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Raining great horneds!

3/26/2023

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The brancher great horneds flooded in last week, along with a couple more barreds. It was an...interesting week, to say the least.

The singleton great horned was joined by THREE “sibs” in one afternoon. Two of the three came from Henry County; the third came from Bibb. Attempts were made on the third to convince the property owners to allow renesting using a laundry basket tied to a tree, but according to the Animal Control officer who picked up the bird, they refused. So all three ended up at LWR to make a quartet. They’re a bit too young for harmony, so a career on the road as a gospel group is off the table...They’re quite a photogenic group, though.
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A fourth great horned brancher came in Friday from Jefferson County, with a broken wing. The x-rays showed what would have been grounds for immediate euthanasia in an adult bird, but vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital and I decided to consult with Carolina Raptor Center to see if their avian vets thought it was fixable, given the bird’s young age. Sadly, they reported that the proximity of the fracture to the joint and the shortness of the bone ends precluded pinning it surgically and recommended we go ahead and euthanize. And if you think euthanizing an adult bird sucks, let me be the first to tell you euthanizing a baby sucks even worse.
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The concussed great horned from a couple of weeks ago was released. The goal with adults is always to release them back in their home territory but so many of the adults LWR receives are found “on I-16” or “somewhere on 441” or the like that it’s frequently difficult or impossible to do so. In this case the finders knew he’d come from their property and were delighted to pick him up and release him. As the video they graciously shared shows, it was a beautiful release!
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The sharpie x-rays showed a fractured ulna and “hand.” Peggy and I agreed that since neither fracture was displaced, he should have a good chance at healing for flight. The ulna fracture IS pretty close to the joint, but not so close it should freeze the joint.  Thus far, he’s a fairly calm patient—unusual in accipiters, but I’m certainly not complaining!
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The concussed barred owl who favored his left wing still favors it a bit but is hopping from perch to perch in the mini-pen. He’s headed to the main flight this week.
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Thursday afternoon an adult barred owl came in, emaciated and lethargic. There were no apparent injuries, and given his behavior and the risk of avian flu, I quarantined the bird. He remained lethargic and refused food, which isn’t unusual for the first 48 hours or so after a head injury, but when he started having small seizures, one after another, I opted for euthanasia.  I don’t suspect avian flu, as infected birds don’t usually last 48 hours; it looked more like he’d gotten into some sort of poison.

And Thursday morning a young man called with a barred owl he’d found by the roadside on the way to high school. He skipped his morning classes to bring the bird to LWR—after alerting his teachers of his activity. I commend this young man for his actions; he gives me hope for the future. His bird was also concussed with no other signs of injury and will go into the mini-pen once the current occupant moves to the main flight. And the young man has already been back in touch to check on the bird and ask if he can release it back where he found it when it’s ready to go. We’re a week or so away from that, but again, that would be the ideal scenario!
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Inclement weather brings in birds

3/19/2023

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LWR had three new intakes this week, all most likely related to our weather, which issued a firm reminder that, true to the old wives’ tale, there will always be cold snaps until Easter.

Monday saw an adult barred owl and an adult screech come in. The barred favored his left wing and was concussed out of his gourd. However, by Wednesday he was alert and by Saturday morning, he’d figured out how to get out of his box and fly through the rehab facility, so into the mini-pen he went, where he still favors that left wing a little but is making great progress.
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The screech had somehow managed to get in the vent of someone’s cooker, where he apparently spent the weekend; upon the person’s return from out of town, he found the bird after hearing a commotion in the cooker. Upon intake at LWR, the screech was alert, aggressive and a little on the thin side. He ate very well Monday night but didn’t touch his food Tuesday night, which wasn’t especially concerning since he’d eaten three mice the previous night and raptors in the wild don’t always eat every day. But Wednesday night, he died. All I can figure is exposure to some sort of chemicals in the cooker.
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Saturday afternoon a first-year sharpie came in, rail-thin and with a fresh ding on his right wrist; he’d been down for some time before that, though, based on the shredded tips of his tail feathers. He didn’t eat at all and was quite lethargic Saturday but was much more alert and ate eagerly this morning.  Given that his dinged wrist felt a bit crunchy during his intake exam, the goal at this point is to get x-rays to see what’s going on there.
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The adult great horned is flying and should, if his progress continues, be ready for release by the end of this week or early next week. When I go in the flight, though, he still prefers to hit the ground and try to intimidate me with a truly gorgeous threat display.
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And the nestling great horned continues to grow and inhale mice. He’s also started wing-flapping, which means he’ll pretty soon need a larger box to have room to fully exercise those massive wings.
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First baby of the season

3/12/2023

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What started out as a truly heart-rending fatal week ended with the first baby of the season—a very late-hatch great horned owl nestling.

This “leetle feller” was found on the ground Wednesday night in Emmanuel County. His finders said they thought they could see the nest but there was no way to reach it to be sure, so they took him in for the night and called LWR the next morning.

On intake, he was quite vocal about his hunger, and quite eager to eat. Great horned babies are bottomless pits! He settled down once his hunger was sated, though.
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His intake sort of made up for the two euthanasias, also great horneds, that we had this week.

Monday morning, Smalley’s Animal Hospital alerted me that someone had dropped off an adult great horned. The bird was starvation thin and lethargic, and his right leg seemed “not right” so we x-rayed to see if we could find the problem. He had a femur fracture that resulted in his being grounded so long that he was virtually at death’s door when he arrived at Smalley’s; we euthanized.
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Wednesday a nuisance animal trapper from a neighboring county called with an adult great horned caught in a leg hold trap they’d put out. Don’t even get me started on what I think of anyone who uses a leg hold trap; they’re cruel and unusual even for the “target” animals and fatal for raptors that get caught in them. The poor owl’s leg was trashed; there was nothing to be done but euthanize an otherwise perfectly healthy, alert, aggressive, well-fleshed bird. And yes, I was and am livid.
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And finally, last week’s concussed great horned is in the flight pen, where he favors his left wing when trying to fly, but he managed to get to the highest point in the flight overnight, so that’s promising. It’s not broken so we have some sort of soft tissue damage and will just have to give him time to see if it heals for flight.
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Whoooo has a headache?

3/5/2023

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Only one intake for LWR this week, an adult male great horned owl who was found by the side of the road in a nearby county yesterday morning—and he had no fractures, miraculously. He was concussed and a bit shocky on intake, and a bit on the thin side.
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By the evening of his intake he’d perked up a bit but it was still pretty obvious he’d had his bell well and truly rung.
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By this morning he was even more alert but still subdued and not eating; that’s not unusual for concussed birds—it generally takes them 24-48 hours to get their horizontal and vertical holds adjusted and for their heads to stop aching. By Tuesday at the latest, he should be the typical great horned bottomless pit.
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The couple who found him have already indicated their willingness to pick him up and return him to their property, so once he’s alert, eating and flight-tested, he’ll be returning to his home county, barring any soft tissue damage that might take longer to assess and heal. Fingers crossed for a quick recovery for this fellow so he can go home soon!
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