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Not a bad week at all!

1/26/2020

With only one new intake, a release, and good news on the kestrel placement, it was, in fact, an excellent week!

First, I’m pleased to report that Beth Thomson of Blue Ridge Raptors will be taking Sisyphus the kestrel as soon as the feds approve the transfer. She visited Saturday to meet him and get a feel for his potential as an ed bird, and she’s quite pleased with the mouthy little cuss. We still have to get all our paperwork in order, but I’m delighted that he’ll be going to a great home to serve as an educational ambassador for his species.

Above and below, Beth with Sisyphus

Next, the Coop has flown the coop. Go ahead, groan; I couldn’t resist… He shot out of his box like a rocket and when I tried to move around to get a clear post-release photo, he politely headed even deeper into the woods. So…very short release video!

And the barred owl with the bloody beak and infected eye is eating quite well now. His eye is still slowly responding to treatment; the past few days have seen less and less pus, and he’s trying to keep the eye at least partially open for short periods of time. As I said in last Sunday’s update, it was massively infected. I’m just hoping once the infection is cleared up, he still has sight in that eye.

The sole new intake last week was a barred owl with a broken right leg and wing. He came in Friday night. Originally, I’d planned to take him in Monday for X-rays, but Saturday it was obvious both fractures were too severe to fix: the reduced swelling on the wing confirmed my suspicion that the wing fracture was right in the wrist, and the leg was just shattered. He was humanely euthanized.

No new photos of the flyers; they were pretty reclusive last week. I saw twitchy little noses through the opening of their nest box; that was it.

And there ya have it—I could get used to these short and sweet updates!

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Rain ended! Now it’s cold…

1/19/2020

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Poor wildlife can’t catch a break. Oh well…keep your feeders stocked. You’ll help the prey population, which will in turn help the predator population.

The antsy Coop is finally in the raptor flight and flying like a champ, so his release is imminent—the sooner, the better, before he can do something stupid.

The flyers were all three out again last night, so I managed to snag another cell phone photo of them.

The red shoulder I didn’t think would make it through Sunday night in fact did not. I’m guessing internal bleeding in addition to the broken wing and possible pelvic fracture.

The barred owl with the eye injury required euthanasia; the eye was beyond trashed.

And late last week another barred came in with copious bleeding around his beak and very lethargic. To be honest, given the blood he was losing, his general lethargy, and his difficulty breathing, I didn’t expect him to survive the night, but danged if he didn’t fool me—to my delight. He’s much more alert but not eating yet, and he has a massively infected eye that’s slowly responding to treatment.

It looks as if Sisyphus the kestrel may be placed after all; colleague Kathryn Dudeck of Chattahoochee Nature Center put me in contact with another organization whose CEO is interested and will be visiting late this week to assess him for their program. Again, no names till we’re sure this is going to work, but it certainly looks promising at the moment. Fingers crossed!

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And the rain keeps a-comin’

1/12/2020

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Yep, after a few rainless days last week, giving us a chance to dry out only slightly, the rain started back and is slated to continue through most of this week. Thankfully, LWR has no birds awaiting release at the moment, so the rain isn’t causing any delays there. (Although if it keeps up, I may see about stocking the “pond” in my front yard with some fish…)

No new photos of the Coop, who’s still in the mini-pen for the duration of this rainy period. I’ll move him to the raptor flight as soon we have another break in the rain.

I’m talking now with an organization that may be interested in Sisyphus the kestrel; no names yet, as I don’t want to put them on the spot and nothing is certain at the moment. We’ll know more next week.

I did manage a shot of all three flyers out of their nest box, though! I was running late putting out their food for the night, and all three scooted out to investigate the delay. It’s a cell phone photo, as that’s what I had handy at the moment, but it’s not too bad. Look at those sweet faces!

Wednesday, a barred owl with an open wing fracture right at the wrist came in; he was euthanized.

Friday another barred came in, this one with no fractures but a really blood-filled eye and bruised ear. Hard to get photos of those injuries one-handed—it’s a four-handed job, and when one hand is restraining the bird and the other operating the camera, your average, normal human has no extra hands left to move feathers away from the ear or hold the eye open—so you’ll have to settle for a head shot of the poor fellow with his injured eye squinted shut.

And Saturday afternoon a red shoulder with a wing fracture and possible pelvic injury came in. The plan at the moment is to get x-rays Monday, but honestly, his general lethargy and lack of circulation to his feet—they’re stone-cold at the moment—leads me to believe he might not survive tonight. He keeps his head tucked and is nonresponsive when I touch his neck. Not good…

And that’s it for the moment, so if y’all will excuse me, I’ll be checking on that gopher wood for the ark…

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Mixed start to 2020

1/5/2020

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New Year’s Day started with promise, as the skies were clear, no rain was predicted for several days, and I was able to release four antsy birds and move the Coop into the mini-pen. However, nightfall brought catastrophe when a snag fell on my songbird flight, inflicting substantial damage.

The snag was actually closer to the raptor flight and I’d worried in the past that it might fall on it, but it fell in the opposite direction, on a calm, windless night, and the very top portion of it caught the end of the songbird flight. Below are images of the damage:

Hopefully the damage can be repaired before the onset of baby season; we’ll see. At least there were no birds in it this time of year, unlike the raptor flight, which remains in use year-round.

The four birds released were the barred owl, red shoulder and both screeches. I managed short videos, below, of each release but no post-release photos.

The Coop is doing well in the mini-pen, is slated to be moved to the raptor flight this week and should be released within the next couple of weeks.

The flyers are doing their little nocturnal thing—nothing’s changed since last week’s video. They peek their little heads out as I’m freshening their food each night but I only see them out and about if I use the red light after lights-out in the rehab room.

And the search for permanent placement for Sisyphus the kestrel will begin this week. I have a couple of places in mind but won’t put them on the spot by mentioning them at this point.

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Not a bad week at all!

Rain ended! Now it’s cold…

And the rain keeps a-comin’

Mixed start to 2020

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