That’s a “collection” of owl species known to breed in Georgia: barred, screech, great horned, and barn. According to DNR other species—long-eared, short-eared, burrowing and saw-whet— have been documented in the state but no known nests have been located.

Last week the final owl for LWR’s “collection” came in, a brancher barnie. The finder knew where the nest was but couldn’t reach it, as it was app. 75 feet up in a tree, where she said they’d nested on her property for years. As long as this young one is fed and left alone, it’s fine. Spend too much time admiring its beauty, however, and it begins classic barnie hissing—a warning best to be heeded if one doesn’t want the full-blown, eardrum-shattering barnie scream to follow. And rest assured, we WILL get that screaming this week when he’s moved into a new box…

The eagle continues to do well and is perching higher now, so that’s good news. His follow-up x-rays at Smalley’s were clear, and he has no abnormal parasite loads. He has two new perches arranged at opposite ends of the main flight, and the plan is to encourage him to fly from one to the other for limited flight conditioning. Thus far DNR and FWS seem pleased with his progress—they get weekly updates.

The nestling red tail slightly more than tripled her body weight in her first 14 days at LWR: from 350g on intake May 10 to 1060g on May 24. She’s feathering out nicely and is figuring out what those gunboats she calls feet are for, which is hysterical to watch. She outgrew her small mirror and yet another box and has larger digs and a new, larger mirror. Currently her wings are only good for maintaining balance as she clomps around her box, but it won’t be long before she figures out what they’re for, too!

The great horned still needs to be outside but is on hold till the eagle is sorted.

If the barred twins continue to progress at their current rate, however, they might be releasable soon, and then he can at least go in the mini-pen.

The screeches continue to be melodramatic. The barbed wire screech is still reluctant to use his wing for anything aside from the classic Dracula move, seen below.

The screech awaiting FWS approval for transfer to Blue Ridge Raptors now prefers to glare and beak-click.

Two additional intakes last week didn’t survive. A nestling barred owl was left on the ground for three days before the finders called a neighbor, who retrieved the bird and brought it to LWR. The poor baby was emaciated, dehydrated and suffering from flystrike—when flies lay eggs on living creatures, eggs that hatch into maggots that begin to feed on the live animal. The rescuing neighbor had tried to clean a few off, but when the poor baby arrived at LWR, the eggs and maggots were covering the chest and belly, wings—well, basically everywhere. The little one noticeably weakened as I was cleaning the eggs and maggots off and was reluctant to eat. It died within an hour of intake.

The second intake that didn’t make it was an adult great horned, found at the entrance to a subdivision. Both wings had open fractures, so the suffering bird was humanely euthanized. The photos of his injuries were taken after euthanasia, as ending his suffering was the priority on intake.

It was an unusually busy week, not due to intakes—there were no new intakes—but because of contacting and coordinating with DNR, FWS, transporters, and colleagues regarding the fledgling eagle. FWS granted permission to hold the eagle for another couple of weeks, as needed, depending on his progress. DNR had already indicated this was their preference, pending FWS approval. Colleagues had to be notified and new contacts consulted. More food had to be ordered… And God love my transporters, who were basically on standby until we got all our I’s dotted and T’s crossed and determined they weren’t required just yet.

So the eagle fledgling needs to gain a bit more weight before he’s considered releasable. He also will have a follow-up vet visit this week, per FWS request. He needs to also attempt higher perches and may still need transfer for flight conditioning if he makes no attempt to reach those higher perches. Thus far he’s mainly been interested in staying very close to his food, so we’re basically playing his game by his rules right now.  So…I guess…stay tuned for further developments!

The nestling red tail is growing like a weed, more than doubling her (yeah, with those gunboats for feet, I’m pretty sure we have a female) weight since intake: from 350g on May 10 to 860g this morning. She’s alert, vocal, eats like there’s no tomorrow, and loves her “companion” mirror, cuddling next to it to sleep and sitting opposite it to eat. And, of course, she’s immensely photogenic…

The barred twins remain in the mini-pen and will likely be there for another few weeks.

The great horned really needs to be in the main flight but will have to remain inside till the eagle is released—which is DNR’s goal, by the way: to release him locally.

The barbed wire screech is healing nicely but not wanting to use his wing, so there may be soft tissue damage. We’ll give him more time; it’s only been a week.

And we’re still in hurry-up-and-wait mode on the screech headed to Blue Ridge Raptors to begin his new life as an ed bird.

Yup, the second bald eagle of 2024 came into LWR last week. This guy’s a fledgling, a little thin at 3.14kg/6.9lbs. DNR and FWS agreed that rather than move him from pillar to post, he could remain at LWR while boots on the ground in the area looked to see if a previously undocumented nest might be found—the only documented nest is apparently some 20-30 miles from where he was picked up. If no nest can be located to place him near his parents, he’ll go to colleague Kathryn Dudeck at Chattahoochee Nature Center. She and I are hopeful he can be reunited with his parents and sibling(s) but it’s looking less and less likely this will happen. Meanwhile, he’s eating well at LWR, making up for meals lost when he was somehow separated from his parents.

When he was at Smalley’s Animal Hospital for x-rays and a general physical exam, we all were amused because he’s young enough to give outraged juvie chirps at being handled—never had a baldie who vocalized before, so that was interesting. He stayed inside for a couple of days; we had rough weather on tap for basically the entire state for several days after he came in. As soon as it was clear, he was moved into the main flight, where he seems quite content to hang out and receive regular meals while we wait to see if he’ll be reunited or transferred.

And perhaps I overdid the photos of the big young feller, but dang it, he’s actually almost cute…

Shortly after his arrival LWR received a text out of the blue from a person who sent numerous photos of a nestling hawk with no explanatory info. I immediately called to get more info and see if the baby could be reunited with its parents. This person claimed to’ve had the baby for TWO WEEKS, asserting that they’d raised numerous birds previously. The person was at a relative’s graduation when they sent the photos and assured me the bird would be at LWR the next morning. They had second thoughts and brought the baby that evening, proceeding again to tell me about their previous illegal bird raising and asking how to become a rehabber. I explained the procedure and answered their questions about the birds I currently had in rehab. During this discussion, they handed me a baggie with what appeared to be a small amount of dried gray pocket lint and said the baby had “thrown it up” and they were unsure if it was normal.

Aha! THAT is most likely the reason they even attempted to find a rehabber—they were unfamiliar with raptors casting pellets…and that poor, withered excuse for a pellet was indeed worrisome to me.

Oh, but the best is yet to come… Said lawbreaker then texted me after they’d left, asking if I had CashApp for a donation “when they got paid” (if I had one measly dollar for every time I’ve heard THAT line, LWR would be almost totally self-funded) and asking for regular updates on the bird. After I’d stopped steaming, I replied with a negative on both accounts and was then treated to an unhinged text rant about how they KNEW they made a mistake leaving the bird with me (like they had a choice; I’d’ve sicced DNR and FWS on their butt so fast it woulda made their head spin, and the authorities don’t play around when it comes to raptors.), I had no people skills (DUH. There’s a reason I work with animals and not people, sweetie.), and would I PLEASE make sure that baby lived (As long as your arrogant stupidity didn’t irreversibly damage him, he should be fine.)…I ended up blocking the number so I have no clue how long this went on after the first two messages.

Y’all…I may utterly despise the person who brings me a bird but that bird will NEVER suffer at my hands just because its finders are entitled, arrogant jackasses who think they can break the law with impunity, endanger the health and welfare of a protected species, and then get offended because I don’t pat their heads, tell them “good boy/girl” for their lawbreaking, and offer a tour of the LWR grounds (which is strictly prohibited by the terms of my permits) to reward their asininity.

And now for photos of the subject of the rant…He appears to be a nestling red tail who still, as of this evening, has his egg tooth, so he’s actually only about 10 days old, giving lie to his having been in the person’s illegal possession for two weeks unless they found and hatched an unnested egg… ANYway, enjoy his glorious little downy gorgeousness!

The same day the red tail nestling came in, a young couple provided an example of how to do things right. They were driving and saw what they initially thought was a quail hung on a barbed-wire fence. Upon stopping to release it, they realized it was, in fact, a screech. With their priorities firmly in place, they first gently removed the bird from the fence, secured it in their vehicle, and sought out a rehabber. LWR was the closest, so even though it meant nearly a two-hour drive for them, they proceeded to bring the injured screech to LWR that very evening. They were also interested in the process to become a rehabber, so I gave them the same information I’d given the unhinged lawbreaker earlier. Oddly enough, not only were they not “offended,” when they found out they’d need flight pens they asked intelligent questions about the general setup of a flight. Guess one’s level of “offense” depends on whether one has broken the law or, as this couple had done, proceeded to put the welfare of the bird above their own egos. So yes, should this young couple decide to seek their rehab permits, I’d be willing to aid them where I could.

Nothing feels broken but that’s a nasty puncture wound. He’s on antibiotics, as the couple indicated the barbed wire was rusty.

Meanwhile, the barred twins are in the mini-pen, where they delight in threatening me with fearsome displays of beak clicking while glaring daggers at me.

The great horned, bless his heart, is stuck inside till the eagle is moved, not that he seems to care right now, as long as the “buffet” remains endless.

And we’re still in “hurry up and wait” mode on the screech awaiting transfer to become an ed bird.

Hard to believe we’re five months into 2024; at this rate next week we’ll be gearing up for Christmas!

Last week was a quiet week, with no new intakes. Quiet doesn’t mean not busy, though, as we were working behind the scenes, as it were, to get the nonreleasable screech squared away for placement as an ed bird. The follow-up vet visit at Smalley’s went well; the x-rays showed no change from his first visit, and vet Peggy Hobby agreed that he was, in fact, nonreleasable, providing a letter to that effect for the state and feds. So all the requisite paperwork has been submitted and now we hurry up and wait. Once everything’s approved, he’ll be going to Beth Thomson of Blue Ridge Raptors and in all honesty, she had to do all the paperwork; all I had to do was get the follow-up vet visit and ask Peggy for the letter stating he was nonreleasable. Beth has a great setup and an excellent working partnership with her ed birds, so he’ll be in good hands once the transfer is complete.

The great horned is perching now, so this week he’ll be moved into one of the flights. He utterly despises me, which is the best feeling in the world for a rehabber working with young raptors—means I’ve done my job and he’s still wild.

Same for the barred twins, who also hate me, clicking those beaks and lunging at me when I feed them. Only in wildlife rehab would having your “patients” dislike you be cause for celebration!

Given that the great horned and barreds are at approximately the same stage of development, at the moment it’s a toss-up as to which birds will go in which flight, but at the moment it’s likely the barreds will go in the mini-pen and the great horned in the main flight. Maybe. We’ll see…