Nope, no joke—another bald eagle arrived at LWR early in the week, leading your intrepid rehabber to come close to a nervous breakdown: “What the…? Not another one! I’m only supposed to see an eagle every couple of years or so!”

This was a mature adult male, banded, severely underweight, lethargic and with a scabbed right wing and massively swollen and obviously broken right leg. Cue more panic: I was unsure the bird would even survive the night, as he arrived from Bulloch County after Smalley’s had closed for the day and was all but comatose by nightfall, leading to a series of panicked texts to state and federal officials. Eagles still have a lot of regulations surrounding them that “regular” raptors don’t.

He did survive, however, and x-rays at Smalley’s showed an old, healed wing fracture and a massively displaced tibiotarsal fracture. The scabs on the wing were from using it as a crutch. This bird was also headed to Auburn.
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Now, to back up a bit, yes, he was banded but the bander had not reported using this band yet, so we still have no idea as to age, where he was banded, etc. Given his recognition of feeding forceps and willingness to accept food from them, I’d guess he was in rehab for quite a while somewhere, and that’s probably where he was banded, as well. The link to his patient profile at Auburn is https://w2.vetmed.auburn.edu/rm1/html/2020-134.html. 

Y'all enjoy that video; it's probably the first and last time you'll ever see an adult bald eagle willingly accept food from feeding forceps!

The same day the eagle arrived, a juvenile red-bellied woodpecker came in after having hit a window as he fell from a tree. There was something neurological going on with the bird, possibly as a result of his fall, and he began having seizures and died within hours of intake.

​The day the eagle went in for x-rays, DNR delivered a juvenile barred owl to me at Smalley’s, which was a good thing—the poor fellow has a wing fracture but it should heal for flight. More worrisome was his dazed demeanor, which lasted for about 48 hours after intake. He had obviously suffered some sort of head trauma. He’s still, even now, a bit loopy acting, but he’s eating so I can handle loopy and eating.

​And a nestling blue jay who fell from his nest came in that night with massive belly bruising. I hoped it was only bruising and not internal bleeding, but he died overnight, without ever fully regaining consciousness, the poor baby.

​Two days later a game warden brought a juvenile barn owl to LWR, after his sib was killed by a dog and the surviving bird took flight—with no real skills or experience at flying yet—and soared over a pond, only to drop like a rock into said pond. According to the game warden, two 14-year-old boys dove into the pond to rescue the barnie. Well done, young men! This guy is well-fleshed and not a happy camper, not at all. Again, however, as with the barred, he’s eating, and eating well. Since Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends currently has a barnie, slightly older and already in a flight pen, this barnie will be joining Steve’s later in the week.

​Hot on his heels, an adult male red tail came in after I think everyone in his neighborhood called or texted about him being down. He has no obvious wing fractures, can spread both wings equally, but cannot get lift—classic coracoid fracture symptoms. He just needs time and a safe place to heal.

​Saturday an adult red-headed woodpecker came in after he was seen falling from a tree. Nothing broken, seemed alert, well-fleshed—should’ve been an easy rehab. But he died overnight. Not a clue what was going on.

In news of older rehabs, the blue jay is currently in the mini-pen and may need eviction, as he seems quite content to remain there indefinitely. It’s a jay thing—I’ve had jays I rehabbed the previous year sit in the tree and give me a somewhat shamefaced begging call and wing shimmy, like it’s worth a try; maybe she’ll still feed me a year later. 

​The two bluebirds spent very little time in the mini-pen before deciding they’d rather join all the other juvenile bluebirds hanging around the yard. They’ve almost stopped coming down for supplemental feedings, too, following the lead of the older, previously released juvies. I didn’t even manage a photo of them in the mini-pen, just these from several days before they went into it.

​The two red shoulders still inside have been moved to slightly bigger digs; they need to show me they can eat their food without it being sliced and diced before they can go into the raptor flight.

​The wood ducks were released and seemed quite content with their newfound freedom.

​The two red shoulders in the raptor flight passed their live prey test with flying colors and were also released. They both flew out of the box at the same time and in different directions, so I was only able to get one on video.

​This hummer arrived today after being cat-attacked. Honestly, she looks quite rough and that right wing doesn’t look promising, but she’s on antibiotics and we’ll see how things play out…

​And the screeches continue to grow apace. And get cuter daily. Screeches just ooze personality. All of it bad. Which is probably why I love them so much!

It’s nonstop full throttle at LWR these days, hence the even later than usual update today. I mean tonight. Whatever. It all starts running together...

Let’s lead with the older two red shoulders, who’re in the raptor flight now and liking it quite well, thanks.

​Red shoulder #3, a nestling, came in Monday and was joined just an hour or so ago by red shoulder #4, an older fledgling but painfully thin. Number 3 ain’t real happy to be rooming with #4 overnight but, to adjust a phrase from my childhood to deal with birds rather than humans, he can just get glad in the same feathers he got mad in. Space is at a premium around here these days!

​Late last Sunday night a fledgling brown thrasher came in having seizures; he didn’t survive the night.

​Tuesday another nestling bluebird came in, this one found in a barn with no nest in sight. He looks to be male; his feathers are slightly brighter in certain lights than the little female’s. She’s a bit older than he is, and he's a bit on the timid side.

Wednesday an as-yet unidentified hatchling came in, found on the ground with a dead sib. As you can see, he’s pretty tiny. Beak kinda makes me think phoebe but voice doesn’t sound like a phoebe. We’ll see; the feathers are starting to come in nicely…

​And later that day an adult female cardinal came in with a swollen left wing. She was alert Thursday and eating well but died sometime Thursday night.

​Thursday an adult barred owl came in with an open wing fracture; there was nothing to do but humanely euthanize.

Friday a fledgling robin came in with a leg fracture and some other underlying issue(s); he died within 2 hours of intake, which I honestly wasn’t expecting, as he was alert and eating well.

Today a barred owl came in with a massively trashed wing after getting hung in the ropes of someone’s tire swing. The broken feathers, raw flesh and maggot eggs were all “fixable” issues; the wing fracture right in the joint was not. He was euthanized humanely.

No new photos of the barn swallow, who will be released as soon as rain chances drop; right now we have a spate of high rain chances over the coming days.

The wood ducklings are fast approaching release size—and not a moment too soon, honestly. They’re getting too big for the limited space I have available at the moment. No new photos or video of them; the focus kept struggling on the video for some reason.

The blue jay with the leg injury and busted hip surprised me by perching late in the week. I honestly wasn’t sure he’d be able to perch, given that hip, but he’s perching like a pro and flying some, too. And, of course, I adore him…Y'all know how I am about my corvids!

​The screeches are growing too fast; they’re still half-down and half-feathers but they’re starting to test those wings and are now eating mice halves rather than mouse “cutlets.” Won’t be long now before they’re ready for the mini-pen, which is an ideal size for screeches.

​And we met the $1000 goal in the fundraiser, so thanks to all who donated!

…’cause this may take a while. What a week!

First, the painted bunting was released. No video, no post-release photos. I had the camera out, on and ready, finger on the shutter button, and when I opened his box, he was outta there faster’n greased lightnin’, before I could even fully open the box, much less focus the camera. 
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And then a second red shoulder, this one a late nestling, came in. After some typical red shoulder mouthing off, she’s settled in nicely and is currently housed with the red shoulder now-fledgling, who’s pretty clearly a male when “stacked” next to this big ol’ gal.

​Then a blue jay came in, a fledgling, the first of three last week. He wasn’t looking so hot—very lethargic and toes already “clawed”. He didn’t survive three hours after intake.

​Hot on his heels came an adult Mississippi kite with an old open wing fracture. He was rail-thin and the bone was already dried out—no blood supply to it at all. He was humanely euthanized.

​Then an adult black vulture came in with a horrific open wing fracture and was immediately humanely euthanized. The photos below were taken post-euthanasia.

​On Wednesday, blue jay #2 came in, DOA. Not gasping, not on his last breath—quite literally dead on arrival, poor baby. He’d been cat-attacked the previous night and his finder simply sat him in a tree, where he was cat-attacked again the next morning. The poor bird didn’t have a chance…

​In happier news, all three robins, the cardinal, the single house finch and the mockingbirds were released. It’s deafening walking over to the “feeding tree” and having five house finches, four bluebirds, a brown thrasher, a cardinal, three robins and three mockingbirds all vying for your attention! But those bluebirds and robins, especially, as “cousins” in the thrush family, are absolutely the sweetest birds. They never fail to make me smile.

​Two red tails came in, one DOA and one euthanized. The DOA simply couldn’t stand, although he was well-fleshed and nothing appeared broken.

​The second was seen being hit by a car, and although his wings and legs were just fine, his esophagus was badly ruptured. He was again immediately humanely euthanized.

​When folks showed up Friday night with an adult male great horned owl, I initially thought he was another literal DOA; when I picked him up for an intake exam, his head lolled listlessly and he didn’t respond at all to being handled. He then began having tremors throughout his entire body, like mini-seizures. He was just…out of it. Badly. Unsure if this was really bad head trauma from a collision with a car, I opted to give him the night to see how he fared the next morning, but he died overnight.

​Yesterday, two brown thrashers, nestlings, came in after being dragged from their nest, one after the other, by a marauding outdoor cat. Although their wounds were minor and I started antibiotics, one died within an hour of intake and the other died overnight. 

​When the first thrasher died, I placed this sweet little nestling bluebird found in a cardboard box that was about to be trashed in with the (at that time) surviving one. The poor little bluebird was sitting next to a dead thrasher this morning but she’s doing well at the moment. (While her wing feathers are just starting to emerge, they’re the dusty blue that marks a female.)

​And in the “third time’s a charm” category, a third fledgling blue jay came in today, this one with a swollen and somewhat bloody  right leg and what looks like a possible left hip fracture. He’s also pretty dirty, suggesting to me he might have been rolled around in the dirt by a cat, so he’s on antibiotics. He’s alert and eating well, so we’ll see…

The barn swallow is doing well; no new photos of her this week.
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The wood ducks…well, when they’re not swimming, this is my normal view of them…

​The barred owl pulled from fishing line was released. While his release flight made for a sort of “meh” video, when I turned off the camera and started in his direction to see if I needed to recapture him, given that low flight, he suddenly discovered that those wings had lift. By the time the camera was back on, he was out of sight.

​The red tail, however, more than made up for the less-than-stellar optics on the barred release. She took off long, strong and steady. She’d been at LWR since February, so I was delighted to see her finally regain her freedom.

​And, of course, the screeches are no longer tiny balls of down. They’re branching a bit, in a larger box to accommodate a perch along with their nest, and totally refusing any “handouts” from me. “Just put the food down and back away, slowly, lady, or we’ll kill you with cuteness.” Gotta love a screech…or three!

 ​Finally, we’re at $900 on the “soft” fundraiser—just $100 to go, folks! Thanks to those who’ve already donated; for those who haven’t, let’s get that last $100! PayPal links are on every page of the website.

It was another week of intakes and releases, and a couple of DOAs…Typical for any time of year but especially baby season.

Leading with releases, both mourning doves, the brown thrasher, four house finches and four bluebirds were released. While a couple of the finches, the thrasher and all the bluebirds still come down for supplemental feedings, they get spooked at the sight of my camera, or even my phone camera, so no post-release shots of them. Yet. I’ll keep trying.

In the soon-to-be-released category, we have the painted bunting—here again, no new photos, as that little rascal will shoot out and lead me on a merry chase through the rehab area in a heartbeat. Aiming at release tomorrow.
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The female red tail is slated for release either tomorrow or Tuesday.  She’s getting antsy. The male…that soft tissue damage shows no signs of healing and, sad to say, the day the female is released, I’ll more than likely call it on the male. As heartless as it sounds, I need the raptor flight for a brancher red shoulder who came in last week and is ready to be outside. 

​Also, the robins are nearly ready for release. They’re in the mini-pen now and are loving it. They just need about a week more to be fully prepared for release.

​Two additional house finches came in; one was DOA and the other is ready for the mini-pen. But I wouldn’t put a bird that small in with three rambunctious robins, so he’ll have to wait till they’re released.

​Same for the cardinal fledgling who came in last week—he’s also ready for the mini-pen but the size difference between him and the robins could spell trouble. He and the finch get along famously, though.

Last week’s late-arriving Carolina wren didn’t make it through the night, nor did a sweet little female downy woodpecker who came in near dark later in the week. Her only obvious injury was a swollen wrist, but based on the poop in her box the next morning, she had internal bleeding.
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The wood ducks remain as paranoid as ever. I mean, I swim them every. single. day. They should be used to being moved from their “safe space” to the tub for a leisurely swim, right? WRONG. Every day, they shriek as if they’re being killed as I scoop them up and place them in their OPEN box and take them to the tub. Every day, they shriek in panic as I gently tip the box so they can jump into the water. Every single day, they shriek and swim frantically around the tub as I scoop them back out to take back to their safe space. Wood ducks may be pretty, but they ain’t the brightest light bulbs in the pack.

​Three mockers came in from various locations, all three at different stages of development. The two oldest are currently housed together; the youngest still needs supplemental heat.

​This adult barn swallow has a broken wing. It’s not right in the joint, so we’re giving her (gender arbitrarily assigned; both sexes look the same) time to see if it heals for flight. She eats well, so that at least is good. Sometimes adult barn swallows refuse to eat mealworms from a dish, as they normally snag their insects on the fly.

​This afternoon, an adult male barred owl came in after being caught in fishing line. Nothing feels broken but he was so covered in dried mud that I couldn’t tell what was mud and what might be blood, much less if there were wounds needing treatment. So adding to the poor bird’s already considerable discomfiture, I had to hose him down. He was NOT a happy camper. The good news is that in addition to no fractures, he also has only minor “hot spots” under his wings. I still didn’t get all the mud out of his feathers, though, poor fellow…

​And saving the absolute cutest for last, the screeches are growing like little weeds. They have most of their wing feathers in already, and at certain angles you can already see their “horn” tufts developing on those still-downy heads. They’re also already developing into independent eaters, taking only one or two bits of mouse from the forceps before glaring at me till I place the rest down for them to eat later. Brats…

​Finally, a reminder that we’re still in the midst of the “soft” fundraiser. As of today, we’re at $800, so just $200 to go to reach our goal! Thanks to those who’ve donated; to those who haven’t, PayPal links are on each page of the website, or the mailing address is on the website for those who prefer sending checks.

There was a fair share of beauty and ugliness last week; let’s start with something utterly gorgeous, shall we?

I’ve seen photos of painted buntings and considered them stunning birds, but since I seldom even see a blue bunting in the wild, I figured photos were as close as I’d ever get. WRONG.
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Monday, when I took the brancher barred in for x-rays—and MUCH more on that in a sec—a lady who’d called earlier about a painted bunting that got hung somehow in her bird feeder brought it by Smalley’s so we could go ahead and, well, kill two birds with one stone, as it were, by x-raying both birds while I was there.

​His x-rays showed no fractures but he couldn’t gain altitude, usually a sign of a coracoid fracture which, as y’all know by now, doesn’t always show on x-rays.

​So this little work of art is spending a couple of weeks at the LWR B&B while we give him time to heal.

Now to the brancher barred…If y’all recall, he came in as ostensibly dog-attacked, and his wounds appeared consistent with a dog attack. So what we expected to see on x-rays was one or more wing fractures and definitely a femur or hip fracture. What we did NOT expect was to find him riddled with pellets.

Yeah. Some jackass shot a defenseless baby owl.

Let that sink in for a moment.
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A young owl, unable to even fly at this stage of his life, just venturing out of the nest onto nearby branches, only a threat to maybe frogs and lizards, and some fool shot him for their sick jollies.

Oh, y’all don’t wanna know the things I said. Obviously, this was reported to both DNR and FWS, and as I told them, there’s a special place in hell for the jackass who shot this poor baby, and I’d like to send him/her there myself. At the least, I hope they nail the cretin’s hide to the barn door, very publicly.

Due to the amount of lead in his young body, as well as the injuries, he was euthanized.

The very next day a second barred came in, slightly older and seemingly in fairly good shape. No injuries, alert, hungry and willingly eating…within two hours of intake he was dead. Not a clue…
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In more uplifting news, the singleton house finch and all six nuthatches were released, as was the possum.

​The bluebird and house finch quartets and the brown thrasher are in the mini-pen, which I’m using for songbirds as much as possible at the moment—the proper songbird flight still needs repair and the volunteer who’d planned to help has a torn rotator cuff. Been there and know how excruciating that is…It’s not ideal but it is a viable solution to a problem, so…

​Both red tails are in the raptor flight. The female is almost release-ready; she’s doing great. The male…well, that soft tissue damage looks to be permanent. The wing droops badly and he can’t fly.

​The wood ducklings continue growing apace and remain typical paranoid wood ducks.

The doves are nearly ready for the flight pen, but as they’re older birds and don’t trust humans at all, I won’t put them in with the fledglings. They’ll have to wait a bit. No photos, as they go ballistic when I walk near them, even to feed and freshen water.

Midweek, folks cutting down a snag in imminent danger of falling on their house inadvertently destroyed a screech owl nest. They were quite upset, as they’d checked and thought the snag was safe to fell and when it landed, three precious screeches bounced out.
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They’re about two weeks old at this point; on intake their eyes had just started opening, which usually occurs around seven days or so. And no, they’re not auditioning for Wicked; because their little eyes are so light sensitive, I use red or green night vision lights so I can see in the dark to feed them. I prefer green, as my human eyes see it better than the red. 

They’re eating well and the runt, who had every chance in the wild of eventually becoming his sibs’ supper, is making up for lost time as far as food goes.

Two additional house finches came in yesterday and are struggling after over 24 hours with no food. I didn’t expect them to survive last night, honestly, and they’re still very iffy. One is already looking to be checking out; the other most likely won’t be far behind.
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This little Carolina wren fledgling came in today after being cat-attacked. She’s on antibiotics, of course, and aside from stress and confusion, she’s doing well thus far. Caros are stressy little birds, though, so I won’t breathe easy till she’s actually released.

​And in a tale of doing everything right and still ending up with birds in rehab, a couple had been excitedly watching the first robins they’d had nest in their yard when the wife walked out to find two of the babies on the ground. The nest was too high to reach, so her husband rigged a basket and winched it up close to the nest, but the parents freaked out and refused to feed the basket babies or the one left in the nest. Basket babies ended up at LWR.

The next day the wife called and said the nest was tipped on its side and she was worried the remaining baby would fall out. He did. Again, they tried the winched basket. No go again from the parents, and robin #3 was a bit of a rebel and kept hopping out of the basket. After finding him back on the ground near dark, the wife brought him inside for the night and to LWR the next day.
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So now all three sibs are reunited and are the sweetest little birds. As is the case with most members of the thrush family—and robins are the largest thrushes—they have the most winsome personalities.

​I give the couple full credit for attempting to rig a substitute nest, and honestly, most of the time this strategy works beautifully. They tried to do the right thing to keep the babies with their parents but were also intelligent enough to realize when it wasn’t working the babies needed help. Their quick action ensured these sweethearts will have a chance.

​And finally, the “soft” fundraiser remains stalled at $550. Remember, donations are through PayPal (links on every page of the website), and we have just $450 to go to meet the $1000 goal!