After a frenetic week last week, this week was slowish, with just seven intakes, all at the end of the week. But April 2018 is still on track to be the busiest April in LWR’s history.

Beginning with the new intakes, these precious Eastern bluebirds were accidentally transported from Atlanta to the midstate area when someone bought some sort of heavy equipment and Mama Bluebird had built a nest in the exhaust pipe. The buyer had no idea what to do when he found the nest full of babies near dark, so he kept them overnight and took them to friends, a young couple who have several exotic birds, the next morning. This couple spent the remainder of the day on the phone, trying to locate someone who could help. A vet south of them gave them illegal and crappy feeding advice; a naturalist at a nearby state park gave them even worse advice, recommending first that they place the babies in an empty nest and leave it outside and “other birds” would feed them. That ain’t gonna happen, folks. Then she explained to them, in a spectacular display of ignorance, that they only needed to feed the babies in the morning and evening. By early evening, when they finally contacted LWR, the bluebirds were starving and frantic; the couple, with an infant of their own and subsequent strong parental instincts, were about as frantic as the poor birds; and when I told them to get the babies to me ASAP, they had them here within half an hour.
​
The first video below is after I’d actually sated their hunger somewhat; you can imagine what they sounded like on intake after not eating in nearly 24 hours. The second video was after their hunger was fully sated and they’d settled down; the faint “cricketing” chirp you hear is the phoebes next to them. The third video was at one of their half-hourly feedings today. They’re such gorgeous little birds. Every rehabber has their favorite birds; bluebirds top my list: sweet, gorgeous, and their little begging calls are almost as sweet to me as the adult song.

​Sadly, this fledging bluebird wasn’t as lucky. He was a cat-attack victim, the third in two weeks from this same person. And yes, we’ve had the “cats belong indoors” conversation repeatedly, to no avail. This poor baby died in my hands as I was having that conversation yet again. I submit to you that if you allow your cats to roam freely outdoors, you care nothing about our native wildlife and not much more about your cats. You’re exposing the cats to dangers of predation, disease, and human cruelty, while at the same time allowing them to wreak havoc on our native wildlife. And yes, I was angry when I made the video. No, strike that: I was livid.

​The seventh intake of the week was this pre-fledgling grackle. He was found in the middle of the road. Bless their hearts, young grackles are ungainly little things, they have lousy personalities, and their begging call is not attractive; as adults they still don’t have a pretty song—but those eyes…Mature grackles have striking yellow eyes set in iridescent black feathers. They’re just mesmerizing!

​The phoebes are ready for the songbird flight, as is the sole survivor of the nest of four Carolina wrens. I was hopeful all four would survive but had my doubts; they were kinda scruffy-looking little things, like maybe the parents had been struggling to keep them adequately fed before their nest was inadvertently “relocated” 150 miles away.

​The brown thrasher, nuthatches and mourning dove were released; the mourning dove is the only one who’s hung around.

​The flyers have been moved to new digs, which they seem to like very much. They’re not quite totally self-feeding but they’re getting there. By late June, they should be releasable.

​The barred owl trio is headed for the raptor flight early in the week. They’re now at the “fling and fly” stage, meaning I’m just tossing the food in and letting them do their thing.

​The brancher great horned owl is also self-feeding now and will be moved into the crate the barreds will vacate when they go outside. (And before anyone asks, no, you cannot put raptors of different species in the flight together like you can songbirds. Raptors do NOT play well together!)

The final robin hatchling, the unexpected one, lasted twelve hours after hatching. And the adult GHO with soft tissue damage will require euthanasia; she simply cannot fly.
​
So there ya have it—not as insane as last week but still busy with all the half-hourly feedings, releases, intakes, and housing rearrangements. If April is any indication, May, June and July are gonna be…interesting.

Yep, baby season is in full swing now, with ten intakes Saturday alone, nine of them babies from three separate locations, not to mention the intakes from earlier in the week and them what was already here from earlier in the month. (Oh, come on—you’ve never heard anyone use “them what was”?? Common colloquialism in the South!) Busy, busy!

These hatchling robins, not over two days old, were removed by a disreputable freelance construction worker. I had hoped to get the name of his company so I could let Middle Georgia folks know who NOT to use for their construction work, but he apparently isn’t affiliated with a company and the person who rescued the babies after seeing their nest ripped out and dumped didn’t know the man’s name, or I’d shame him individually. It seems Mama Robin had built her nest in a hole in a soffit and rather than waiting a mere two weeks for her to successfully fledge her babies, the jackass tore the nest out and sealed the soffit. There was NO excuse for tearing down this nest; it’s also a violation of federal law to disturb an active nest. However, I have no name to report to the feds. 
​
You can see in the close-up photo below that these babies still have egg teeth, the “picks” on the ends of their beaks that help them break through the eggshell as they’re hatching. They were heartbreakingly young, which lowered their chances of doing well in rehab, and they actually died overnight. A nest full of dead babies is NOT a pleasant thing to find first thing in the morning, and it could have been avoided if the jackass pseudo-construction worker had just left the nest where it was for two measly weeks. Honestly, this sort of wanton lack of any shred of human decency makes my blood boil.

​HOWever…there was an unhatched egg in the nest with the hatchlings, and the volunteer transporter who brought them wondered if it might still hatch. We candled it and it seemed “solid”, meaning there was something in there. I cautioned her that the odds were it was an unviable baby, but I slipped the egg in the corner of the heated box with the hatchlings, just in case. When I opened the box to find the dead babies this morning, I also found—to my shock and surprise—that the egg had hatched.  So we have a fifth robin hatchling whose odds of survival aren’t great, but I’m giving it all I’ve got. I want at least ONE of that poor mama’s babies to survive. And I also want the head of that jackass on a platter, but I’d happily settle for this one poor baby surviving.

​Contrast this with the person who drove from Atlanta to Middle Georgia unaware that they had a nest full of Carolina wrens under an old trailer. Upon reaching their destination and discovering the nest, rather than simply tossing a nest full of screaming babies, this person contacted LWR and brought the babies immediately. They’re older and should have a better chance of survival than the robins, though Carolinas are pretty stressy little birds.

​These sweet phoebes were delivered to a local mammal rehabber, who contacted a volunteer transporter who runs between us to get the babies here. We don’t actually know much else about their background. Phoebes are in the flycatcher family, as evidenced by that flat, triangular beak.

​This same mammal rehabber received a nestling brown thrasher from her local animal control, which also came to LWR with the phoebes. Sadly, this sweet little fellow didn’t last 24 hours. He seemed in good shape on intake—no bruises or indications of anything amiss—but died overnight.

​The barred owls have been relocated to a larger space awaiting their turn in the raptor flight; these babies are branchers already—can you believe it?!

​The downy great horned owl is also in a larger box and will be moved into the crate once the barreds are in the raptor flight. He’s close to brancher stage, as well, but not quite there yet. “Brancher” just means they’re moving out of the nest to nearby branches and hopping around. It’s actually at this stage that most young raptors get into trouble and end up in rehab.

​A young female flyer, about the same age as the older two already at LWR, was kept by her finder for over a week, and the finder was reluctant to surrender the poor little girl to LWR but we finally got her here. Folks, flyers are social little darlings and they need to be with other flyers. “Onlies” will do fine physically but emotionally, they need other flyers. Adult flyers form colonies, unlike gray or fox squirrels, who are solitary as adults.

​The person who found this mourning dove tried for two days to feed the poor baby an inappropriate diet, nearly killing the bird in the process. The short video was shot on intake.

​Fortunately, the dove responded to an appropriate diet; I honestly wasn’t so sure he would. He seemed pretty far gone on intake but is self-feeding already and slated for movement to the songbird flight after the nasty weather we have predicted for today and Monday moves through.

​This same person rescued a fledgling brown thrasher from a cat. There were no apparent injuries aside from a few missing secondary wing feathers, but the bird was started on meds anyway. Cat saliva contains a bacteria designed to break down flesh; it is toxic to wildlife. Antibiotics are a must for wildlife attacked by cats. Sadly, the bird didn’t respond to meds and died within 24 hours of intake.

Folks, cats belong INDOORS, not outside where they can wreak havoc on our native wildlife. Help me keep beating that drum until maybe we beat some sense into people’s heads about this.
​
Early last week, a lady brought LWR a near-fledgling chickadee that she’d found on her doorstep near dark. The next morning she returned with a sibling she’d heard peeping outside her door around midnight. She didn’t see a cat in either instance, but I started meds just in case. Sadly, neither of the adorable little birds lasted 24 hours; the second one died within an hour of arrival.

​I’m unsure of the specific species of warbler here (warblers confuse the heck outta me), but the couple who brought him were pretty sure he’d hit a door or window and was still stunned. Apparently there were internal injuries, as this was another case of not surviving long after arrival, poor baby.

The adult GHO that was slated for release died the night before his scheduled release. No clue why—none. He was alert; he was eating well and flying well…and then he was dead. Sudden and unexplained deaths are more common among baby birds than adults, but not unheard of in adults.
​
The second adult GHO is still not showing any improvement in flight ability, which doesn’t bode well for her future, especially now that space is at a premium around here. With branchers needing to be in the raptor flight, I don’t have the luxury of letting her sit out there for the next several months. I’ll look into transferring her to another raptor rehabber, but this time of year, we’re all pretty much in the same boat when it comes to lack of space.

​This adult mourning dove was found in a back yard and had obviously been cat-attacked. There were deep wounds on the neck and back, and what at first looked like avian pox on the beak turned out to be swollen tissue from what was left of the beak. The bird had been tortured and abandoned by the cat. 

Again, people—say it with me—CATS BELONG INDOORS SO THEY DON’T KILL OUR NATIVE WILDLIFE.
​
A young Canada gosling was rescued from a snapping turtle and brought to LWR. His right leg was stripped bare of skin, exposing muscle and tendons. Vet Peggy Hobby and I agreed euthanasia was the kindest option, but the poor fellow checked out on us before we could euthanize. The photo below was taken post-mortem.

The brown thrasher and nuthatches will also head for the songbird flight around Tuesday; they were a bit stubborn about self-feeding but have finally decided that if they want the opportunity to really stretch their wings, they have to feed themselves. Sorry for the not-great photos; these three, especially the nuthatches, are hardly ever still long enough to focus properly!

​In short, it was a hectic week indeed. And keep that poor little hatchling robin in your prayers. I really, REALLY want that poor wee one to survive.

This week was slightly less frenetic than last week, with fewer intakes and several releases. Not a bad week, overall!

First, the overwintering flyers are mostly released; we have two stubborn holdouts. They’ll decide to hit the road fairly soon, though. There’re nearly always a couple who linger longer than their eager-to-be-free erstwhile nestmates.
​
And a third spring flyer came in, slightly younger than the twins. He’s currently housed with the male and the goal is to reunite all three once they’re eating enough solids to stop the female’s genital nursing. We’re gettin’ there!

​The adult barred owl was released and was so eager to leave LWR that I barely managed video and only snagged one photo. As I moved closer to try for more photos, he took flight again and I tried to video that but didn’t have the camera focused yet, resulting in a very out-of-focus second video. I’m sharing it anyway, as it does show beautiful if somewhat blurred flight!

​And the mourning doves, totally self-feeding, were released, as well. I managed to get a short clip of one of them right after he left the songbird flight’s escape hatch.

​One of the three nuthatches from last week died, leaving the Dynamic Duo aka Chatterboxes bouncing all over the place. After several days of force-feeding, food slinging and nonstop post-feeding wipe-downs to remove slung food, the little rascals started gaping, resulting in much less stress and fewer wipe-downs at feeding time. Both they and I are much happier now. The photo below was taken early in the week, post-force-feeding and pre-wipe-down. It may look adorable, but I promise you, they were huddled together glaring at me! Now that they’re gaping, they’re rarely still long enough for a photo—less stress means more energy to bounce off the walls, as it were.

They and the brown thrasher will head for the songbird flight next week and, if all goes well, might even be released by next week’s update.

The adult great horned owls are awaiting release; one may still need to hang around a while longer, but we’ll see how things look as the week progresses.
​
The downy GHO is beginning to feather out nicely on his wings but he’s still a big ol’ goofball.

​The barred owls are also feathering out nicely. No photos of them this week; instead we have this video of them expressing unhappiness at being in a tiny box while I cleaned their larger box. I had to stop cleaning to capture this on video; it was too funny!

Update on last week’s bald eagle—the latest report from Kathryn at Chattahoochee is that he’s eating well and gaining weight. Good news!

And if you can believe it, that’s actually it for this week! Surprising, huh? I’m not complaining; I know things will become considerably more hectic as baby season progresses, so I’m enjoying the slower pace while I can.

And both the “extremes” came in on the same day! We might as well start with the big news and the larger of the “extremes”: LWR received a bald eagle Friday, the third since 2009, when our first one came in. This fellow was emaciated, lethargic and favored his right shoulder, although x-rays showed no fractures.

Although bald eagles are no longer on the endangered list, there’s still a pretty rigid federal protocol to be followed when rehabbers receive one—and if the rehabber doesn’t have a specific eagle permit, separate from the “general” raptor permit, s/he has about 12 hours to transfer the bird to someone who does. I don’t have a specific eagle permit. Don’t want one—the flight pen needed for an eagle is just too big and I have nowhere to construct one that large, for starters, and bald eagles are larger and more aggressive, ill-tempered and unpredictable than your average raptor, for another thing.

So anyway, when the call came from DNR that an eagle was on the way from several counties south of me, I immediately called Smalley’s to set up x-rays and a preliminary exam, per protocol. Then I called colleague Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends, who does have a specific eagle permit and a large enough raptor flight to house the bird. As soon as he confirmed he could take it, I called one of the volunteer transporters who runs between me and Steve, AJ Rogers, to see if she and our other transport stalwarts, Marshall and Laurie Jackson, could coordinate the transport of the bird immediately after the exam at Smalley’s. 

The bird arrived shortly after we got all the details ironed out, and he was unusually cooperative as I did a quick pre-vet exam. Not a good sign, and we all worried that he might have gotten into coyote bait or even had West Nile, which is treatable in its early stages, or AVM, which is not treatable at all. (Here’s a link for info on AVM: https://news.uga.edu/identify-name-toxic-cyanobacteria-killing-american-bald-eagles-0215/.)
​
Once we arrived at Smalley’s, vet Peggy Hobby, who remembered the last bald eagle they saw (who took a chunk out of my jaw), was also surprised at the lack of resistance by the bird to a fuller exam and several x-rays. Again, the x-rays looked good—no fractures and no lead in his gut, but he was very emaciated. Peggy then drafted a short note stating she’d examined and x-rayed the bird and the results, per protocol. One copy went with the bird to Steve, one copy went with me for my records, and one copy went in the LWR file at Smalley’s.

By this time, Marshall and Laurie were waiting to begin the first leg of the bird’s trip to Bubba & Friends.  AJ and Tom handled the second leg, after a brief delay to offer the bird some food, per Steve’s instructions.  Upon the bird’s arrival at Bubba & Friends, Steve decided the bird needed to be with a rehabber who had more advanced facilities, so he enlisted AJ and Tom to continue on with the bird to Kathryn Dudeck at Chattahoochee Nature Center. Upon her exam of the eagle, Kathryn confirmed some sort of soft tissue damage to the right shoulder and said he weighed about 5 pounds when he should have weighed around 7 pounds. As of late Saturday, though, Kathryn reported our guy self-fed a 284g rat, which was excellent news to hear!

                                                           Video courtesy of Tom Rogers

THIS, people, this is why having the proper permits is a MUST when dealing with wildlife. Within 24 hours this bald eagle was moved from South Georgia where he was found to Middle Georgia for triage and on to the metro-Atlanta area for ongoing care, because ALL of us involved knew each other’s permit status and qualifications —and quite frankly, limitations, as both Steve and Kathryn know I don’t have the space or the desire to work long-term with bald eagles. And a big shout-out to AJ, Tom, Laurie and Marshall for dropping everything to get this bird from LWR to Bubba & Friends to Chattahoochee Nature Center. Now we hope for the best possible outcome!
​
Late Friday night, LWR was contacted about four woodpeckers who’d been unnested when people were cutting up a stump for firewood just before dark. I asked that they bring the birds ASAP, thinking they’d wait till morning (which would have been fine, as most songbirds don’t eat at night). They wanted to go ahead and get them to LWR that night, though, so at 11pm four NUTHATCHES came in. And these sweet babies are the small end of the “extremes” for this week. They’re pre-fledglings, so close to leaving the nest it hurts my heart. Another two or three days, and they’d’ve been out of the nest. And their being so close to fledging also makes it more difficult to feed them, so we’ve had to go the force-feeding route since they won’t gape properly for me. One died overnight; the other three, while still not gaping, are at least not fighting being fed now. Hatchlings and nestlings gape readily; pre-fledges and fledglings, not so much…

​Another brown thrasher came in, as well, cat-attacked. He’s on meds, as cat saliva is toxic to wildlife—it has enzymes designed to break down flesh. Aside from a minor head wound, he also seems to have something neurologic going on with his legs/feet. He should be perching already, as he’s not too much younger than the thrasher who came in last week, but he can’t seem to stand. We’ll give him some time and see what happens. 

​Meanwhile, the “older” thrasher managed to break his lower beak in his tantrums last week. Remember I said he wasn’t a happy camper? Yeah, well, he slammed himself into the walls of his crate so hard he broke his beak. Monday he went to Smalley’s to have Peggy look at his beak. I was pretty sure it would heal nicely since he was still not self-feeding and would therefore not be using it in the normal thrasher fashion. Peggy confirmed it might be a little deformed upon healing but shouldn’t interfere with his chances of survival.

Two nestling Carolina wrens came in Tuesday; their finders Googled info on feeding birds after finding them and for two days they followed crap advice from the Internet, feeding the poor babies only every two hours or so. They were lethargic and weak upon arrival at LWR and didn’t survive the night. When it comes to attempting to feed wildlife, Google is NOT your friend. Just call a rehabber ASAP.

​Thursday a couple saw a great horned owl just sitting by the roadside in broad daylight, head down and apparently unaware of his surroundings. The wife in the couple works at a vet clinic in her county and had a carrier in her car, so they loaded up the GHO and brought him to LWR. Upon intake he was very woozy and concussed; Saturday he went into the raptor flight. He’s slated for release ASAP.

​The other GHO’s soft tissue damage seems to be impairing flight, though. He’s been in the raptor flight most of the week and can ladder up perches but cannot fly. He’ll need to come back in so the barred owl can have a turn in the raptor flight.

​The female red tail who’d been at LWR since the end of November 2017 was released this week, which is what freed up the raptor flight for the GHOs. No video of the release, as she sorta shot out of the box before I had the camera ready, but I did get some post-release photos.

​One of the dove trio died early in the week; he was fine at lights-out and dead the next morning. I hate when that happens. The other two are beginning to self-feed.

The overwintering flyers are STILL with us, but toward the end of next week there’s a three-day window of no rain chances—unless the forecast changes—so the current plan is to get them out then.
​
The younger two flyer siblings are no longer housed together. One night last week the female genital-nursed on the poor little male till his penis was grossly swollen. This is a common problem with gray squirrels but I’ve never had an issue with flyers genital-nursing till this pair.

The hummer’s chances for release are looking slimmer and slimmer, but we’ll keep trying.

Meanwhile, the nestling owls are growing like weeds!
​
The barred triplets don’t all eat the same amount at each feeding, although it’s always offered. They tend to be pretty vocal at feeding time, though.

​The GHO is putting on a really nice threat display till the food’s offered; then all he’s thinking about is stuffing his gut—but when he’s done, he’s done. Hasn’t he changed massively since intake? I love the big, goofy feet of a nestling GHO!

Finally, this time of year I get numerous calls from worried people who think the parents haven’t fed the babies in the nest they’ve been watching or just noticed. Usually, the caller says the babies haven’t been fed in two or three days and the babies are noisy and gaping when they look in the nest, and they want to know what to do. Folks, baby birds cannot survive two or three days with no food. The older they get, the more noise they’ll make as they compete with each other for food, so that may be why you’re hearing babies more often than just days before. Also, if you go near the nest and your shadow falls across it, your hand touches it, or you make any sort of noise, young nestlings will instinctively gape—it’s hardwired into them to pop open that little beak to accept whatever Mama & Papa Bird are bringing to the nest. As they get older, your presence will cause them to hunker down silently in fear; they recognize that you’re not the source of food and could indeed be a predator.

My advice is this: first, watch nests from a respectful distance. If you’re too close, the parents won’t come to feed the babies, so you cause them to miss meals. Second, if you think a nest has been abandoned, watch it carefully from inside your house or behind a tree or somewhere where the parents can’t see you. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the parents will show shortly and you’ll hear the chorus of babies begging for food. They’ll chirp loudly and then, after a few minutes, as their hunger is sated, the noise will die down, only to begin again shortly as the parents return with more food.
​
When should you intervene? If the begging calls are nonstop, chances are there’s a problem. From a good hiding place, watch for the parents, per above.  If the babies have been noisy periodically and suddenly make no noise at all, check the nest. If they’re lethargic and not responsive to you tapping the nest or waving your fingers above them, call a rehabber immediately. If the parents are raising hell, check the nest immediately. There could be a predator like a snake attempting to eat the babies, or one of the babies may have fallen from the nest. Unnested babies can be renested; songbirds have almost no sense of smell, so they’re not going to reject a baby you’ve handled.

…In intake sizes, that is. Intakes ranged from an adult turkey vulture to an adult ruby-throated hummer, and several sizes in between!
​
First off, the red shoulder was released and, after some initial hesitation, was delighted to see the last of me!

​A second, slightly older turkey vulture came in, found near the road. He had no fractures but acted really concussed, so a few days at the LWR B&B, and both he and the turkey vulture from last week were released.

​Midweek, the local FWS agent called with three nestling barred owls. A tree surgeon had cut a tree that was about to fall on a roof and didn’t see the nest cavity until it was too late. He did, however, immediately call the FWS agent to take the birds.

​And an adult barred came in favoring his left wing, but x-rays showed no fractures, so we’re just giving him a little time and hoping there’s no soft tissue damage.

​However, the barred who came in today wasn’t as lucky; he had a nasty open wing fracture that required euthanasia.

​Last week’s adult great-horned owl had no fractures but the swelling is still present, so there’s definite soft-tissue damage there. Again, he just needs some time.

​Yet another mourning dove came in, so we now have a trio.

​The red tail is in the raptor flight and may be releasable this week; we’ll see…

The overwintering flyers are still here. The temps are right for a release; now we just have to have three consecutive days of low-to-no rain chances.
​
And the two youngest flyers continue to grow. They’re finally starting to nibble at solids , so that’s always good!

​The nestling great horned doesn’t even look like the same bird! He’s growing by leaps and bounds.

And, of course, there’s the ruby-throated hummer who also came in midweek. Both wings are level but he can’t get any lift, which sounds like a coracoid fracture.  So, as with the adult barred and GHO, we’re giving him time to see what happens.

And also this afternoon, people called with a baby bird found in the road; they thought it was a mocker. Sounded plausible to me, as mockers are the world’s worst about falling from the nest and then hopping away from it, so you have no idea where to begin looking to re-nest them. However, upon opening the box he was brought in, I was delighted to find a brown thrasher nestling, *thisclose* to fledging. He’s not a happy camper at the moment, not at all!

​Hope everybody had a great Easter; as you can see, mine was rather busy, hence the late update.