of feeding forceps and willingness to accept food from them, I’d guess he was in rehab for quite a while somewhere, and that’s probably where he was banded, as well. The link to his patient profile at Auburn is https://w2.vetmed.auburn.edu/rm1/html/2020-134.html. 

Y'all enjoy that video; it's probably the first and last time you'll ever see an adult bald eagle willingly accept food from feeding forceps!

The same day the eagle arrived, a juvenile red-bellied woodpecker came in after having hit a window as he fell from a tree. There was something neurological going on with the bird, possibly as a result of his fall, and he began having seizures and died within hours of intake.

​The day the eagle went in for x-rays, DNR delivered a juvenile barred owl to me at Smalley’s, which was a good thing—the poor fellow has a wing fracture but it should heal for flight. More worrisome was his dazed demeanor, which lasted for about 48 hours after intake. He had obviously suffered some sort of head trauma. He’s still, even now, a bit loopy acting, but he’s eating so I can handle loopy and eating.

​And a nestling blue jay who fell from his nest came in that night with massive belly bruising. I hoped it was only bruising and not internal bleeding, but he died overnight, without ever fully regaining consciousness, the poor baby.

​Two days later a game warden brought a juvenile barn owl to LWR, after his sib was killed by a dog and the surviving bird took flight—with no real skills or experience at flying yet—and soared over a pond, only to drop like a rock into said pond. According to the game warden, two 14-year-old boys dove into the pond to rescue the barnie. Well done, young men! This guy is well-fleshed and not a happy camper, not at all. Again, however, as with the barred, he’s eating, and eating well. Since Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends currently has a barnie, slightly older and already in a flight pen, this barnie will be joining Steve’s later in the week.

​Hot on his heels, an adult male red tail came in after I think everyone in his neighborhood called or texted about him being down. He has no obvious wing fractures, can spread both wings equally, but cannot get lift—classic coracoid fracture symptoms. He just needs time and a safe place to heal.

​Saturday an adult red-headed woodpecker came in after he was seen falling from a tree. Nothing broken, seemed alert, well-fleshed—should’ve been an easy rehab. But he died overnight. Not a clue what was going on.

In news of older rehabs, the blue jay is currently in the mini-pen and may need eviction, as he seems quite content to remain there indefinitely. It’s a jay thing—I’ve had jays I rehabbed the previous year sit in the tree and give me a somewhat shamefaced begging call and wing shimmy, like it’s worth a try; maybe she’ll still feed me a year later. 

​The two bluebirds spent very little time in the mini-pen before deciding they’d rather join all the other juvenile bluebirds hanging around the yard. They’ve almost stopped coming down for supplemental feedings, too, following the lead of the older, previously released juvies. I didn’t even manage a photo of them in the mini-pen, just these from several days before they went into it.

​The two red shoulders still inside have been moved to slightly bigger digs; they need to show me they can eat their food without it being sliced and diced before they can go into the raptor flight.

​The wood ducks were released and seemed quite content with their newfound freedom.

​The two red shoulders in the raptor flight passed their live prey test with flying colors and were also released. They both flew out of the box at the same time and in different directions, so I was only able to get one on video.

​This hummer arrived today after being cat-attacked. Honestly, she looks quite rough and that right wing doesn’t look promising, but she’s on antibiotics and we’ll see how things play out…

​And the screeches continue to grow apace. And get cuter daily. Screeches just ooze personality. All of it bad. Which is probably why I love them so much!