Only one new intake this week, and it didn’t end well. Following the standard media “if it bleeds it leads” mentality, let’s get the negative out of the way first.
This young barred owl was found hung by one leg in the slats of a wooden fence. He’d rubbed the flesh completely off the leg in his attempts to free himself, but as nasty as it looked, there was a good chance it was fixable. It would’ve been a slow process but the wound probably would’ve healed.
Unfortunately, in his thrashing he’d broken the other leg in multiple places near the joint. It was an open fracture, as well, spelling doom for the poor owl.
Aside from the photo of him in the box immediately upon intake, the other photos were taken after euthanasia. No sense making the poor fellow suffer any longer than necessary.
This young barred owl was found hung by one leg in the slats of a wooden fence. He’d rubbed the flesh completely off the leg in his attempts to free himself, but as nasty as it looked, there was a good chance it was fixable. It would’ve been a slow process but the wound probably would’ve healed.
Unfortunately, in his thrashing he’d broken the other leg in multiple places near the joint. It was an open fracture, as well, spelling doom for the poor owl.
Aside from the photo of him in the box immediately upon intake, the other photos were taken after euthanasia. No sense making the poor fellow suffer any longer than necessary.
Last week’s barred owl turned out to be blind. If you’ll recall, last week I blamed potential soft tissue damage for his refusal to fly. I’d been placing his mice right in front of him, almost on his feet. When I moved them even a foot away, still on the ground, he couldn’t find them. He wasn’t flying because he couldn’t see to fly. While there was a very slim chance he might’ve recovered his sight, I opted for euthanasia, as that slim chance has never worked out for blind owls in my care in the past.
We also lost the runt red-headed woodpecker. Bless his little heart, he reached the stage of development you saw in last week’s photos and just stopped growing. No further feather growth, no weight gain—nothing. But as long as he’d eat, I was willing to give him a chance. He died in his sleep mid-week.
In better news, the surviving red-headed woodpecker is in the flight pen, flying nicely and awaiting several days with low rain predictions so he can be released.
We also lost the runt red-headed woodpecker. Bless his little heart, he reached the stage of development you saw in last week’s photos and just stopped growing. No further feather growth, no weight gain—nothing. But as long as he’d eat, I was willing to give him a chance. He died in his sleep mid-week.
In better news, the surviving red-headed woodpecker is in the flight pen, flying nicely and awaiting several days with low rain predictions so he can be released.
The weather hasn’t been conducive to another attempted hummer release, either, so although I forgot to get any new photos of the little guy, he’s still buzzing around happily.
The screeches finally made it into the flight pen, where they expressed their unhappiness by refusing to eat. Too soon, I guess, or it may’ve been weather-related. Screeches seem to be very sensitive to changes in barometric pressure, and we were having a bout of high-humidity, rainy days… They’re back inside for a day or two, and then we’ll try again.
The screeches finally made it into the flight pen, where they expressed their unhappiness by refusing to eat. Too soon, I guess, or it may’ve been weather-related. Screeches seem to be very sensitive to changes in barometric pressure, and we were having a bout of high-humidity, rainy days… They’re back inside for a day or two, and then we’ll try again.
And finally, I’m getting a lot of calls from people unsure whether they have gray or flying squirrels. They’re pretty distinctive in terms of size, and flyers have that skin flap, or patagium, running from each front leg to each back leg. Below are a couple of quick comparison photos. In the top photo, they’re not in the same positions, but still, you can clearly see the size difference and the lack of patagia in the gray squirrel. Note also the WHITE nails on the flyer—that’s a pretty dead giveaway, too.
The bottom photo provides close-ups of their faces/heads, not quite to scale—the flyer’s face/head will be noticeably smaller than a gray’s.
The bottom photo provides close-ups of their faces/heads, not quite to scale—the flyer’s face/head will be noticeably smaller than a gray’s.
L, gray; R, flyer
L, flyer; R, gray
RSS Feed
