Just one new intake last week, another juvenile Cooper’s hawk, and as with the previous two juvie Coops, this one was starvation-thin but alert. He ate small meals on his own and even cast a couple of small pellets, so I was hopeful this one would make it, but no...if all these Coops had come from the same county, I’d be really worried about avian flu, but they were from three widely separated counties, so who knows?

Last week’s rainy weather delayed the barreds’ releases, but we’re aiming at releases by the middle of this week, while we have a stretch of clear skies.

And the red shoulder is getting quite vocal. He likes to fill me in on all the latest gossip morning and evening, and God forbid he doesn’t get his mice immediately after I walk into the yard where he can see me from his flight, because that 60-second delay is causing him to starve to death, and he announces it for all the world to hear...Such a goofball...

Once the barreds are released, he’ll go into the main flight for a week or so, and then he’ll be ready for transfer to the falconer mentioned in last week’s update.

There will be no update next Sunday, July 2.

There were no new intakes this week—a nice breather after the insanity of an “eagle week.”

The adult red shoulder with the possible pelvic fracture and potential internal injuries did, in fact, apparently have internal injuries, which he succumbed to Sunday night.

Good news on the juvie red shoulder front, though—we’ve located a falconer who’s excited as all get-out at the prospect of working with him, so in a few weeks he’ll be transferred to said falconer.  A couple of years with her will ensure he’s a well-trained hunter and drastically improve his survival chances upon release. For reference, 50% of red shoulder hawks don’t survive their first year in the wild, so delaying his release by placing him as a falconry bird for a couple of years will definitely be in his best interest.

Normally we make sure birds can capture prey and aim at release as soon as possible once they’re able to hunt successfully, but remember, this fellow came in April 17 as a 24-48-hour-old bird—see a few of his intake pix below—and we’ve had no other red shoulders to place with him. Cooperation between falconers and raptor rehabbers is a valuable part of both our roles, and I’m delighted this goofy fellow will have greatly improved survival chances upon his eventual release from falconry.

The barreds are close to release; another week or so should have them ready to go. They think they’re ready now (and I agree), but next week’s predicted rain chances look as if we’ll need to hold off a while. It’s always a balancing act with wildlife rehab, regardless of species: make sure they’re old enough; make sure they can fend/forage/hunt for themselves; make sure the weather is good for a release; find a good release site...

Yup, just 20 days after this year’s first eagle, the second eagle of 2023 came in... DNR called me around 9:30 Friday morning to let me know they were on the way with an eagle found grounded in Toombs County. My vets at Smalley’s were unavailable for the day, so I checked with Richie Hatcher of Magnolia Grove Vet Clinic to see if he could see it. (Some of y’all may remember the fantastic work he did on a red tail with a ruptured crop a few years back.) He said bring it on, so...now we waited for the bird to arrive.

It arrived around 11am and I immediately headed to Magnolia Grove for x-rays. As you can see in the area I circled on the trunk x-ray, the head of the femur appears to be disintegrated, and Richie also noticed nodules in the chest. His diagnosis was cancer or some other metabolic condition. Based on severely frayed tail feathers and emaciation (keel 2, for those who know the chart), we agreed the bird had been down a while. Richie's recommendation was euthanasia but we agreed that since the carcass would have to be sent to UGA anyway, it would be easier to transport a live bird than to try and keep a carcass refrigerated for transport. I discussed this with DNR's Bob Sargent, head of the eagles program, who agreed with our plan. I also forwarded the x-rays to the vet at UGA who would be seeing the bird, and he informed Bob that he agreed with Richie’s diagnosis; there was nothing he could do for the bird, either.

Meanwhile, transportation needed to be arranged, and through the Georgia Wildlife Network, a group of volunteer transporters, we were able to locate a falconer who was willing to transport the bird, even knowing its fate in advance. By 8pm Friday UGA had the bird, and now we await necropsy results, which UGA has told us will take at least 4 weeks. We’re all curious as to whether this was actually cancer, which Bob said he couldn’t recall seeing in any other eagle in Georgia to date, or whether it was some other metabolic condition, or...who knows? We’ll know in a month or so, hopefully.

Meanwhile, the stressy, emaciated Coop from last week didn’t survive; he died last Sunday night.

A second Coop, about the same age, came in from another county, even more emaciated than the first, but part of his issue was that he’d been grounded for at least three days before his finders decided since he wasn’t moving along, he might need help. I didn’t expect him to survive the night, but the next morning he was standing, head tucked in sleep—and he willingly self-fed on the small meals I offered and was perching by that evening. I had high hopes he’d be fine, but he died his second night at LWR. Sometimes they’re just too far gone, even when they seem to be improving...

An adult red shoulder came in Saturday after being found in the road. I suspect a pelvic fracture and possibly internal injuries, given that he was likely hit by a car. He did eat this morning, so we’ll just have to wait and see how he does through tomorrow morning.

The barred owls are slowly maturing to release age; another few weeks and they should be ready to go.

And the red shoulder who came in as a hatchling back in April is a gorgeous, if somewhat goofy, young bird now who finally figured out the self-feeding thing and just needs the barreds released so he can move into the main flight and build up his flight muscles for release.

Time flies when you’re having mice...err...fun...

The red shoulder who came in as a 24-hour-old ball of down is now in the mini-pen. He’s still iffy on the self-feeding, spoiled brat that he is, but he needed to be outside to have more room, so we’re compromising on the feeding issue.

The barred trio are now in the main flight and doing well; self-feeding was never an issue for any of them.

Monday an adult red shoulder came in, a bit loopy and with some road rash on his hip. Within a few days, he was ready for release. Typical red shoulder, he sat on the glove until I acted as if I was putting the camera away, and then...it's a short video, but hey...short is better than none, right?

Tuesday an adult great horned came in after a property owner saw it by his pond the previous night and fished it out of that pond Tuesday morning. He was not in good shape; he’d obviously aspirated a lot of water and was struggling to breathe. I started meds immediately, but by Wednesday he’d lost his struggle to survive.

And Friday morning a pre-fledge Cooper’s hawk came in, thin even for a Coop, but alert. He’s at just the wrong age to readily accept hand-feeding but doesn’t want to self-feed either, so it’s still a daily struggle to get him to eat—force-feeding leads to him vomiting most of it back up from stress, but he won’t eat on his own from the forceps nor self-feed from the dish of tasty rodent morsels placed in his box...He’s keeping down enough to remain alert and cast tiny pellets, but he literally falls over on his side, still gripping the perch, juvenile “panic-chipping” at me, when I go to check his food/feed him. Coops are stressy, psychotic little birds...in case that description of his behavior didn’t clue y’all in...