With apologies to Charles Dickens (not that I imagine he cares at this point, right?). The week was bookended with releases but had an awful lot of not-so-great outcomes in the middle.
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Let’s start with the early week release—the red shoulder who was bouncing off the walls shot out of his box like he was fired from a cannon.

​But then we had a cat-attacked adult male bluebird come in, bedraggled looking and missing a lot of feathers. Despite our starting antibiotics immediately and x-rays showing no fractures, the poor fellow lasted three days before giving up the ghost—and I honestly think it was sheer stress rather than actual injury. 

​And then this sweet Mississippi kite nestling came in with what felt like a fracture in or near the wrist. X-rays confirmed both the radius and ulna were fractured and badly displaced; we had to euthanize. (I forgot to ask Smalley’s to send me the x-rays; we were all too bummed at having to euthanize such a young bird.)

The older MIKIs are doing well, though, and will be ready for the flight pen pretty soon—they’ll take precedence over older LWR guests when they’re ready, as they have to be flight-worthy when migration starts for them in September. No photos of them this week; they’re just wing-flapping like crazy in their box.

The nestling thrasher’s leg wasn’t broken (again, forgot to ask Smalley’s to send x-rays—same day we had to euthanize the MIKI) and we were hopeful that he’d regain near-full use of the leg, as he was already showing promising progress. But, as can too often happen in rehab, he was fine one night and dead the next morning, for no apparent reason.
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This juvenile purple martin came in after being unnested and soaked in a rainstorm; he’s in the songbird flight with the blue jays, tree swallow, robin and shrike.

Note: the shrike can see just fine; that’s the flash reflecting in his eye.
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These sweet Carolina wren nestlings came in after being found in an engine. There were three but one died en route.  One of the two survivors actually didn’t survive the night; the final wren made it 48 hours. They’re stressy little birds and don’t do well when they miss too many feedings.

​And today, this young adult mocker came in after being hit by a vehicle, followed shortly by an adult mourning dove found on the road with a broken wing. I’m not real hopeful for either. The mocker acts as if there are internal injuries, while the dove’s fracture feels like it’s right in the shoulder joint.

​The red shoulder whose flight skills were not great required euthanasia; the raptor flight didn’t remain empty long, though, as I moved the juvie great horned owl in immediately. Yeah, I know last week I was planning to hold off and put both GHOs in together (and the adult is doing well, by the way), but this fellow needs to develop his flight muscles, show me he can catch his own prey and be gone, so the MIKIs can move in. The adult GHO can cool his heels for another few weeks. There’s always a waiting list for the raptor flight at LWR—it’s the raptor equivalent of a popular night club, I guess!

​And the red shoulder who came in emaciated and weak let it be known he was ready to pack his bags and go—and go he did! After a less than impressive exit from the box, he proceeded to the highest branch he could find to survey his new surroundings.

We’ve had a spate of bad weather in the Middle Georgia area, and that always means more intakes…and boy howdy, was last week busy!

On Monday alone, six birds came in; the total for the week was 16—that’s in addition to the Lord-knows-how-many already in care. I honestly haven’t stopped to count.
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The highlight of the week, though—for me, anyway—was this precious loggerhead shrike fledgling. He’d been taken away from a dog and acted really neurological when he came in, which lowered my hopes considerably. I’ve only had one other shrike, a juvie with a ruptured lung, some 10-12 years ago. I remember this because I think shrikes are just plain cool birds that I never get to see in rehab. They’re like dwarf raptors with a unique twist: they impale their prey, usually insects but also small mice, on large thorns or barbed-wire fences.

​To my delight, however, the sweet bird’s neuro issues began to lessen and within four days he was perching and acting almost normal. His tail still skews a bit and if he gets nervous, his head will jerk slightly, so he’s not in the songbird flight yet, but if he continues to improve he will be soon!

​This first-year red tail wasn’t as lucky; he came in acting really stunned and out of it and unable to stand. X-rays revealed a badly fractured femur. He required euthanasia.

UGA never sent the x-rays on the GHO, and quite honestly, I prefer for my vets to see the birds anyway; I know their skill and knowledge levels and I’m more comfortable hearing their prognosis. Since I had to take the red tail in for x-rays anyway, I asked if we could also check out the GHO. Vet Peggy Hobby at Smalley’s agrees the coracoid fracture should heal fine. The eye is iffy; we’ll see what transpires as we wait on the coracoid fracture to heal.

​The juvie Coop was released before he could break his own fool neck; he didn’t waste any time getting away from human taint. No video, and I barely managed a photo; he was at the limit of my camera’s zoom!

The juvie red shoulder is in the raptor flight now, and there are no photos; he’s not impressing me with his flight ability. He has no altitude and doesn’t seem to recognize food out in the open. He’s been in the flight for almost a week now; he has another few days before we call it.

The near-fledgling mocker that I forgot to get a photo of last week is now gone after several days in the songbird flight. He was bouncing off the walls, literally, so it seemed wise to offer him his freedom before he did something stupid.
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The robin, however, shows no signs of wanting to give up free meals and has been joined by three blue jays who were about one day from fledging when the tree their nest was in fell during a storm. While the parents were around, according to the finder, so were several stray cats, so she was scared to attempt a makeshift nest. 

There really are three jays; one refuses to hang out with anybody else. Even when they came in, he was in one corner of the box the finder had them in and his sibs were in the other. He watches me interact with the others like a hawk but he will not to save his life join the crowd!

Songbirds who didn’t make it included two nestling mockers, both of last week’s Carolina wrens, a pre-fledgling red-bellied woodpecker and a sweet little kingbird nestling, slightly older than the recently released one was when it came in. I have no clue why any of these birds died. We don’t know their full back stories when they come in; the finders only know what they saw when they picked the birds up. It can be incredibly frustrating at times.

Another juvie grackle came in; this one had been kept for two weeks before the finder “miraculously” discovered LWR. Surprisingly, despite a crap diet he was in fairly good shape except for some screwy tail feathers. Since he was self-feeding, he spent a few days in the songbird flight and opted for release when the mocker left.
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The MIKIs are maturing beautifully; the adult swallow-tail enjoys trying my patience. The screech has totally mastered the art of stink-eye. And the juvie GHO is awaiting his turn in the raptor flight. By rights he should’ve gone first, before the hawks, but with the adult GHO coming in, I decided it might be best to wait and place them out there together so the adult can teach “Junior” the ropes.

​This tree swallow also looks to possibly have a coracoid fracture. It’s easier to see on x-rays with a larger bird; sometimes you can’t see it at all on smaller birds. We’re giving him time and cage rest to see what happens.

​A young hummer was found caught in a spider web in a lady’s garage; she managed to get the web off the wings and body but was scared to mess with his tiny feet. She brought him to LWR, where the webs were removed from his feet, he was given a spot of food, and after a thorough checkup, was released.

​This adult male isn’t as lucky; he has a broken wing and, based on his rough appearance, I’d say something else is going on, as well. His chances aren’t good.

​Another red tail, this one a second-year bird, came in via DNR. The game warden who brought him was hopeful he was only mildly concussed, and that appears to be the case. He’s alert, active and aggressive and will be released early in the week.

This rail-thin young red shoulder, weighing just 245g on intake, was so weak he allowed his finders to pick him up and handle him bare-handed, as did I when assessing him on intake. (That's NOT assessment in the video; it's just showing you how docile he was.) He had small frequent meals Saturday and spent the time between meals with his head tucked. To be honest, I cringed when I peered in his box this morning, expecting the worst, but he was alert and looking for food. After he eagerly ate a breakfast of chopped-up mice, I tried him a few hours later on a small whole mouse, which he inhaled. Later he devoured two small mice back to back. He’s more alert; his eyes look brighter—I think he was found just in time.

​And tonight, a couple brought a nestling brown thrasher they found in the middle of the road. His right leg looks dislocated, although the swelling might be hiding a fracture. We’ll know after getting x-rays. He has some grip with that foot and can move the leg slightly, so I’m cautiously optimistic.

​Finally, colleague Kathryn Dudeck of Chattahoochee Nature Center reports that the last of the five barnies I transferred to her when Daddy went on hospice has been released. Good news, and thanks again, Kathryn!

We had quite a few releases this week, with an equal number of intakes (eight of each), and the nestling Mississippi kites (MIKIs) are starting to arrive—three this week.
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This adorable robin—you know how I love any member of the thrush family—came in Monday after being found in someone’s back yard with no nest in sight. He’s matured rapidly and is ready for the flight pen next week, as is the mocker he’s currently housed with.  No photos of the mocker; again this week we’re pretty much focusing on the new intakes and releases.

​The very next day two nestling Mississippi kites (MIKIs) came in, also found grounded a few counties away, with no nest in sight. Neither was thrilled at their new environs but both settled down nicely after a meal.

A third MIKI came in Saturday from south of LWR but I didn’t snap a photo of him—just plopped him in with his new sibs, where he promptly showed them what “food aggression” meant. They’re all three content as long as the food keeps coming.
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This first-year red shoulder was found by the roadside but given his emaciated state, I don’t think he was hit by car. He was starving on intake and despite frequent small meals that he kept down, he died just over 24 hours later. There’s a certain threshold and once they’re past that, all the efforts in the world just can’t pull them back, sadly.

​And these two nestling Carolina wrens were found in a vehicle motor after it had been moved. Caros are stressy little birds, as you well know by now, but thus far these two sweet babies are doing well.

​This adult GHO was transferred from UGA’s wildlife clinic to LWR for continued care and—we hope—eventual release. His right eye is pretty messed up—detached retina—and he has a coracoid fracture that the UGA vets are reasonably sure will heal for flight. I’m awaiting the x-rays so I can see for myself what we’re dealing with; they’re sending me copies next week. According to their paperwork, the bird was found outside their clinic in a box earlier this month.

​In a reversal of plans, the fledgling Coop went into the raptor flight first. As you may remember, Coops are psychotic little birds, and he was going stir-crazy inside, so I opted to get him in the flight pen first so he can be released before he pulls some Coop shenanigan like breaking his own fool neck by flying full-speed into the flight pen wall.

​In releases, all the flyers were soft-released over several days last week—their choice as to when they left. Below are the last photos of them, taken as I checked the box each morning to see who was left.

​The red-headed woodpecker, after most of the week in the songbird flight, was released. Unlike red bellies, red-headeds don’t seem to hang around after release. 

The kingbird was also released after most of the week in the songbird flight, and she hung around for a couple of days but I haven’t seen her today.

​The adult red tail was released—no video but a couple of fairly decent post-release photos.

​And the sharpie made no bones about being glad to “get shed” of human contamination!

Surprisingly, the week of the Fourth saw only three new intakes: an adult Mississippi kite (MIKI), a juvenile red shoulder hawk and a nestling mocker.
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The MIKI had a broken wing; it felt like it was right at the shoulder. X-rays confirmed this wasn’t a break we could fix, sadly. MIKIs are gorgeous birds with really good personalities. He was euthanized.

​The red shoulder’s wing was basically bare bone with just enough skin left to keep most of the feathers in place. He reeked of necrotic tissue and required euthanasia, as well.

​The mocker was found, nest next to him, in the middle of a field after a storm with high winds. He was *thisclose* to fledging before the storm did a Wizard of Oz on him.

​The grackle was released and is still coming down for handouts; the jays have pretty much stopped showing up now.

​The red-headed woodpecker with the damaged leg did require euthanasia; his sib is doing quite well and should go into the songbird flight next week.

​The Eastern kingbird is also ready for the songbird flight.

I’m hobbling around well enough now that the GHO will get his long-awaited turn in the raptor flight as well. The sharpie and adult red tail are slated for release mid-week—the sharpie should have gone last week but driving proved more problematic than I expected. That will leave the fledgling red shoulder, the fledgling screech and the fledgling Coop awaiting their flight time, and the swallow-tail kite still waiting for that wing to mend. No new photos of any of them—how many different poses can they manage in their boxes, right?

Now, I want to hop on my soapbox for a moment. Yesterday LWR received a call about chimney swifts. My first advice is always, always place them back in the fireplace, put up your fire screen or a piece of cardboard  to keep the parents from flying out into your living room, and see if the parents come down to feed. I’d say a good 98% of the time this works. Swifts are excellent parents. This caller was in the 2% where it didn’t work.

The caller also had a bum foot and couldn’t bring the birds to LWR, so I referred them to WREN, a volunteer transport network, and they had it all arranged in under 10 minutes. Then the transport coordinator texted me that the birds would NOT, in fact, be coming to LWR because the caller had allowed their indoor cat in the same room with the helpless babies, and the cat did what cats do—killed all the babies.
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People. Folks. C’mon. Let’s use a little common sense here. If you have orphaned or injured wildlife in your house, however briefly, ISOLATE IT from your household pets. The sheer stress of captivity is already placing a huge burden on that wildlife, and then you want to expose it to cats or dogs that it sees as predators? And if you’re not careful you end up like this caller did, finding that your precious Fluffy or Fido just ate all the babies you stayed up all night to monitor. Family pets and orphaned/injured wildlife DO NOT mix. Place the wildlife in a spare bedroom or bathroom or even on a screened-in porch. Use your head for something besides a hat rack, okay?

This week was fairly busy, with seven releases and several intakes, as well: one particularly infuriating intake—not the bird itself but the circumstances.
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First off, the blue jays are released but still showing up to double-team me for handouts. Not a problem, as I adore blue jays!

​And all five barred owls were released—got short videos of four of them (but YouTube keeps rejecting the first release vid—no clue why); the fifth took off like a shot before I could even focus the camera!

​Not the greatest shot in the world of the grackle, but you can see the growth since last week, and he’s flying beautifully now, as well, so a release is in his very near future.

A second grackle came in late this week, about a week younger than the fellow above, but he’s having issues standing—nothing broken, everything seems to work, but he’ll just list to the side randomly. He’s currently “nesting” with a mocker, for which I apologize to him profusely at every feeding… No pix of these two; just slipped my mind.
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These red-headed woodpecker nestlings were found after a storm felled the tree their nest was in. One was caught in a crevice and hanging upside down. His little leg looks pretty rough. Nothing is broken but there does seem to be nerve or soft-tissue damage. We’re giving him time to see what happens.

​The adult GHO the game warden brought week before last did indeed have a nasty fracture. It was not fixable, as it was right in the joint. He was euthanized.

​This gorgeous swallow-tail kite was somewhat luckier. I knew his wing was broken on intake; I just wasn’t sure how bad the fracture was. When we x-rayed in at Smalley’s, we discovered the reason for the fracture was a pellet. Vet Peggy Hobby and I were furious that anyone would shoot this gorgeous creature, and I will tell you now there’s a special place in hell for the jackass who did. The state and feds have been notified but since he was found on a rural road, the chances of discovering who shot him are slim to none. The good news is Peggy’s fairly sure the bone will heal for flight. He’s the first swallow-tail I’ve had, that I can remember.

​As far as older guests, the GHO who came in as an eyes-closed downy baby is ready for the flight pen as soon as I can get him out there. I broke my foot when I released the barreds, so I’m limiting my walking as much as possible for a while.

​The sharpie is good for release and since the release site is on a rural road I can drive to the release site safely with my bum foot; the goal is to release him this week.

​The red shoulder who came in as a starving fledgling is hale and hearty now and ready for the raptor flight after the GHO finally gets his turn.

​The probable Coop is looking and sounding pretty darn “Coopy” now.

​And finally, while this sweet one came in early in the week, I’ve saved him for last because he’s just so adorable.

​This, folks, is an Eastern kingbird, a member of the flycatcher family. He was a nestling on intake; he’s getting ready to fledge now, just five days later—that gives you an idea of how rapidly songbirds mature—that’s why proper nutrition from the get-go is essential.  He’s the first very young kingbird I remember having, and I’ve been totally captivated by him. Flycatchers as a rule have the sweetest personalities anyway, and then he had all that raptor-like down on intake, which he’s losing now…he’s just precious!