LWR had two releases last week. The antsy barred owl self-released, which will occasionally happen, so there’s no video. But the red tail gave us a lovely release video, so there’s that.
The screech will definitely be placed as an ed bird. He utterly refuses to use that wing—at all. I’ve been in touch with the raptor educator who’ll be taking him once all the paperwork is in order and her mew modified for a non-flighted bird. I’ve known this educator for several years now, and I know this screech will be going into as ideal a setting as a nonreleasable bird can have—it’ll be like a permanent spa day for him.
The nestling great horned should be branching soon; his wings are nicely feathered but he still prefers sitting in his nest to perching, although he has a low perch in his box for when he wants it. He outgrew his smaller box and had to be moved to larger digs last week, utilizing his feet extensively during the move…i.e., he footed me with both feet, and is getting some strength in those gunboats he calls feet.
An adult barred owl came in after being picked up from the middle of the road in a nearby county. Both his right leg and wing were broken, and as I was preparing to euthanize, he handled the situation himself, within minutes of intake. Given the blood that drooled from his beak after his death on arrival, he obviously had severe internal injuries.
And the nestling barreds who came in late last Sunday are doing great. They quickly began to self-feed, which is always good—limits human contact. Like the great horned, they also prefer their nest to their perch, although I have heard them doing a little test wing-flapping. They’ve grown enough since last Sunday that they also required a larger box late last week, and oh, the outrage that a mere human handled them to move them to their new digs!
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