博客存档 - Laurens Wildlife Rescue

A welcomed slower week

2/25/2024

LWR had only one intake last week, which made for a welcome mini-break. Gotta take advantage of those small breathers when we can!

The sole intake was a red shoulder with a broken shoulder. Sometimes fractures require x-rays to determine their severity; this one did not. It was an open fracture at the shoulder, and as y’all know by now, open wing fractures are a death sentence. He was humanely euthanized.

The red tail who came in with no fractures and seemed primarily concussed began throwing up everything that was in his very full-on-intake crop. It took him two days to finally empty his crop, and another day before he attempted to eat anything—only a mouse head—and the day after that small meal he began having seizures as he cast a very nasty dark green, slimy pellet containing the entire undigested head. Within a couple of hours, he was unable to stand and the seizures had become virtually nonstop, so I opted to end his suffering. All I can figure is he’d gotten into some kind of poison that, despite his emptying his crop, had still managed to get into his system.

The falcon is still on hold, at least for another week. Several people suggested various facilities to check out as placement options, and none of them panned out—and the facilities or raptor educators THOSE facilities suggested were also uninterested. I have a couple of other options to check out, and then we’re just gonna have to call it.

The red screech is looking like a sure release, to my delight; the gray is a bit iffier, but I have him pretty much placed already should he not be releasable. Given that they’ve only been in the mini-pen for about 10 days, we’re gonna give them both a bit longer, just to be sure and to allow for flight conditioning, as well.

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Mixed week

2/18/2024

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Any week in wildlife rehab is a mixed week, I suppose, but last week was one of those “highest of highs, lowest of lows” weeks: releases, a death and a euthanasia, all within slightly over 48 hours.

Beginning with today’s intake, this gorgeous mature red tail came in with a massive concussion, badly bruised eye, and a full crop. He’s well fleshed and nothing appears to be broken, so we’ll give him time to decompress and see how he looks in 24-48 hours.

Moving to the releases, both red shoulders regained their freedom. Red shoulder 1, who’d come in with a broken “hand,” had what would have been an utterly gorgeous release, had the focus lock on the camera stayed locked… As it is, if you follow the blur in the approximate middle of the screen, you can see him flying low to the ground right up to the end, when he shoots up into a tree.

Red shoulder 2, who’d come in with the massive eye infection, was more than ready to go and convinced I was preventing his flight. He had a death grip on the glove, and when I released my grip on him, he flipped upside down, batlike, for a second before realizing he was free.

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The barred owl went a few feet from the glove, landed on the ground, and when I put away the camera and started toward him to retrieve him, it suddenly dawned in him that he was, in fact, free, and he soared away as I scrambled to get the camera back out and on.

The red tail with the swollen toe didn’t survive. He was alert, eating voraciously, and then…dead. I honestly suspect some sort of venom from maybe a spider bite or something, even though no wound was ever visible on that toe.

A small male great horned owl came in with an open fracture at the right wrist and required euthanasia. Given that great horneds are on the nest right now, that likely means a female is out there having to leave her babies unprotected while she hunts to feed them. Scenarios like that make me shudder…

The falcon is, quite frankly, on borrowed time at the moment. We’ll see what next week holds.

And when the screeches were moved into the mini-pen, they both surprised the heck out of me by flying—and flying well. Maybe it was sheer adrenaline aiding them, but we’re talking straight, strong flight. Recall that their x-rays indicated they would NOT be releasable because they wouldn’t be flighted…and yet they seem to be preparing to prove us wrong. In cases like this, I’m delighted to be wrong!

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More o’ the same

2/11/2024

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We had no new releases and only one new intake last week: a first-year red tail with a massively swollen toe that falconer Dennis Mock called to say he was taking in and would get to me the following day. There are no puncture wounds or scabs to indicate bumblefoot, and the toe is too swollen to feel any potential breaks. He’ll be headed in for x-rays to make sure we don’t have a toe fracture.

He was delivered to LWR by falconer Kayla Simmons. You may recall that Kayla is the falconer who took 2023’s “star” red shoulder—the one who came in as an app. 24-hour-old hatchling and had no surviving sibs and no other red shoulders in rehab to learn from. She’d been hunting yesterday with Bleu, as her husband named him, and had him with her. Look what a gorgeous bird he matured into! He and Kayla obviously have a great partnership.

Aside from that, it was the usual: the screeches are approaching the date that their fractures should be healed enough to test for flight—more to confirm those injuries didn’t heal for flight than anything else, as we know based on their x-rays it’s highly unlikely either will ever fly again. But the raptor educator interested in them has already been back in touch to see where things stand with them.

The falcon placement looks as if it’s going to fall through; the raptor educator who was planning to take her had second thoughts based on her described behavior and has found a bird who’s less problematic. Her spastic behavior is going to be an issue with any potential placement, I’m afraid, but I’ll be contacting Georgia DNR’s head biologist Bob Sargent this week to see if he has any leads. As harsh as it may sound, the reality is that she’s taking space and resources I need for other birds…

The barred owl with the wing fracture required euthanasia; both the radius and ulna were broken, right at the joint.

The other barred is one of the birds who needs to be in a flight.

Red shoulder 1 remains in the mini-pen for the moment; I didn’t get him and the falcon switched out last week.

Red shoulder 2, who came in with the nasty eye infection, is looking great; given his reluctance to eat in captivity—it’s been a struggle since intake—he may be a candidate for release next week, with no time in a flight. I know his wings work just fine, thanks; he’s gotten loose a couple of times as I was medicating his eye and led me a merry chase inside…

Feb. 5

Feb. 7

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Near-perfect week

2/4/2024

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Yeah, it was a GOOD week. Sadly, rehabbers don’t often have really good weeks, but this past week was amazing. LWR had 3 releases and one of the week’s intakes has made spectacular progress.

So let’s start with releases, as those had been postponed for what feels like forever due to weather.

The red tail wasted no time leaving when offered his freedom.

Barred 1 also skedaddled.

Screech 2, however, had to sit and think about it a while, long enough to draw the attention of a very peeved ruby-crowned kinglet who, not content with cussing him out from a safe distance, insisted on dive-bombing him to the ground when he finally decided his release site was acceptable. He recovered and flew off, kinglet in hot pursuit. Talk about being too big for your britches!

And rounding out the amazing part of the week, a red shoulder with a massively infected left eye came in on Monday. On intake, it was such a mess I honestly didn’t think there was an eyeball to be saved. Once the eyelid had been rinsed enough to gently pry open, blood, pus and tears poured out like a small river, and I still couldn’t tell if there was a viable eyeball in that swollen mess.

But I started oral and topical meds, and just LOOK at the results…

Jan. 30

Jan. 31

Feb. 1

Feb. 2

Feb. 3

This morning, Feb. 4

He’s still got a while to go, but look at that progress!

The second intake of the week was another barred owl, this one apparently pulled from a vehicle grille at a convenience store overnight and stuffed in a box and put inside the store. A couple who stopped there the next morning saw the poor bird and got him to LWR. His left wing is broken; we’re aiming at x-rays next week to see if it’s a fixable break. His jaw may also be dislocated, as his beak grinds when he tries to click it in threat.

The other barred owl, also slated for release last week, proved unable to fly. Given that there are no wing fractures, this is most likely a case of coracoid fracture, which will just take time to heal.

Of the two remaining screeches, the likely nonreleasable pair, the red remains shy and has shredded the box lining to make a makeshift nest. The gray has slammed himself into the sides and top of his box to the point that he’s “scalped” himself a bit, poor fellow. He’s the one I think may surprise us all and end up being releasable.

Red shoulder 1 will be switched out with the falcon this week, so he can have a chance to build his flight muscles back up: red shoulder in main flight and falcon in mini-pen. Then maybe he can get his long-awaited release, as well.

And while colleague Steve Hicks will be working with the falcon in the interim, we have found placement for her with Steve Longenecker, a raptor educator in NC. Thanks are definitely due to Georgia raptor educator Beth Thomson of Blue Ridge Raptors, who saw Steve L.’s post about needing a falcon and passed it along to me. Once all the paperwork is approved by the feds, she’ll be on her way to NC—but the wheels of government move slowly, so it will likely be months before the transfer takes place.

Here’s hoping this week is, if not as amazing as last week, at least not one of “those” weeks…

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A welcomed slower week

Mixed week

More o’ the same

Near-perfect week

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