If you’ll recall, the stated goal in last Sunday’s update was to switch out the first-year red tail and the brancher great horned owl this past week. Yeah, well…both are still where they were last week.  Stuff happens.

The great horned, aside from trashing her box every single night, is doing well where she is for the moment, and I wanted to give the red tail one more week because honestly, it’s not looking good for him. I suspect we’re dealing with soft-tissue damage that’s not going to heal, as he’s not attempting to fly at all, instead running away from me and then toward his food as I leave the raptor flight. I’ll probably call it, reluctantly, on him this week…
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Miss Pissy, however, should do beautifully once she’s in the raptor flight. She’s lost absolutely zero of her wild edge, hissing and snapping and lunging up at me even as I drop her food in her box.  I love it! (Yeah, raptor rehabbers are weird that way; we LIKE to see our birds full of piss and vinegar.)

​The screeches continue to mend. Screech 2, with no fractures but probably a bruised wing, should be okay to flight test this week. Screech 1, recovering from the wing fracture, will need a follow-up vet visit soon for more x-rays to see how his wing looks. They’re probably the most uncooperative screeches I’ve had in a while when it comes to photos. It’s pretty obvious they’d prefer to be elsewhere, too!

Both the adult great horned and the barred are nearly due for follow-up x-rays, too, so we’ll hope their fractures have healed well. The barred, if you’ll recall, is the long shot; his chances weren’t great from the outset but we wanted to give him a chance.

Finally, I’m not licensed for rabies vector species (RVS) and seldom take them in, as it means transferring them to a rehabber who is RVS-licensed. I usually just refer people directly to her. However, last Monday, I received two bat calls, one from the public and one from one of my local game wardens. Because I have a major soft spot for bats and because I knew I’d easily be able to transfer them to the RVS-licensed rehabber a few counties away, I agreed to take both. While both were supposedly en route I made arrangements to transfer the next day. The game warden showed up a few hours later, but the public caller never brought his and never responded to my follow-up calls. Given that the bat had been found grounded and apparently had a broken wing, I’m guessing that one didn’t survive to even reach LWR.
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The one the game warden brought had been found in a neighboring county and somehow ended up at a gas station in Laurens County. He could never get a straight story on exactly how that happened, and at that point the main thing was to get the bat away from the people who had it. On intake at LWR, the poor fellow, a little brown bat, looked rough but seemed active if badly dehydrated, which remained a problem; I simply could not keep him hydrated. But he remained active, so I was hopeful he’d be okay for the night and ready for transfer the next morning.

Sadly, when I checked on him the next morning, he was hanging from his makeshift roost, dead, as if he’d died in his sleep. (Yes, that’s soft screen mesh and masking tape to hold it on the box. Hey, sometimes ya gotta improvise.)

Let me issue a caveat here: while less than one half of one percent of the bat population is likely to have rabies, they ARE still considered rabies vectors and CAN contract the disease and spread it to you if they bite you—or at the very least, cost you a goodly sum in post-exposure vaccine expenses.

Often, grounded bats are already sick or dying, although sometimes a female still allowing her near-grown pups to cling to her will end up grounded from the sheer weight of her babies. If you see a grounded bat, DO NOT handle it without gloves—and I don’t mean thin exam gloves either; you need thick enough gloves to protect you from a potential bite. Bat teeth are so needle sharp that you might not even realize you’ve been bitten, so take the proper precautions.

As you should do with all wildlife needing assistance, place the bat in a secure cardboard box lined with a soft, clean cloth, then immediately call a rehabber to seek help. Do not offer it food or water, as this places your hands in close proximity to those tiny, sharp teeth. Let the properly trained individuals handle this.

Why am I harping on what should be common-sense measures? Because people often don’t exhibit common sense when it comes to wildlife, and if a bat should bite you because of your improper handling of it, your pocketbook may take a hit but the bat will lose its life, as it will need to be euthanized and its head sent in for testing for rabies.
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Don’t be the doofus who causes any wildlife to lose its life needlessly because of your improper handling of it. Take the proper precautions when handling any wildlife, and CALL A REHABBER for advice on how to capture, box and transport the wildlife to said rehabber or one of his/her colleagues.

Between the advent of spring and the full moon last week, it was just a crazy time—no further babies yet, but lots of injured adults.
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First, let’s update the conditions of the two birds awaiting x-rays as of last Sunday: the cardinal and the screech.
The cardie’s humerus was trashed, not the shoulder as I’d suspected. Despite his alertness and aggressiveness, there was no way for the bird to recover from that sort of fracture, so he was euthanized.

​The second screech was luckier: her x-rays were clear. She does favor her left wing a bit, but nothing is broken. We probably have a little soft tissue damage going on there, so she’ll stay confined for a while to give it time to heal.

As for the young great horned,  she’s ready for the raptor flight and will probably go out there this week. The adult great horned, the barred and the first screech, all recovering from wing fractures, continue to do well.

Early in the week, two more cardies came in, a male and a female. The male died overnight; the female was releasable after 24 hours’ observation. I tried for a video of her release but she shot out of the box before I could focus the camera and then disappeared into the trees, so…
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This gorgeous first-year red tail came in from a neighboring county, crammed into a box way too small, as you can see from the intake photos. His x-rays showed no fractures but he refuses to fully extend his  left wing. He’s in the raptor flight at the moment but will be brought back inside this week for the young great horned to stretch her wings instead.

​Early morning exercisers at the local hospital found a dead duck and an injured one at the pond. The injured duck, a female mallard, had a badly displaced fracture and was euthanized.

​A third screech came in from a vet clinic in a neighboring county. Both her wings had small fractures that were already showing early callusing, and she had an extremely cloudy right eye. Vet Peggy Hobby and I agreed the wings should heal with no problem, and we’d treat the eye and see how it looked as the wings healed. She was alert, aggressive, eating well…and dead the day after her vet visit. Not a clue why, as all the outward indicators were that she should’ve healed for probable release.

​And, of course, what week would be complete without another barred owl? If there are intakes any given week, you can almost bet one will be a barred. Unfortunately, this poor fellow’s wing was beyond repair; no x-ray was needed to see this was not something we could fix. He was euthanized and the photo below taken after euthanasia—you can clearly see the left wing is facing the complete opposite direction from the uninjured right wing.

LWR’s first baby for 2019 is a late nestling/early brancher great horned owl. She’s more a late nester than early brancher, as she’s not too interested in trying to perch at the moment. But she’s definitely female. This gal’s already, at approximately half-grown, as large as the full-grown adult male great horned who came in earlier in the week—got feet like gunboats, she does!
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The tree her nest was in was cut down by loggers. They said they normally try to look for nests but saw nothing until this gal bounced on the ground as the tree came down. Given that she did fall from the tree, I took her in for X-rays, as well, and hers were clear—no fractures. 

In the second video above, she was highly peeved that I was handling her to change the paper in her box—oh, the indignity!
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The adult male great horned who came in a couple of days before she did has a right wing fracture, right in the joint. It’s “hidden” in the joint so well that an initial intake exam left me convinced he was merely stunned, but when I tested him in the raptor flight, he couldn’t gain altitude. I suspected then we might have a coracoid fracture, as one of the signs is inability to gain altitude. His x-rays at Smalley’s, however, showed a broken elbow with early signs of callusing. The joint may freeze as it heals, but vet Peggy Hobby and I agreed it was worth giving the bird time to heal and see how it plays out. You can compare the circled areas on the right and left wing X-rays below to see the difference in the uninjured and fractured joints.

​The red tail whose release was delayed by inclement weather finally got his chance at freedom and wasted no time taking advantage of it.

​The same day the adult male great horned came in, an adult male barred also came in as a window-strike victim. He’d just been stunned and had no fractures—again, he was flight tested after overnight observation, and then released. He didn’t hang around long enough for post-release photos.

As an aside here, first, don’t worry, the house he flew over is empty. I generally don’t release near populated areas if it’s avoidable. Second, ideally, adult birds should be released back into their established territory, but when birds come in from “somewhere on the interstate” or other…ummm…less than locatable territories, rehabbers do the next best thing and find a suitable location for release.

And in a massive KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS rant, this adult male cardinal was “presented” to an outdoor cat’s owners by the cat. He has no tail feathers, the few feathers left on his wings are broken, his right shoulder is a bloody mess, and there's probably a shoulder fracture under that bloody mess. Believe it or not, he’s alert, active and eating, so he’ll head to Smalley’s tomorrow for X-rays to see just how bad the damage to his shoulder is. Fortunately, it’s early yet in the season, so it’s not likely he has a mate on eggs or babies in the nest. ​All this could have been avoided if the cat had been INDOORS.

​The long-shot barred and screech continue to heal; fingers crossed they’ll both be releasable. I still have serious doubts about the barred, but we’ll see.

​And just this morning, a caller reported that he’d had an owl fly into his open passenger-side truck window as he was driving last night—how weird is that? He said he heard a strange noise and thought something had come loose on his truck, but when he got home and picked up his coat, there was an owl on it. He put the bird in a box for the night and attempted release this morning, but it was no go, so he called LWR. We now have a second red-phase screech who appears to be a smallish female and who may have a wing fracture. She will also need X-rays tomorrow.

As you’ll recall, the young male red tail was placed in the raptor flight last week, whereupon we had several unseasonably cold days and nights, followed by a rain threat that, as of this moment, appears to’ve fizzled. All this means the poor fellow’s release has been delayed. He needed the extra time, anyway, as he was initially a bit reluctant to fly. This isn’t an issue anymore; he’s flying beautifully and eating well. So…weather cooperating, we’re aiming at a release tomorrow!
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The screech continues to eat well as his wing fracture heals (we hope; remember, it’s right in the joint), and he’s still the reigning king of stinkeye.

The barred owl is still awaiting further callusing on his wing fractures (again, we hope) and will need follow-up x-rays in a few weeks.
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And the only intake for the week was a gorgeous first-year female red tail with a nasty wing fracture and a fractured or dislocated hip. She came in crawling with maggots, so before I could take her to the vet for x-rays to see what we had to work with, I had to “de-maggot” her. This took the better part of the day of intake, so the goal was to take her to Smalley’s the following day, but she died overnight. I wasn’t overly surprised, honestly. She was fairly well-fleshed but waaay too docile to’ve been a healthy bird.

​Baby bird season will kick in within the next few weeks, so we’re trying to get organized for that. The mesh in the songbird flight needed replacing; we’re half-done and hope to finish within the next couple of days. My niece has been helping with that, thank goodness; it’s a four-handed job. I’ve got to load up on paper towels and Kleenex, as well, and get the rehab room cleaned out and organized so everything’s in place when those first wee ones come in. If they’ll juuuust hold off another couple of weeks…

It was, overall, a pretty darn good week for wildlife at LWR. After several less-than-stellar weeks, a week with no euthanasias and only one DOA was a nice reprieve.

First, the minor miracle: if you’ll recall, since mid-January the long-shot barred owl has been patiently (more or less) on cage rest, waiting to see if that badly displaced wing fracture would heal. He was one of three birds to visit Smalley’s this week for x-rays, and while there’s still some healing to do, vet Peggy Hobby and I were both pleasantly surprised at his follow-up x-ray. A callus is forming nicely, and it looks as if the muscles succeeded in pulling the bones back pretty close together. There’s another fracture near the wrist that isn’t as healed and probably won’t heal as well, but given the results of the humerus fracture, Peggy and I agreed a few more weeks wouldn’t hurt. He may still not heal for flight, but it’s worth the extra time to see what happens. As Peggy said, “Isn’t the body amazing?!”
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Below are the barred’s x-rays from January and from March 1. 

​Unfortunately, the great horned owl who came in severely emaciated and lethargic wasn’t as lucky. He never opened his eyes after intake and struggled to swallow. He died overnight.

​This late second-year red tail was found on the interstate. Although he didn’t appear to have any injuries aside from a concussion, I wanted X-rays to confirm that. I was pretty sure when he busted out of his box twice the afternoon before his vet visit, but still…X-rays are always best. The X-rays were clear but I’m guessing he has a slightly strained muscle on his right wing; it looked as if he’d picked at it after intake. After the small hot spot he’d created was treated, he went into the raptor flight, where he thus far seems to prefer the ground, although I know he can fly. I startled him when checking to see if he’d eaten his mice, and he flew beautifully. He’s not above a nice threat display, though.

​And rounding out the week, we have a gorgeous little male red-phase screech owl. He was found in the road in a neighboring county. It’s sometimes hard to tell male from female screeches if they’re not side by side for size comparison, but this wee man is small enough that I’m positive he’s male. He was really concussed and shocky on intake and it was obvious his right wing was fractured at the elbow—it felt like right in the joint. X-rays confirmed this, and while the joint may freeze when it heals, Peggy and I decided it was worth giving him time to see. Meanwhile, he’s starting to act more like a screech, giving me his best stinkeye just 48 hours after intake…Gotta love that screech attitude!