Blog Archives

And baby season trickles along

4/24/2022

Only a couple of new intakes since the pre-Easter update: a young adult black vulture and a nestling barred owl.

The barred owl was found on a limb in a flooded river; according to his rescuer, the water was already up to his feet and was still rising. He was definitely too young to fly, and his belly (owls don’t have crops like hawks do) was empty on intake, so his parents hadn’t fed him recently. He’s eating well at LWR and developing nicely. Within a week or two, he’ll be ready for the mini-pen.

The black vulture wasn’t as lucky; his rescuer chased him for several days before managing to catch him, and his wing was broken right at the wrist—badly. He was humanely euthanized. I completely forgot to get any intake photos of him.

The great horned is in the main flight now and loving the space to spread her wings; she’s flying well and as soon as she passes the live prey test, she’s good to go.

Taken just before her move to the main flight...

The screech with the healing radius and ulna fractures continues to delight me with her attitude. Even for a screech, known for their feistiness, she’s full of piss and vinegar. Fingers crossed those fractures continue to heal as well as was indicated on the x-rays from earlier this month; this is one gal whose genes need to be in the wild screech gene pool! (She's also the most difficult-to-photograph screech I've ever seen...)

And in closing today, I want to offer an update on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in the state. According to a couple of our state biologists, it’s concentrated along the coast of Georgia at the moment, and they’re hopeful that as the migratory waterfowl pass through and the weather warms, it will die down and possibly disappear entirely. Sadly, it may adversely impact our coastal bald eagle breeding season. Honestly, I wonder if it’s just not been documented in other areas of the state because people aren’t sure what to look for or aren’t aware of it, but I hope like crazy our biologists are right. I just can’t help but worry, though, as usually by this time of the year I’m up to my eyeballs in nearly-ready-for-release great horneds and nestling/brancher barreds, and I currently have one of each...which may not be all bad from a financial point of view, given the rising prices of mice, which are running a good 50% higher than last year...

For the latest from DNR on HPAI in Georgia, click on this link: https://gadnr.org/avian-influenza-detected-bald-eagles-georgia .

0 Comments

Wild weather, no intakes—weird...

4/10/2022

0 Comments

Last week’s insane weather, with three tornado warnings in my general area in less than 24 hours, certainly had the potential to result in an intake overload, but the opposite has been true. I’m not complaining, mind you; it’s just kinda strange...

So...several calls throughout the week but no intakes. In one case, the callers were just checking to make sure the brancher great horned they saw in their yard and then on their fence was okay. Given his movement and the fact that he was quiet—hungry young owls let you know—I suggested they wait till dark that night to see if he moved farther into the brush, coaxed by his parents. The callers were delighted to allow him to remain with his parents. When possible, this is always the best option.

The nasty weather did delay moving the juvenile great horned from the mini-pen to the main flight; I felt safer with her in a smaller pen until we had sane weather again. Her move to the main flight will be this week instead.

And the red phase screech continues to glare at me with murder in her eyes as she recovers from the wing fracture...Gotta love a screech!

Another short update—I could get used to this!

Finally, a “housekeeping” note: There will be no update next Sunday, April 17, as this is Easter and I will be spending time with my family.

0 Comments

Mixed bag

4/3/2022

0 Comments

Last week was the usual mixture of good and bad outcomes; seldom does a rehabber have a week where all the outcomes are good. It can happen, just not often.

Let’s start with the red phase screech who, after comparing size to the little gray phase, is certainly female—it’s often hard to tell with screeches because they’re so tiny anyway, but having a male and female side by side usually clearly shows a size discrepancy. So...now we know she’s female!

And her news from the vet is promising. Although it had been less than a month since she’d come in with the radius and ulna of her right wing broken, I wanted x-rays again to see how the healing process was going. If the calluses that were forming were fusing together, we’d need to start making plans to place her as an ed bird, as she’d be incapable of flight.

The x-rays showed clear and SEPARATE calluses forming! Vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital and I were beyond pleased at what we saw on the screen. If this progress continues, this lady should be releasable—which would be excellent because she’s probably the fiercest little screech I’ve ever seen. I’m tellin’ ya, if she was as big as she thinks she is, I’d be dead several times over by now! Her genes need to be out there in the screech gene pool, that’s for sure.

Intake x-ray

X-ray 3-29-22

The news wasn’t as good for the gray phase male screech; before his vet visit he’d managed to pluck out all his primaries on his injured left wing, as well as rip off the scabbed flap of skin they were attached to, revealing a traumatic amputation in the wild at his wrist. We went ahead and got x-rays for our records, but there was actually no need, as it was clear from a physical exam that the bird’s “hand” was gone.

Federal law allows for wing amputations at the wrist, so legally we were covered, but of course, he’d be nonreleasable, so I contacted DNR to see whether I could apply to keep him as a foster or if he needed to be placed as an ed bird. I was given latitude to use my best judgment and, although I had potential placement as an ed bird, that person and I decided he might be best as a foster due to his high stress level. He tended to keel over like a fainting goat whenever I peeked into his box to make sure he’d eaten the previous night’s food or took him out for his meds to prevent infection in that stump.

Sadly, his stress levels were through the roof and he continued to feather pluck and keel over; there were several times I thought he was dead, and by mid-week he was. The stress of captivity and constant handling for medication was just more than his already overloaded system could handle. I’ve never had a screech react so negatively—and ultimately fatally—to captivity or medication, poor baby.

In happier news, the great horned is ready for the main raptor flight this week. We have another week of mixed rain and sun predicted, so how quickly she’s moved will depend on the weather. I love those little feather tufts that will comprise her “horns” when they’re fully grown in!

The two photos above and the two below were taken 5 days apart. Look at the feather growth in 5 days!

And late last week the Sheriff’s Office in a neighboring county called with an adult male barred owl that had flown into a driver’s open window, ending up seated next to them in the front seat. A deputy brought him to me and, after an exam and 24 hours’ observation to make sure there was no head trauma, he was released.

I love a good release!

0 Comments

And baby season trickles along

Wild weather, no intakes—weird...

Mixed bag

Archives

Categories