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Finally, a euthanasia-free week!

1/29/2017

Of course, LWR had just one new intake this week, too, so that may play a factor in the lack of EUs this week. Whatever the case, neither I nor my vets are complaining about it.

The single new intake was a yellow-bellied sapsucker, a winter guest in Georgia. They don’t breed here. I couldn’t remember getting one in previously, so I went back through the LWR records and sure enough, this gorgeous little male woodpecker was a first.

He was found in bushes near a driveway and didn’t seem to be able to fly, although he was alert and active. I guessed he’d been sideswiped by a car but he had no obvious fractures, so we tried overnight cage rest to see if maybe he just had a mild concussion. The next morning he was still unable to fly, so I then suspected a coracoid fracture, which I wasn’t really hopeful would show on a x-ray, but off to Smalley’s we went, to see what we could find out.

To our surprise, he had a clavicle fracture—yeah, an actual collarbone fracture—which did show quite clearly on the x-ray. If you’ve ever seen a human with a broken collarbone, you know that this isn’t something that can actually be splinted or wrapped, especially in a bird this small, so he’s getting cage rest for a few weeks and then we’ll try the flight pen again.

In the meantime, he’s a very unhappy camper, banging away at his wooden “guest suite” all day, guzzling “rehab sap” like it’s goin’ outta style, and screaming insults at me when I handle him to change his paper—sounds like a dog’s squeaky toy! (The video below shows him in a cardboard box, which obviously wouldn’t work long-term for a woodpecker, while his wooden suite was being prepared.)

In more good news, the male red-tail from Thanksgiving received flight clearance from vet Jim Hobby last week, after his last follow-up x-ray showed a gorgeously healed wing—and you can also see the keratin on his wings from the molt he’s going through!

Both RTs will be headed to colleague Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends early next week, as he has one empty raptor flight. We held off on transferring the female until the male had been in for that final x-ray, so our volunteer transporters could make just one trip.

While the LWR raptor flight will be free in another month or so, it’s not fair to these two hawks—especially the male, who’s been sitting in a box since Thanksgiving, waiting on that wing to heal—to sit here staring at four walls for another month that they could be using for flight conditioning. Steve has graciously agreed to take both birds so they can regain their freedom sooner.

The tufted titmouse is still awaiting regrowth of those missing flight feathers. He’s eating well and doesn’t even cuss at me when I handle him to change his paper.

The flyers are getting increasingly difficult to photograph, but this little sequence shows what I see several times a week.

And while I didn’t manage any decent photos of the barnies this week, the video showcases their ever-improving flight skills.

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“Winter is the cruelest season…”

1/22/2017

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With apologies to T.S. Eliot, whose original line was “April is the cruelest month…” For rehabbers, winter is generally an awful season, as so few of our intakes can be saved. Yes, the carnage continued this week, as well, but the week ended with an impossibly adorable and amazingly uninjured visitor.

Let’s get the carnage out of the way first, shall we? On Monday, three birds came in back to back, all with injuries requiring a vet visit on Tuesday.

A screech owl had been found in a ditch over the weekend; his wing was broken and I pretty much knew from my initial physical exam it wasn’t fixable. Sure enough, x-rays at Smalley’s confirmed his wing was shattered and showed lead residue from a gunshot, although we found no open wounds. The GSW was reported to both GA DNR and US FWS.

Because vet Peggy Hobby and I both adore screeches, we discussed the possibility of this little male being an educational bird, and I even brought him home with the goal of working with him for that purpose, as screeches are fairly easy to place with educational facilities. However, even with pain meds, it was obvious the wing was causing too much pain, so he was euthanized.

Next up was a great horned owl, found by a roadside. One eye was filled with blood, the pupil in the other remained unnaturally dilated, and his wing was also broken, although it didn’t feel like as bad a fracture as the screech’s. Again, x-rays showed a pretty nasty break. The dilated pupil responded to light, but Peggy said that didn’t necessarily mean the retina was functioning properly. The left, blood-filled eye was still so cloudy that she couldn’t determine how much damage was done.

Tired of euthanizing, we opted to give this guy a chance, as well, knowing it was a crap shoot and that the odds were against the bird making any degree of recovery that would allow release. Still, it was worth a try, right? As with the screech, it was after I’d brought the GHO back home that the futility of our actions became apparent. He was quite literally blind in one eye and couldn’t see out of the other. He was also euthanized.

Rounding out the trifecta of carnage, a gorgeous late first-year/early second-year red-tailed hawk came in after a couple found him in the bushes around their house. They said they had a picture window, but he wasn’t found near it. Upon further questioning, they also said they had a resident mated pair of GHOs—and GHOs and RTs are about each other’s only predators in the wild. Given that this is nesting season for GHOs, perhaps this hapless RT wandered into their territory and one of the GHOs gave chase, causing the RT to slam into the side of their house—that seems a logical explanation.

At any rate, he was unable to stand and exhibited slightly labored breathing. He was also unable to spread his wings or flare his tail. X-rays showed no fractures to the wings or pelvis, but his head was twisted to the side and looked a bit odd, so we did another x-ray of just his neck, straightened—and there it was: his neck was broken. He was also euthanized.

However, the week ended with the intake of a dog-attacked tufted titmouse. When his rescuers called, I cringed, fully expecting another unsaveable bird. To my surprise—and delight, as I adore titmice—this feisty little bird was only missing a few tail feathers, some feathers on his left wing and most of his flight feathers on the right wing. He’s eating well and while he’s not “cussing” at me yet—a trait titmice are well-known for—he is chirping as he hops about his cage. They’re pretty fearless little birds, so having him as a guest while his feathers grow back should be a real treat.

Both “ongoing” red-tails continue to do well; the female is slated to be transferred to colleague Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends soon, so she can get some time in a flight pen and be released—recall, if you will, that my raptor flight is currently full of overwintering barnies and my songbird flight is totally unsuited for use with raptors. The male will probably go in for follow-up x-rays in the coming week, and as well as his wing fracture was healing at the last checkup, I fully expect the vets to give him “flight clearance” this time.

The flyers were unusually cooperative as far as photos this week, maybe because I gave them some yucca rounds to gnaw on. Yucca is soft but it will help keep those ever-growing rodent teeth worn down as they gnaw on it. They have a piece of antler to gnaw on but have been ignoring it; the yucca, however was a huge hit.

And the barnies are getting increasingly restless, perhaps sensing that their release is now mere weeks away. Spring is not that far away, and with it, the beginning of baby season—again!

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Deadly week

1/15/2017

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This was definitely not a good week for wildlife at LWR. Of five intakes, four required euthanasia and one was DOA—not the start one would hope for in a new year...

Tuesday evening, a barred owl came in from a county just south of LWR. He favored his left wing in the box, and on exam, it felt “crunchy” at the wrist. The same day, a Canada goose came in from an incompetent out-of-county vet, so I knew both birds would need to see my vets at Smalley’s the next day.

Wednesday morning, a vet clinic from a county just north of LWR called; a client had brought in a barred owl. My volunteer transporters met me at Smalley’s with that bird.

Both barred owls had compression fractures at the wrist, both on the left side. Basically, the bones were broken and shoved up and under each other into a jumbled, unfixable mess. Both owls required euthanasia.

Right wing x-ray is for comparison, so you can see what a normal wrist looks like, as opposed to the jumbled mess in the left wrist.

Again, right wing x-ray is for comparative purposes.

The goose had been with the incompetent vet who wrapped a “jigsaw puzzle” shattered wing on a merlin in December—remember that? Knowing her history of gross incompetence, I shuddered to see how she’d screwed up the goose—and she had, royally.

She’d pinned an UNBROKEN leg. Yeah, you read that right—she pinned an UNBROKEN leg. And then wrapped a gem clip around it for good measure, all topped off with a heavy layer of surgical tape. I kid you not; see the photos and x-rays below. Vets Richie Hatcher and Peggy Hobby were mystified as to her reasoning—if, indeed, there was actually any reasoning involved, which I highly doubt. (And yes, she’s been reported to GA DNR and US FWS.)

The poor goose had neurological damage in that leg, which Richie figured was probably present on intake, and she was rail-thin, with pressure sores already scabbed over on her prominent keel. Given her lack of any neural response in that leg or foot, euthanasia was again required.

Thursday evening, a second-year red-shouldered hawk came in; her rescuer had seen the 18-wheeler in front of her hit the bird. She said the hawk was flying so low that the truck driver probably didn’t see her. The hawk was lethargic and listless, so much so that I honestly didn’t expect her to survive the night, but she did, so we were off to Smalley’s again Friday, where x-rays showed no fractures and no clouding on the x-ray that would indicate fluid buildup typical of internal bleeding. She was also quite thin and cast a pellet consisting of lizard skins and insect exoskeletons, meaning she’d been struggling to find food. Head trauma and/or nerve damage were, of course, distinct options, so we opted for more steroids (I’d given her a steroid injection on intake the evening before) and time to see what she’d do.

She died, is what she did. It’s one of the most frustrating aspects of wildlife rehab, when you see that a bird is struggling but you can’t pinpoint a reason for it, so you opt to give them a little extra time to see how they respond to meds…and they respond by checking out on you…

And the very next morning, Saturday, an adult male red-shoulder came in after being cut from an electric fence. Yeah, you read that right, too—an electric fence, not a barbed wire fence. The people who cut him loose had the good sense to cut the wire rather than the bird, unlike some folks in the recent past, so when the transporter arrived with the bird, he had a good six inches of wire protruding from the top of his wing. All I could initially figure was he’d hit the wire and come close to shearing his wing off—it’s happened before.

Off we headed to Smalley’s again, where x-rays showed that two ends of the fence wire had been looped when it was strung, and the luckless red shoulder had hit the looped ends, breaking his radius right at the elbow in the process.

Richie said the poor bird probably hit the loop, which initially snagged in the flesh, slinging him around and embedding deeper and allowing the straight portion of the wire to pop against the bone, breaking it. Again, this was an unfixable fracture—it was too close to the joint. This poor bird was also euthanized. The photos below were taken after euthanasia.

The male red-tail is due for a second follow-up x-ray soon; the female’s attempted release didn’t go well. She apparently has soft tissue damage—remember, her x-rays showed no fractures—and needs time in the flight pen to see if it will heal to allow flight.

However…she won’t get that time in the flight until the barnies can be released around early March, so I guess she’ll hang around and be a “buddy” to the male RT, so both can go into the raptor flight together in another month or so.

Speaking of the barnies, they’re still as gorgeous and goofy as ever…

…as are the flyers.

And ending on a much more upbeat note than we started with, the screech was released and was quite happy to leave the LWR B&B.

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New Year, no new intakes…yet

1/8/2017

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Can you believe it? The phone only rang twice last week, and neither call resulted in a new intake. Note to Murphy: this is NOT an invitation to the party. DO NOT open the floodgates!

So that leaves us with little to actually update this week…

The barnies, pending passing the live prey test, are good to go but will remain at the LWR B&B until early spring—which isn’t all that far off, in case you hadn’t realized.

Last week’s rain, followed by high winds, followed by more rain and extreme cold, delayed the release of both the female red-tail and the little male screech, both of whom are not shy at all about letting me know they want OUTTA here! Weather predictions for later this week look good, though, so…fingers crossed!

The male red-tail recovering from the wing fracture will be due for another x-ray in a couple of weeks. If you’ll recall, at his last follow-up x-ray, he had a lovely callus forming that had me and the good folks at Smalley’s almost doing a happy dance. It just needed to heal more before he attempted to use that wing.

The flyers are sealing themselves up tightly in their nest during the day and seldom peeking a nose out before lights-off in the rehab area, but since millet will tempt a pre-lights-off appearance, I used another sprig to coax one little busybody out last night. The others joined in the feast as soon as I put the camera away…Uncooperative little buggers…

And it’s not too soon to begin reminding you that the Great Backyard Bird Count will be Feb. 17-20 this year. Go to the GBBC website at gbbc.birdcount.org for details on how to participate and a look at last year’s results. The GBBC is so flexible in its timing and allowing participants to list only the species they’re sure about that almost anyone can take part—and it’s easy to do in your own back yard, a park, or anywhere birds can be found. You can count for just 15 minutes for only one day or block out time to count for longer periods for the whole weekend—and it’s a great way to spend a little time in nature.

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Happy New Year! (And a quick look back at highlights from last year)

1/1/2017

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In lieu of a lengthy retrospective, as 2016 was a record-breaking year, with 318 intakes, I’ve chosen two or three of the most interesting intakes of the year to highlight.

As far as songbirds, last year saw the usual suspects, with a wide range from hummers to crows. Below is a random assortment of a few of those beauties.

Cardinal nestlings

Cardinals in flight pen

Juvenile Eastern bluebird

Juvenile little blue heron

Great crested flycatchers

Pine warbler

And, of course, we had a rare (for Georgia) visitor blown off course by a hurricane in September—a red-billed tropicbird.

On the raptor front we still had quite an astonishing variety, from screech owls to vultures. I focused on two of the most interesting cases—the leucistic red-shoulder in July and the barn owls who came in as recent hatchlings in late October.

And we can’t forget those adorable little flying squirrels!

Activity continued unabated last week, with intakes consisting of a barred owl with a wing fracture and trashed eye, a mourning dove with a severe case of mycoplasmic conjunctivitis, aka mycoplasma or “finch eye,” and a dog-attacked screech owl on New Year’s Eve.

The barred owl’s wing was broken right at the wrist, and his eye was leaking humour mixed with blood—both life-ending injuries, as the joint would have frozen when healed, precluding flight, and the humour is the jelly-like substance that basically allows the eyeball to retain its shape. If it’s not present, the eye is essentially a deflated balloon. The owl was euthanized.

As for the mourning dove, some rehabbers treat finch eye; I don’t. It’s a long process and the recurrence rate is high, meaning that once the bird is released, there’s a very good chance it will develop the eye infection again and end up dying anyway—after spreading it to God knows how many other birds, as finch eye is highly contagious. In this poor dove’s case, it was a moot issue, actually, as the swelling had already caused one eye to rupture and the other wasn’t far behind. He was also euthanized.

The New Year’s Eve screech, a gray-phase female, was stressed and lethargic and exhibited labored breathing on intake. She also had a broken wing. Dog-attack victims tend to have “crush” wounds from the pressure of the dog’s jaws, rather than the puncture wounds typical of cat attacks. This meant the screech probably had broken ribs and possibly a punctured lung. She was placed in a supportive donut to ease her breathing, but the poor girl died within an hour of intake.

The red-phase screech is ready for release as soon as the weather cooperates, but I’m not complaining about the rain; we need it badly here in Georgia.

The female red-tail is highly food-aggressive, leaping up to snag her mice before I can even get them in her box. Thank God for long feeding tongs! She’s also good to go pending clear weather.

The male red-tail recovering from the wing fracture continues to eat well and watch the female’s feeding frenzy like she’s crazy—remember, he’s had the benefit of a steady food supply for a lot longer than she has, as he’s been at LWR for over a month now!

The flyers continue to bounce off the walls at night and sleep all day, true to their nature as nocturnal critters.

The barnies, of course, remain gorgeous and are eating and flying well.

And I’d be remiss not to offer you a few wildlife-related New Year’s resolutions to consider:

Get a good bird book and learn to at least identify the birds you see most commonly in your back yard. For Georgia residents, I’d recommend Birds of Georgia by John Parrish Jr. & Giff Beaton and Birds of Georgia: A Field Guide by Stan Tekiela. For a general bird guide, I like Sibley’s.
Make your yard wildlife-friendly with brush piles, nest boxes, water sources and feeders to provide food, water and shelter for your wild visitors.
DON’T use pesticides, rodenticides or herbicides. All of these have unintended secondary victims. Allow a few “weeds” in your yard. Dandelions, for example, are much-beloved by bees, birds and rabbits—and they have quite a few old folk-remedy uses, as well.
DON’T trim trees and shrubs during nesting season—at the very least, check carefully for nests, and don’t forget some birds, like woodpeckers and screech owls, are cavity nesters.
Leave those snags (dead trees) standing unless they threaten your roof. Woodpeckers adore the insects they find in snags, and the snags also make great nest sites for cavity nesters.
Keep your cats inside. It’s not only better for wildlife; it’s safer for the cats.
Spend some time outside at least once a day. I’m not talking the few seconds it takes to walk to your vehicle on the way to/from work, either. Make it a point to spend 10 or 15 minutes a day outside, just sitting or walking silently and observing and listening to the sights and sounds all around you. This doesn’t have to be a daytime-only activity: after sunset, stand or sit quietly in the dark in your back yard for 10-15 minutes and listen to nature’s nocturnal melodies, as well!

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Finally, a euthanasia-free week!

“Winter is the cruelest season…”

Deadly week

New Year, no new intakes…yet

Happy New Year! (And a quick look back at highlights from last year)

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