Can you believe February is nearly over? It’s been a slowish month but I’m not complaining; the pace will pick up when baby season lurches into high gear.
The great horned is *thisclose* to being a brancher—nicely feathered wings and tail and feathers beginning to replace down everywhere else, giving her a bit of a scruffy look at the moment. And she doesn’t really want me feeding her now: She’ll take two or three mice and then wait for me to just drop the rest in her box so she can eat them at her leisure later. And oh, the cussin’ she does when I move her into a small holding box to change the paper in her larger box... I did manage a few better shots of her clodhopper feet last week. The only new intake last week came in yesterday, an adult red-phase screech whose right wing doesn’t feel broken but he’s guarding it and it droops a little—obviously, we’ll need X-rays to see if the wing is broken or if he may have a coracoid fracture or possibly soft tissue damage. His right eye is also filled with blood but the pupil looks good and seems responsive; the blood should reabsorb over the next couple of weeks. His attitude is classic pissy screech and his appetite is good. And I’m awaiting the arrival of a barred owl who’s in pretty bad shape—was seen by the roadside being stalked by a vulture and is reportedly quite lethargic. More on him next Sunday.
Can you believe February is nearly over? It’s been a slowish month but I’m not complaining; the pace will pick up when baby season lurches into high gear.
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There were no new intakes last week, so the nestling great horned owl is currently the only bird at LWR. Given the outlandish size of the bird’s feet, even for a great horned, I’m leaning toward this being a female. I mean, she’s got gunboats for feet. But I haven’t yet managed a good, clear shot of those clodhoppers. She’s eating well and full of attitude, all bad. She’s even started some limited self-feeding, although she still hasn’t quite figured out how the feet play into eating. I’m not surprised; she probably scares herself every time she lifts a foot and then takes a gander at that huge thing right at her face... Anyway, you get an update full of photos of Miss Attitude! And I’m a bit late in reminding y’all, but the Great Backyard Bird Count started Friday, Feb. 18, and runs through tomorrow, Feb. 21. Details can be found on the GBBC website: https://www.birdcount.org/participate/?utm_campaign=GBBC%202022&utm_source=email&utm_content=email2
Last week was eventful, with the first baby of the season coming in early in the week and a slew of releases throughout the week.
The first baby of 2022 is a nestling great horned owl who was nearly attacked by a dog. He has no injuries, either from his fall or the dog. But he DOES have an appetite, and an attitude...
For those who may not remember, great horneds have eggs in the nest in December-January and babies by January-February. So they’re normally the first baby raptors we see, although barn owls sometimes beat them to the punch, as barnies have no set breeding season, breeding whenever the food supply is plentiful enough.
All three remaining barred owls were released; I only managed video of one release.
Both red tails were released; I managed good video of one release and a couple of passable post-release photos of the other red tail.
So now the raptor flights are temporarily unoccupied, which I hope will give me time to get some routine maintenance done before they’re needed again. Knock on wood...
While I realize increased numbers of bald eagles in rehab means their numbers are truly on the rebound, which is excellent, I also kinda miss the days when LWR might see an eagle every 7 years or so, instead of every few months...Our first for the year arrived yesterday. And because I’m still recovering from an upper respiratory virus making its merry way through my neck of the woods, I’m pretty basically copying and pasting the email I sent to DNR and FWS regarding the eagle intake yesterday—every bit of saved effort is good when it feels like you’re hacking up a lung every time you cough... At app. 2:30pm Feb. 5, 2022, I received a call from DNR Region 3 about a downed bald eagle; the eagle was actually in Reg. 4 but the call center misdirected the call, so kudos to Reg. 3 for being proactive in seeking help for an out-of-region bird. The bird was just over the Dodge/Telfair line right off Hwy 117 and was reported to be reluctant to fly and mostly sitting with its head tucked. I talked to the finders, who were unable to transport the bird, so at app. 2:34pm I called DNR Game Tech Chris Mimbs, who agreed to pick up the bird on his day off. He arrived with the eagle around 5pm, and it was obviously neurologic and randomly “honking” when it tried to breathe. Chris said the finders had seen an eagle and several vultures eating from a gut pile earlier in the week where the landowner had apparently killed some wild hogs; he and I figured then it had lead poisoning. I called Auburn for their advice as to transport or treatment, given that it was a weekend and I was unlikely to be able to reach either of the vets who work with me on wildlife. The Raptor Clinic recommended making sure the bird was stable and getting both rads and a lead test before transport, as high enough lead levels were grounds for euthanasia rather than treatment and there would be no point in transporting a bird to them just for euthanasia. I then left a message with the vet that I considered most likely to return a weekend call and called Bob Sargent, head of GA DNR’s Eagles Program, to alert him to the eagle intake. In my message to him, I indicated the bird seemed more stable than on intake, but shortly afterward the bird suffered a massive seizure. At 7:30pm he was resting quietly but was unable to lift his head and his eyes looked glazed; I didn’t expect him to make it through the night. I placed the bird in a donut to ease his breathing and informed DNR and FWS I’d update them Sunday and, of course, keep the carcass on ice until DNR could retrieve it should he die overnight...which, sadly, I felt would be the case. Sometime between midnight and 8:30 this morning, the eagle died. Given the level of rigor mortis, I’d guess it was around 3-4am—it’s almost a dark joke among rehabbers that deaths nearly always seem to occur around 3 or 4 in the morning. Both agencies were notified and the carcass is on ice awaiting retrieval by DNR, probably tomorrow morning. Because Weebly still refuses to correct its issues with directly linking to YouTube videos, the best I can do is provide you the links; click on them to see the videos of the eagle's neurologic symptoms on intake and his later seizure: https://youtu.be/WbBn7Qol1oU and https://youtu.be/vovO-fU5uqU In other news, two additional barreds came in the last full week of January—a full 60% of LWR’s intakes for January were barreds. One of these was totally blind in one eye, in addition to having a shoulder fracture; he was euthanized. The other is still recovering from head trauma and is spotty with his eating, so he’s still inside until I’m convinced he can hold his own with the barreds in the mini-pen. The trio in the mini-pen reduced itself to a duo when one of the UGA barreds self-released Friday evening. I would’ve preferred to give them all additional time in the main raptor flight after releasing the red tails, but all releases and movements were put on hold while I was sick. Again, click on the link to see the self-released barred owl: https://youtu.be/At0jLbwDdkg The red tails remain antsy; hopefully this week I’ll be able to get them released. They’re so ready to go; I hate their release was delayed but about the only time I was vertical last week was to feed birds, then I’d crawl back to bed, move the electric blanket dial from “high” to “electrocute” and try not to hack up a lung...
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