It was an interesting week, bookended with two dud “threats” of snow. Understand, here in Middle Georgia, we seldom see snow—even traces. So some of us (guilty as charged) kinda like the notion of a light dusting of snow every now and then.

LWR had only two new intakes last week, both barred owls, both transfers from UGA’s Wildlife Clinic, who need flight conditioning after recovering from coracoid fractures.  They’re in the mini-pen at the moment.

The barred who’s been at LWR a while, recovering from a foot fracture, is in the mini-pen as well. Obviously, his boot is off and we’re waiting to see if he regains full use of that foot.

The Coop I’d hoped to get into the mini-pen and released before he did something typically Coop-stupid managed his first day in the mini-pen to do just that. I’m still not sure what he did or how, but he managed to injure himself badly enough that he required euthanasia. And yes, it sucked; he was doing so well up to that point...

The red tails are both getting antsy now; the goal is to get them released this week and move the barreds into the main raptor flight so they have more room.

And that pretty much sums it up for last week—just a typical slowish winter week.

Or perhaps “the best-laid plans o’ mice and men...” The good weather predicted for last week didn’t really materialize—remained too windy and with heavy rains predicted for the end of the week, everybody stayed where they were (and brother, did it rain...). So no releases, no moves into flights...just a holding pattern. And this week’s not looking much better, weatherwise.

Actually, the hen-eating first-year red tail is providing competition and encouragement to the first-year re-learning to fly after recovering from the elbow fracture. Last week I walked into the raptor flight to find the “older” bird (the one who’s been here the longest, in this case) on the high perch for the first time since he was moved outside—and he flew across the flight pen to land on the low perch. So looks like “hen-eater” is gonna have his release delayed while he serves as motivation for “elbow” to continue to test his limits.  They’re both eating well and competitive for food, although obviously “hen-eater” is more mobile—and a heckuva lotta fun to watch snag his food. I tried all week to get video of him catching tossed mice in mid-air; the short clip here is the best I could manage: https://youtu.be/dISRQYo90Y8. It’s not the sharpest focus but look at that bird’s mobility! (And sorry I can't post the video directly this week; Weebly's being stupid and refusing to let me upload YouTube videos.)

The barred owl who came in with the foot fracture should be in the mini-pen at this point, but I also need it for the Coop from last week’s update. Given the Coop’s high-strung nature, he’ll probably get first dibs just because I want him flight-ready and outta here before he has time to do anything stupidly “Coopy.”

And the deadly beginning to this year continues, with yet another barred owl coming in Tuesday with both wings broken, one an open fracture, and a first-year sharpie (sharp-shinned hawk) coming in last night with a bad open fracture. And of course, the sharpie managed to nail me as I was examining him. I eased my grip ever so slightly, and he jerked one deadly little foot loose and buried his hallux (back toe) talon right in the webbing between my fingers and the other talons across the top knuckle. While I was dripping blood everywhere, the finder kept asking if there was anything he could do. I had him reach up and flip off the headlamp I was wearing (the bird came in after dark); it took a few minutes but the darkness led the bird to relax his grip enough I could pry him off my hand. Normally a footed hand swells a bit and is really stiff and sore the next day; this one didn’t swell and isn’t stiff or especially sore...which I’m certainly not complaining about! I hated even more than usual to have to euthanize him, given his spunk and the fact that he was only a first-year bird, but his wing wasn’t fixable.

Let’s hope the remainder of this month and year is a little less deadly for wildlife; I’m thoroughly tired of getting in unsavable birds, and we’re just two weeks into 2022...

Rehabbers have mixed feelings about winter; on the one hand, it’s our slower season, time to relax a bit and recharge. On the other hand, the vast majority of our winter intakes either are DOA or require euthanasia, making it a frequently horrific time.

LWR’s first intake of the year was, not surprisingly, a barred owl. Unfortunately, he had a nasty open wing fracture that required euthanasia.

He was followed within a couple of days by a gorgeous mature red tail who had an open fracture at the elbow and a closed shoulder fracture. He also required euthanasia.

The head trauma barred from last week was well and truly permanently blind. He couldn’t see to find a perch and couldn’t locate his food outside the confines of his box. So he required euthanasia.

And the proverbial cherry on top was the great horned owl who came in Christmas Day, whose eye worsened rather than improving, so he also required euthanasia.

And then, starting this week off on the wrong note, an adult brown-headed cowbird came in late this afternoon; his leg was broken right in the joint, so yet another euthanasia to start this week...

Let me assure you, euthanasia NEVER gets easier. If anything, it gets harder. There are times, yes, when the bird is so far gone it’s a foregone conclusion. But when the bird is alert, aggressive and healthy apart from a life-ending fracture, you find yourself apologizing repeatedly to the poor creature as you put it down. It hurts like hell, even though you know it’s the right thing, the humane thing, to do.

All wasn’t gloom and doom, though, thank goodness.

The adult Cooper’s hawk, most likely male based on size, who came in with wounds along the right side of his body and upper thigh is—so far—doing well and has a healthy appetite. Nothing appears broken but he came in late Friday so he hasn’t seen a vet yet and may not need to; I’ll make that decision this week. Coops are high-strung, stressy birds, so I hold my breath every time I feed him or handle him to medicate him but as I said, so far, so good...

The barred recovering from a broken foot should be good to unwrap this week. I’ll check with Smalley’s to see if we need follow-up X-rays or if I can just unwrap it here at home.

The red tail removed from the chicken coop is rarin’ to go but it’s been too windy to release him just yet. This week is looking good.

And the red tail struggling to regain full use of his wing after the healed elbow fracture continues to surprise me—just when I think I need to start steeling myself for euthanasia, he shows improvement in his flight skills. I’m honestly beginning to suspect I’m being played here—he knows a good thing when he’s got it: steady meals, shelter...

Here’s hoping the rest of this week is less deadly. After last week and today, I could definitely use a break from euthanasias.

Hope everybody had a great Christmas, as well. Things were slow but steady here at LWR for the last two weeks of 2021, with three new intakes and a release.

Let’s dive right in with the release. The mature red tail who came in late on Dec. 19 was released once the blood in his eye was re-absorbed. He was quick to take his leave.

On Dec. 20, a caller reported removing a red tail from his chicken pen but not, unfortunately, before it ate one of his bantam hens and bloodied its face a bit trying to escape the pen. The caller said there was one area he’d not yet had time or funds to cover, which was where the hawk got in, but once in he couldn’t figure out how to get back out. When the caller arrived at LWR with the poor first-year bird, he looked a bloody mess from the scrapes on his face and the chicken blood in his feathers, but his crop was about three times the size of his head.

However, the facial wounds were superficial and he was alert and active. He was also very thin, hence the raid on the chicken pen—easy food. The finder said he would’ve just released him once he got him out of the pen except for the facial wounds and the fact that he didn’t want to lose any additional hens. Smart move—the bird would’ve likely returned to an easy food source.

He honestly didn’t eat for three days—I mean that crop was FULL. But once he’d finally digested all the hen, his appetite became voracious. He’s flying beautifully, eating well, and will remain at LWR for a while longer just to get him back up to a healthy weight before release.

He’s “rooming” with the other first-year with the frozen elbow, who’s not showing any additional improvement—he can manage about three feet of lift. We’re back to facing a tough decision with him...

On Christmas Day callers reported finding an owl by the side of the road. Since probably 95% of the owls found by the roadside are barreds, I expected a barred when they arrived. To my surprise it was a great horned. Size-wise, it could be a small female or a large male. I’m leaning toward male. His left pupil is completely dilated but he’s finding food and moving about the mini-pen with no trouble. We’ll give the eye more time to see what happens with it.

And on Dec. 29 a barred owl came in, found—surprise, surprise—by the roadside. Both pupils are completely dilated, milky and unresponsive to light but we’ll give him a little more time to see if there’s any improvement. Head trauma can sometimes take a good long while to resolve, while other times it resolves within days. It’s unpredictable.  Frankly, I suspect there’s some limited vision, as he seems to be able to find his mice when I place them in his box. Fingers crossed I’m right.

Finally, the barred recovering from the foot fracture should be ready to remove his boot in another week or so. Despite his general antsyness he’s actually been a pretty cooperative patient. I’m almost as anxious as he is to see how that foot’s healed.