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And the eagle has “flown”...to UGA, that is

5/28/2023

Monday morning’s x-rays at Smalley’s Animal Hospital showed what vet Peggy Hobby and I agreed was a fixable fracture, and Bob Sargent, head of Georgia DNR’s eagle program, had already arranged for UGA in Athens to take the eagle if it was treatable, so we set about finding transportation. One of the LWR stalwarts, AJ Rogers, stepped up to transport the bird to Athens and had him there before 4pm Monday.

The week slowed down after that, with no new intakes and only the red shoulder and barred owls currently in care.
The red shoulder is a goofball who’s still working on the self-feeding thing. But he does like to ham it up for the camera...

And the barred trio are still in the mini-pen; there’s a minor addition I want to place in the main flight before moving them into it, and my editing schedule (you know—my paying job) was too hectic last week to get it done.

The goal is to get the barreds into the main flight this week and the red shoulder into the mini-pen...if the stubborn rascal will consistently self-feed...

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Yep, that’s a bald eagle...

5/21/2023

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Bald eagles always lead, not because I’m particularly fond of them—y’all know my opinions on the ill-tempered, aggressive, unpredictable “just vultures with good PR”—but because people are a bit obsessed with ‘em.

ANYway...yup...first eagle of 2023...he was spotted Saturday morning by Good Samaritan Kim Beck of Dodge County, who had the good sense to leave the bird alone and call the authorities. Game wardens Evan Nobles and Robert Stillwell chased the HBC bird through the woods for quite a spell before capturing him. For the record, even if a raptor is incapable of flight, it can usually run pretty darn fast and hone in on nearly impassable thickets to shelter in. So these intrepid game wardens deserve HUGE kudos for their perseverance.

The eagle has some road rash, a raw spot on his right wing, and a fractured right wing—how bad, we don’t know yet; x-rays are on the schedule for Monday. If the wing is fixable, the bird will then most likely need to go to Carolina Raptor Center in NC, as Auburn is still not taking birds.

The red shoulder continues to mature nicely, despite hitting a picky-eating phase. Actually, what he’s hit is the stubborn teen phase, leading to multiple discussions on taking it or leaving it when it comes to his finicky eating habits. Despite this, he’s managed to hit 520g (18.3oz) this week, so he’s not allowing himself to starve! He's ready for the mini-pen once he starts reliably and consistently self-feeding; right now it's hit and miss.

Taken today. He's app. 33 days old today!

The adult red shoulder was released; he spent almost a full minute sitting on the glove screaming at me, even after I turned off the camera and put it away, planning to put the mouthy rascal back in the box and try again another day. THEN he flew away, well into the woods, into one of those thickets where I couldn’t even spot him. But hey, at least I got video of him screaming at me to share with you, right?

The adult barred owl wasn’t as lucky. His head tilt never fully resolved itself but I placed him in the main flight to see what he could do. He flew in tight circles, landed on the ground, and began spinning like a top before falling on his side. Obviously, this was not going to resolve for survival in the wild, so he was humanely euthanized.

The barred twins are ready for the main flight, so they’ll be moved to their new digs this week.

And today colleague Charydi Gambill delivered a young barred owl found by the roadside in Pulaski County. He’ll join the twins in the main flight.

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Ummm...oops!

5/14/2023

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Baby hawks of all species pretty much look the same, so rehabbers go by weight, eye color (sometimes), leg and foot structure (for some species) and, if they’re vocal babies, by vocalizations, to nail down exactly what species a downy baby is. So based on weight, etc., my colleagues and I were pretty sure we had LWR’s hatchling hawk labeled correctly...

Yeah, umm, about that...seems that as the rascal matured into a pre-brancher, we all began second-guessing our first guess; as colleague Steve Hicks is fond of saying, with downy hawks we always know their last name; we’re just unsure about the first name. And our “baby red tail” is actually a baby red shoulder!

This is based on skinny legs and toes, dark eye color, rusty-looking feathers on the shoulders, and a weight that’s pretty much plateaued at 480g (a pound, give or take an ounce).

And what’s so funny to me is when game warden Rodney Horne texted me about him back in April, I initially told him it was most likely a red shoulder, but then we all started theorizing about what he “might” be...

ANYway, the red shoulder continues to mature beautifully, although he has hit that developmental stage where he just looks scraggly—an awkward teen!

I’ve started offering bits of food for him to learn to self-feed in between hand-feedings; so far he gives it the same perplexed look he did the low perch I placed in his box. He’ll figure it out...eventually...

The adult red shoulder recovering from the wing fracture is flying fairly well but not well enough for release yet. Maybe another week or so...

A second adult red shoulder came in Friday, unable to move his legs. We’re trying meds for the weekend, with some slight improvement, so it might be just nerve inflammation. If the improvement slows, x-rays are in order, although pelvic fractures don’t always show in x-rays. We’ll see.

The adult barred owl with the lingering head tilt still isn’t fully recovered but is very clear he’s not happy at being confined. Sorry, bud, only two flights at LWR and both are currently occupied!

And the brancher barreds are just nosy goofballs!

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Baby’s growing so fast!

5/7/2023

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The red tail’s growth is nothing short of amazing, y’all. As of this morning, the little rascal weighs 395g (13.9oz)—recall, if you will, his intake weight was 44.9g (1.5oz). And his feathers are coming in! And he’s standing, and toddling around his box!

In case the past two weeks didn’t make it crystal clear, I’m thoroughly besotted with the no-longer-so-wee one and immensely enjoying watching his progress. And here are the photos to allow you to share that progress:

We also had three releases yesterday, after nearly a week’s delay due to high winds. All three great horneds gained their freedom! (Despite the very bright sky, it was actually 6pm when they were released, two hours before sunset, which is the standard practice when releasing nocturnal raptors.)

The osprey’s wing was shattered; he required euthanasia.

Monday THREE barred owls came in; only one is still with us.

Barred one came from Dublin; he was found in a parking lot, about to be in the road. His nest was in a pine tree in the parking lot, but the poor fellow had broken a leg on impact with the pavement. X-rays showed it wasn’t fixable and he was euthanized.

Barred two came from a nearby county and had been kept illegally and fed a crap diet since Easter Sunday. On Monday morning he apparently jumped from the table where he was being fed the crap diet and broke his leg—in this case, due to MBD, metabolic bone disease, a calcium deficiency caused by an improper diet. Had he been at LWR earlier or at least fed a proper diet, the distance from an average table to the floor wouldn’t have caused a great enough impact to break his leg. It was also unfixable and this poor baby also required euthanasia.

The third barred is an adult I honestly didn’t think was gonna make it. His eye was filled with blood, but that was the least of his problems; the impact when he was whacked by a car left him severely stargazing—his neck was badly twisted. Surprisingly, he’s almost back to normal now and eating quite well.

A fourth barred came in today, with an open wing fracture that required euthanasia.

With the great horned releases, the main flight opened up for the red shoulder. It’s too soon to tell if that wing healed well enough for flight; by the end of this week, we should have a better idea if he’ll be able to fly properly.

And the brancher barreds are in the mini-pen, where they sit and glare and posture threateningly at me when I feed them.

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And the eagle has “flown”...to UGA, that is

Yep, that’s a bald eagle...

Ummm...oops!

Baby’s growing so fast!

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