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The eagle has lan — errr, been transferred

6/30/2024

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Late last week, the eagle wended his way to Chattahoochee Nature Center, courtesy of Beth Thomson of Blue Ridge Raptors, who’d come to retrieve her screech as soon as the federal paperwork was approved for his use as an ed bird. Yay on both counts!

The eagle almost immediately showed his stuff at CNC, according to colleague Kathryn Dudeck, who reported that he hopped from the ground to a four-foot-high perch and then to a ten-foot-high one; within a couple of hours in the larger flight, he’d flown the full length of that flight.  There were some excited rehabbers, from CNC all the way south to LWR, at that news!

Below are some photos and videos I took before he left LWR and some photos Beth and Kathryn sent from CNC.

At LWR:
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At CNC:
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The screech, once he’s acclimated to his new digs, will be trained to the glove and other behaviors needed for educational purposes. Beth kindly sent some photos of him once she’d arrived home with him. He’s got the Ritz of raptor accommodations with Beth!
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The red tail remains in the mini-pen and is utterly gorgeous and a little goofy.
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After the eagle’s transfer and some clean-up in the main flight, the great horned owl was moved into it. This morning he was on the perch above the door but flew to the ground when I walked in. Yesterday he got his first experience of rain, which we sorely needed. He, however, was not amused…
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That leaves the barnie inside, waiting her turn in the flight.
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Sadly, the barbed wire screech required euthanasia; the soft tissue damage to his wing was causing it to droop badly. I suspect a tendon or ligament had been torn by the barbs or by his struggles to free himself.

A first-year red tail who came in last week also required euthanasia after x-rays at Smalley’s revealed his femur was basically shattered.
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Hope y’all all enjoy your Fourth celebrations this week!
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Maintaining the status quo

6/16/2024

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There were no real changes at LWR last week: no new intakes, and all the birds currently under care were just hanging out and maturing, awaiting transfer, or healing, as the case might be for each.

The fledgling bald eagle continues to do well with his flight and yes, perhaps I *did* go a bit wild with slow-mo videos of him in flight but dang, that’s a gorgeous fellow in motion.
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The red tail is “branching” now and needs to be in a flight, so the great horned may end up coming back inside to allow the red tail access to the mini-pen. Actually, because we have three birds who need flight time and only one pen available for use at the moment (the eagle is in the main flight, remember), we may end up playing “musical birds” with the mini-pen and rotating the birds in and out weekly. That way everybody gets a chance to stretch their wings at least every third week…
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No, that tiny mirror isn't for the red tail; the larger mirror hangs from it to raise it to a higher level, given the red tail's growth!
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Same applies to the barnie, so we’ll see how the musical raptors approach goes for these birds.
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The great horned doesn’t really seem to care where he is as long as the food keeps comin’, so inside or out, I don’t think he’ll care just yet.
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The barbed wire screech is still stuck in “Dracula mode.” I lucked up last week and caught him in a different pose, but this week we’re back to variations on a theme.
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And the screech awaiting FWS approval for transfer hopped on the “variations on a theme” bandwagon, except his thematic variation is now the “I’m a big, bad, threatening killing machine.” Yeah, we’re all terrified…Although I willingly admit if screeches were as big as they think they are, I’d never go outside at night—they’re actually fierce little things!
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There will be no update next week, June 23.
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Releases and other notable happenings

6/9/2024

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First off, the barreds FINALLY got their long-awaited release! Neither hung around within range for post-release photos, but the video turned out pretty decent.
Given the difficulty of finding space for the eagle at the moment, FWS approved his remaining at LWR for another month. Meanwhile, he had a major milestone last week, as he started flying from perch to perch consistently. Previously, he was over- or under-shooting the mark; now he’s nailing it every time, and it’s utterly gorgeous to see. And I managed to capture it on video twice last week for your viewing pleasure…
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The red tail is starting to jump-flap some, and it took several tries to manage a video of that, but I finally timed it just right. She’s growing so fast!
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With the barreds released, the great horned moved into the mini-pen and seems quite happy in his new digs.
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The barnie was NOT happy that her box was cleaned out, and she let the world know it. Fortunately, I learned long ago to wear earplugs when handling barnies inside; they scream their outrage, the sound reverberates in a closed space and without hearing protection, it honestly feels like your brain is going to liquefy and pour out your ears…
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The nonreleasable screech still awaits FWS approval for transfer to Blue Ridge Raptors.
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The barbed wire screech is still refusing to use his wing, so it’s not looking promising for an eventual release for him.
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And finally, although this isn’t wildlife rehab, it’s still neat. On Saturday, June 8, the sun had a halo around it for several hours—not something I remember seeing before, and it was actually my nephew who alerted me to it. It appears this is caused by the sun’s reflection off high altitude ice crystals in thin cirrus clouds. It was too interesting not to share!
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No new intakes for the last week of May

6/2/2024

2 Comments

 
And I’m not really complaining, because LWR is pretty much at capacity at the moment, with the eagle, great horned, red tail, two screeches, two barreds and a barnie.

The red tail is growing like a weed and feathering out beautifully. She’s just a gorgeous bird already and will be breathtaking once all her feathers are in.
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We’ll be making a decision on transfer or release for the eagle this week.  I’m pushing strongly for transfer for further conditioning and live prey testing but will do whatever the folks who issue my permits say. He’s definitely getting antsier and less willing to share space with me even to have me place his food in the flight.
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The barred twins are *thisclose* to release and it may even be by the end of the week; we’ll see…
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The great horned really needs to be in a flight; baby season necessitates delays because as multiple birds of different species mature at about the same time, flight pen space is at a premium. We’re workin’ on it.
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The barnie is now more feathers than fluff—what a change in just a week! She’s a gorgeous gal and eats voraciously.
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The barbed wire screech is stuck in Dracula imitation mode…
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And the screech awaiting FWS approval for transfer to Blue Ridge Raptors has exited Dracula imitation mode and is in full-blown “See how big and bad I am?” mode. Gotta love screeches!
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