Last week started and ended with visits to Smalley’s Animal Hospital—in other words, a fairly typical week.

The first intake of the week was a red-tailed hawk, about a third-year, based on tail and eye color.  He was found by birders the previous day and while they knew he had a wing injury, they weren’t sure of the extent of the injury.
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Unfortunately, his wing had an open fracture with infection. The infection, of course, could have been treated; the open fracture, as you know by now, is generally a death sentence. Because of the extent and location of this fracture, vet Richie Hatcher and I agreed euthanasia was the only humane option.

In happier news, Richie cleared the first-year red-tail recovering from a wing fracture for placement in the flight pen. The x-ray looked good; there was about as much healing as was going to occur, so it was now a matter of placing the bird in the flight and seeing what happened…

​I’m happy to report that after a month of confinement, he was able on his first day in the flight to fly its full length. Since then, however, he’s pretty much been immobile on one perch or another when I go in to freshen his food and water—and he’s not eating well at all, which is worrisome. He ate very well when  confined. If he doesn’t start eating soon, he’ll be moved back inside and hand-fed for a few days.

The squirrels are good to go and awaiting only a stretch of good weather for release.

With the red-tail in the flight, it seemed like a good idea to move the young great horned owl into the rehab bathroom and just let him sit on the open perch while he awaits his turn in the flight. Having done this with barred owl fledglings in the past, I knew the room would need “idiot-proofing”. This is an interesting undertaking because you have to look at the area from an owl’s perspective, and that’s harder than you think! Anything that has even a remote possibility of breakage must be removed. If there’s a chance it can be knocked down from its current location, move it. To lessen the buildup of poop, line everything with paper. Can it be turned over? Remove it. Can it be opened? Secure it or remove it. Are there corners where he could stash uneaten or half-eaten mice? Make sure you can access them easily for inspection and clean-up…
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Fortunately, since this IS the rehab bathroom we’re talking about, much of this was already done. Sooo…move the GHO into the larger area, under extreme protest—it was new and different and owls don’t especially like that; it forces what little gray matter they have to fire up.  He was NOT a happy camper, but he needed room to spread his wings, or so I thought…

Within half an hour, I heard an odd scrabbling noise coming from his new digs. Hmmm…he’s not on the perch; where did he go? I locate the source of the scrabbling: Doofus has hopped off the perch into a six-inch gap between boxes I placed in the tub to give him higher surface area if he hopped down there. He can’t get out, because figuring out how to get out on his own would require firing up that gray matter that owls have so very little of…

I sigh, laugh, and retrieve Doofus, intending to place him back on the perch. Nope. Not havin’ that. He folds his sizeable feet into balls and lets it be known he prefers his old digs for now, thanks. So he’s back in what I consider to be a too-small pen, but he’s happy—for now.

And I’ve been reminded once again that when it comes to owls, there’s no such thing as “idiot proof”!

Unfortunately, the week ended on a less-than-ideal note. Late Friday afternoon, a lady called about a cat-caught cedar waxwing. Her son had taken it from the neighbor’s free-roaming cat. (You KNOW my feelings on free-roaming cats, and I stand by my position that people who allow their cats to roam freely are not only contributing to wildlife decimation; they’re also irresponsible and uncaring pet owners.)
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This  striking bird was holding his left wing oddly but I couldn’t feel a fracture, so I checked to see if Smalley’s could work me in on short notice for an x-ray, as I didn’t want the bird to suffer all weekend with a broken wing if it was something we could deal with immediately. To our delight, neither wing was broken. Vet Peggy Hobby and I were sure the bird would be fine with some antibiotics and a little time.

He did have a small puncture wound above the left wing, so I figured that might be the reason for its odd positioning. Once I got him home, I cleaned and medicated the wound and started him on antibiotics, convinced he’d be releasable. He was alert, breathing easily, and eating well, so all looked good.

Unfortunately, the next morning he was dead, with a fair amount of blood draining from his beak. Apparently there were internal injuries, and these don’t show on x-rays. The poor bird bled out during the night.
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Could his death have been avoided? Absolutely, and you can play a major part in preventing such avoidable deaths by being a responsible cat owner and keeping your cats indoors.

…but until the first baby songbirds come in at LWR, spring ain’t officially sprung!

Nests are popping up everywhere, though, so baby season will kick in shortly.  How can you help the nesting parents and their soon-to-hatch babies?

First and foremost, don’t trim trees or shrubs without checking first for nests! Also, remember: no pesticides or insecticides on your grass, flowers, shrubs or trees. These chemicals not only kill the insects songbirds rely on for food; they also kill the birds themselves—both adults and nestlings.

Fresh hay scattered around your yard provides excellent nesting material. Please don’t attempt to “recycle” your dryer lint as nesting material; it’s not a good idea for wild birds. Also human or pet hair is a bad idea, for a variety of reasons. Humans tend to use all sorts of chemicals on their hair, never good for birds, and flea treatments on pets can also adversely affect birds. In addition, both types of hair pose a very real threat of tangling around nestlings’ feet or legs with potentially deadly results. So hay is your best option for nesting material.

If you don’t have nest boxes up for cavity nesters already, it’s not too late. Unlike raptors, who usually raise only one clutch a year (unless  the first nest is destroyed or the babies die), songbirds usually raise three to four clutches a year, so while you may have missed out on the first clutch, there’s time to get up nest boxes for the subsequent clutches this season.

Once again—and I can’t stress this enough—keep your cats indoors, for the welfare of both the birds and the cats.

Make sure there’s fresh water in shallow dishes in several places throughout your yard, and if you’re so inclined, you can even purchase mealworms, wax worms and other birdie delights to place in feeders in your yard or simply scatter on the ground. The extra food will aid the parents in feeding their young. Do this sparingly, however, as these bird delicacies also attract ants if too many are scattered and the birds don’t eat them fairly quickly. I’d recommend a few early in the morning and late in the evening, to aid with the first morning and last evening feedings.

Learn to determine quickly if a grounded bird needs human intervention. If the unnested baby is featherless, either with eyes closed or eyes open, it needs IMMEDIATE assistance. If you cannot find the nest or can’t reach it, place the baby on low heat and CALL YOUR LOCAL BIRD REHABBER without further delay.

If the baby bird has some feathers coming in and its eyes are open, again, look for the nest. If you can’t reach it, try making a makeshift nest from an old margarine tub or other small container. Punch a few SMALL holes in the bottom so it doesn’t collect water, line it with hay, and nail it to a tree as high as you can.  Place the baby bird in the makeshift nest and leave the area for about 30 minutes. When you return to check on the baby, if it’s sleeping quietly and/or has pooped in the “nest”, this is a good sign the parents are visiting and feeding; if not, CALL YOUR LOCAL BIRD REHABBER. CAVEAT: Do NOT use this method if you or your neighbors have free-roaming cats. It’s just an invitation for the cats to maul the babies. 

If the bird is fully feathered and has short tail feathers, it’s actually a fledgling and while its flight may be short and clumsy, it IS out of the nest but still being fed by its parents. Don’t be a birdnapper! As long as the fledgling isn’t in danger from predators, watch from a safe distance and see if the parents are coming down to feed it. Fledglings aren’t fed as often, so you might have to wait 45 minutes to an hour before seeing a parent swoop in with food. If, after 45 minutes to an hour, you haven’t seen a parent with a food delivery, CALL YOUR LOCAL BIRD REHABBER.
And, of course, all bets are off if the baby is injured or seems weak or lethargic. In these instances, CALL YOUR LOCAL BIRD REHABBER immediately.

On to the past week’s recap:
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The great horned owl nestling is about ready for the flight pen. He’s started test-flapping his wings a bit, so after the slight cold snap we’re supposed to be having over the next couple of days, we’ll see how he does in the flight pen. 

​The red-tailed hawk will go back in this week for follow-up x-rays and if the wing has healed sufficiently, he’ll need to go in the flight pen too. With two raptors of different species and only one raptor flight, we’ll have to rotate them in and out, giving each a week at a time in the flight, followed by a week inside. Unlike songbirds, raptors of different species don’t play well together!

​The squirrels are pretty much good to go; they’ll be 12 weeks old in a couple more weeks, although since I do soft releases I may see how they do with a slightly earlier release.  I did manage a short video of them eating their daily pecan treat last week.

​And the only new intake last week was an adult barred owl with a nasty, maggot-infested open fracture. He was euthanized immediately upon intake, as there was nothing else we could do for him. The photo below, of his wing, was taken after euthanasia.

The really bad thing is, this is barred owl nesting season, so this poor fellow likely had a mate on eggs or possibly very young hatchlings, so his death probably meant the deaths of his young, as well.

Owls have staggered nesting seasons, which I’ve always found interesting. Generally speaking, great horneds nest in January and February; barreds nest from March through August; screeches nest from about mid-March through mid-May; barn owls can nest year-round, dependent on food supply. Neat little tidbit, huh?

​LWR had an unusual visitor from Parts North last week, a merlin. Merlins, small falcons, aren’t year-round residents of Georgia; they only overwinter here, and this gal should’ve been on her way back home. She actually probably was, before losing her entire left wing in some sort of freak accident.

As best we can figure, she probably either sideswiped a side-view mirror or flew into a power line guide wire at just the right angle to shear her wing completely off.  Stop and think about how tough these little birds are: if a human’s arm was severed at the shoulder, that human would likely bleed to death if not rushed to the ER immediately. This little merlin, weighing just 5 ounces, not only survived a traumatic wing amputation in the wild, she was—despite being emaciated and dehydrated—still feisty, alert and had a healthy appetite.

This made euthanizing her all the more difficult, but it was the right action. Even if state and federal law didn’t stipulate that birds missing the wing above the wrist must be euthanized, it’s just not fair to a bird to keep it in captivity with only one wing. If the bird has the wing at least down to the wrist, it has some limited flight capability—not enough for release but enough to sate its desire, its need, for flight within the safe confines of a flight pen. To keep a bird like a merlin, accustomed to darting, diving flight, in captivity with no flight capability at all is cruel beyond words.
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Additionally, since the amputation site had already scabbed over when she came in, we really had no way of knowing just how much crud and potential infection lay behind that wound—or how much pain she was actually in. Wild animals hide their pain extremely well—it’s a survival mechanism. We could have done antibiotics for potential infection, and there are bird-safe pain meds. But none of that addressed the main issue: she had only one wing, which not only rendered her flightless, it also threw her balance off. This brought us full circle back to the cruelty of keeping a flightless bird in captivity. And so we euthanized—not without regret but knowing it was the best option, the kindest option, for the bird.

Our only other new intake was a DOA cat-caught adult male cardinal. His rescuer asked what could be done to prevent cats from preying on birds, so I’ll expand on my reply here.

The BEST way to prevent cats from preying on birds is to KEEP THE CATS INDOORS. As I’ve said repeatedly, this is not only safer for the birds, it’s safer for the cats. They’re not exposed to predators themselves, such as coyotes and great horned owls; they’re safe from dog attacks; they’re less likely to have ear mites, fleas, abscesses from fights, worms, etc.; they’re not at risk of being run over by cars or attacked by vicious cretins masquerading as humans…To give you a little perspective, the average lifespan of an outdoor cat is about four years; the average lifespan of an indoor cat is about 18 years.

If you’re not willing to be a responsible cat owner and keep your “darling” inside (and I would seriously debate your actual affection for an animal you willingly left in harm’s way), my advice is to learn to grit your teeth and turn your head as your furry little murderer wipes out the local bird population—by allowing your cat outdoors, you enable his/her predation, so don’t pretend to be sorry about it when you do nothing to prevent it. (And before I’m accused of hating cats, let me be clear on this: I have cats of my own whom I love dearly. They’re indoor-only and are quite happy with the arrangement—as is the local wildlife. Two of my cats are seniors, at 16 and 13 years, respectively, and one is nearly three. If they had been allowed to roam freely, chances are the senior moggies would be long-dead and the youngster would be rapidly approaching the end of her lifespan.)

The gray squirrels are in pre-release caging now and are mostly self-feeding. They’re still getting formula once daily, in a dish now, though. They’ve also become quite camera-shy, so try as I did, I couldn’t snag even one photo of them this week. Maybe next week when they’ve settled into their new digs a bit more…
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The red-tailed hawk continues to recuperate nicely and will be due for another x-ray in about a week and a half. He’s such a good patient—so calm and accepting of his situation as that wing heals. He sat patiently on his perch in the floor of the rehab bathroom while his box was being cleaned—no histrionics, no wild displays, just a model patient. If not for the need to limit motion in that wing for another couple of weeks, I’d just let him sit on the open perch in the rehab bathroom. He’s that good a bird.

​And the young great horned owl is amazed that his foot can grasp a mouse. However…that’s as far as his little brain has managed to date. He holds the mouse, looks at it, looks around, looks at it, and then drops it and looks expectantly at the feeding forceps. Yeah, whoever came up with that “wise old owl” trope obviously never spent much time around owls!

Last week was a wee bit busier than the previous week, with three new intakes. Still too early for most songbirds to have nestlings, though, so we’re still pretty much in raptor/adult songbird mode at the moment.
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This gorgeous little female mourning dove was found grounded in a recent clear-cut patch several counties away. 

Let me hop on my soapbox for a moment before discussing her case and state that clear-cutting is just WRONG. It’s environmentally unfriendly, taking out natural carbon dioxide sinks/oxygen producers; it leaves the clear-cut areas vulnerable to massive erosion; it destroys wildlife habitat—in short, I can’t think of a single positive thing to say about clear-cutting. Period. It’s just a lazy method loggers have adopted as less work for them, and people don’t think to ask about or aren’t willing to pay extra for selective cutting/thinning. It CAN be done; if you MUST cut your trees, check around until you find a reputable company that will selective-cut.
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Back to the dove: her wing was broken and it was an open fracture that had already begun to get infected. There was nothing to do but humanely end her suffering.

Was her injury related to the clear-cutting? We have no way of knowing. Her rescuer shares my opinion of the practice, though.
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The squirrels, even though the photo suggests otherwise, are actually awake more often and eating solids now. They’ll be placed in a larger pen later this week so they have room to move around and learn to be proper squirrels in preparation for their release in about a month.

​This adult red-tailed hawk was found several counties away. The game warden who called about him knew at first glance his wing was broken; the question was how badly. 

​An examination of the hawk upon intake indicated he’d been down for some time. He was rail-thin and somewhat lethargic. Further, the left wing felt as if it had already started healing—badly. We needed x-rays to determine if this was something we could work with, although my gut said not. 

​The x-rays, courtesy of Smalley’s Animal Hospital, confirmed that this wasn’t a fracture that would have been fixable when it was fresh, much less now that it had already started forming a callus. Vet Michelle Brinsko agreed we had no viable options, and this poor fellow was euthanized.

​In better news, though, the first-year red-tail’s fractured right wing is healing nicely. It’s only been two and a half weeks, so none of us were expecting massive healing, of course. My fear was that we’d x-ray and see no healing or, worse yet, no healing and further displacement. To our delight, we have a nice callus forming! Vet Peggy Hobby said it looked great and another two to three weeks of confinement should give us enough healing to consider moving him to the flight pen. We’ll do x-rays again at that point to confirm that he’s ready to test his wings, but all looks VERY promising at the moment.

​And just yesterday, a concerned family called about a young owl they’d woken up to find sitting on the ground at the corner of their porch. They knew they had great horned owls on their property but had not heard them calling for the past several nights, and then this little guy was sitting all by himself—no parents or sibs in sight.

The family did everything right. They watched for a couple of hours to see if his parents called him back into the woods or any sibs showed up. Two hours is a reasonable amount of time with baby raptors but NOT songbirds—never wait more than an hour with baby songbirds, as they must be fed much more frequently than baby raptors.
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When he continued to walk aimlessly around their yard, they searched for someone to help him and brought him to LWR, where he’s the typical GHO nestling: a sweetly doofusy-looking bottomless pit who will mature into a ferocious predator. Don’t let that goofy baby look fool you: GHOs are top-tier predators with few natural enemies aside from man.

Below is one of his first feedings yesterday:

And one of today's feedings: