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Couple of clear(ish) days allowed a release

8/23/2020

LWR had one release and several intakes last week, making it slightly busier than the previous week.

First, the release: The MIKI’s migration instincts had kicked in big-time by mid-week, and he was calling incessantly, demanding that he be allowed to go on his way—and boy, did he!

With his release, the catbird and blue jay moved into the mini-pen and should be good for release possibly as soon as the end of this week.

One of this week’s intakes was another juvie MIKI who had a nasty shoulder fracture; the only option was humane euthanasia.

Also, a juvie sharpie came in with both eyes severely damaged/infected. Warm compresses, saline baths, ointments and drops made no difference; both eyes were totally trashed. This poor baby was also euthanized.

LWR also had a house finch come in with a horribly swollen and deformed left leg. The poor bird was already beak-breathing on arrival and died as I was preparing to euthanize.

A second-year red tail appears to have a wing fracture in or near the left wrist; he’ll go in for X-rays Monday. Meanwhile, he ain’t a happy camper, not at all…

The two red tails who’ve been at LWR for a while are doing well. The female will be released soon; as you can see in the video below, she’s flying like a champ. The male, who has soft tissue damage, is actually more mobile, although you can’t tell it in the video. He’s laid-back; she’s a pistol!

The hummers are…well, humming right along, if you’ll pardon the pun. They eat and they buzz around. The female has some lift now; the male’s wing shows no signs of improvement.

And Poe the crow has his brace off now. His right leg still wants to splay a bit, but it’s not interfering with flight, landing or perching. He’s a crafty fellow—perches till it’s feeding time, then hops back in his nest and acts like a big baby…With the raptor flight occupied for the foreseeable future, he’ll go into the mini-pen once the catbird and blue jay are released.

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Late summer lull

8/16/2020

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Last week was typical for late summer, with few intakes—just three, to be exact.

Monday a juvenile male ruby-throated hummingbird came in, left by someone at Smalley’s. His wing is pretty badly displaced and probably won’t heal for flight but we’re gonna give him time to see.

And the week ended with yet another hummer intake, a female, whose wings are perfectly level but she can’t fly. It’s possible she has a coracoid fracture, so I’d guess she’s got a better chance at release at this point. Time will tell.

Also on Monday, a juvenile Coop came in with partial paralysis; she didn’t survive the night.

We’re down to one MIKI, as the older of the two self-released early last week, bouncing off the top of my head and straight out of the mini-pen when I went in to feed them. He’d been antsy for several days and I’d been cautious when entering and exiting the pen, as I was half-expecting him to make a run for it—and he did. He flew due south, typical for MIKIs.

The younger MIKI is also getting antsy now, so I’m actually aiming at a proper release for him by mid-week.

The red tails continue to inhale food. The female is flying beautifully and would’ve been released last week except for high rain chances throughout the week. Maybe this week…

The male, a gorgeous lighter-colored bird, is still having issues with that soft tissue damage. I’m hopeful, though, that he’ll make a full recovery. It’s just gonna take a while.

The catbird is ready for the mini-pen as soon as the MIKI is released, and the blue jay will join him. He’s about the quietest jay I’ve ever had. Nary a peep from him most of the time—not at all normal jay behavior. But he’s alert, active and eating well!

And Poe the crow is flying and perching quite well; we may do one more week of leg hobbles just to be sure we’ve corrected as much of the splay as possible.

And that’s it for this week—short and sweet. I rather like these late summer lulls!

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Fairly quiet week, all things considered

8/9/2020

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LWR saw two releases and two intakes last week, with birds being moved around to allow for flight conditioning.

Thursday the two juvie barred owls were released. I’d been contacted earlier in the week by FWS to see if I had any pending releases, as a former county official in a neighboring county had terminal cancer and had participating in a raptor release on his bucket list. The man’s wife originally said she was going to get the press to be present, so I’d contacted DNR, too, so both my supervising agencies could get good PR from this release. However, the man apparently asked his wife to forego the press, but she didn’t notify me, so shortly before the release my yard looked like I was being raided, with three DNR vehicles and a FWS vehicle lined up and representatives from both agencies gathered in the yard. I couldn’t stop snickering about it.

When I found out that the man had asked for no press, I also refrained from taking photos of him as he witnessed one release and opened the box for the second release. I did, however, snap the usual post-release shots of the owls.

Thanks to Thomas Payne of FWS and Bob Sargent, Austin Biggers, and Greg Nelms of DNR for showing up and traipsing through the woods with us in the heat.

Earlier in the week, a juvie Coop came in, partially paralyzed and producing black, tarry poop shortly after intake—a sure sign of internal injuries. He was euthanized humanely.

And Saturday a recently-fledged—as in probably the day before—blue jay came in after being attacked by a cat. He has no injuries but is still not a happy camper, poor fellow.

With the barreds’ release, both red tails were moved into the raptor flight. The juvie female is loving the space to fly; the second-year male with soft-tissue damage isn’t attempting flight yet. That gal is feisty and an aggressive hunter, too; I’ve started tossing her mice in the air to watch her grab them as they hit the ground. It’s hysterical. The male is calmer, perhaps because he’s a year older.

With the male red tail out of the mini-pen, the MIKIs were moved into it. After an entire afternoon of disconcerted “pit-pewing” from them, they settled down and seem to be enjoying their new digs.

The injured cat-attacked catbird didn’t survive. The poor thing struggled and struggled, and just as I’d decided to euthanize, she checked out on her own, between feedings.

The uninjured catbird has started sorta kinda self-feeding: He picks up the mealworms, tosses them around, and maaaaybe eats one or two before demanding that he be fed. It’s a learning process!

And Poe the crow, despite his leg issues, has started perching some. You can see in a couple of the photos below that we’ve “braced” his legs with vet wrap, as he had pretty bad splay leg. We’ll keep moving them closer together every few days, as it seems to be working well thus far.

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Another set of uncommon visitors for LWR

8/2/2020

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It’s been a weird year all the way around: two bald eagles nearly back to back, a nestling crow, a nestling osprey, and now a pair of pre-fledgling catbirds—none of which LWR sees too often.

Catbirds aren’t uncommon birds; they’re just uncommonly shy, preferring to remain hidden in thick brush. They’re in the same family as brown thrashers and mockers but have much better temperaments than mockers. LWR seldom sees them in rehab; I think the last one might have been over ten years ago.

These two were cat-attacked; the younger, who still has some pin feathers, has a damaged foot and had some belly bruising on intake. I’m not sure whether the foot injury is from the cat attack or a nest injury, but we have it wrapped and she’s doing well. Her sib looks as if he might have already fledged before the attack by feral cats. Both are just typically sweet little catbirds.

Earlier in the week, two barred owls came in on two consecutive days. Both required euthanasia. One had an open wing fracture; the other had a hip fracture.

Toward the end of the week another MIKI arrived, this one slightly younger than the MIKI already at LWR. This little fellow is just starting to attempt self-feeding, so I haven’t put the two together yet, although their boxes are right next to each other.

The older MIKI is actually ready for the flight pen now but a) both flights are currently occupied and b) I want the younger bird to be placed with him inside for a while before putting them in a flight. No photos of him this week; he’s too antsy now. Definitely needs to be in the flight pen!

Saturday, a late first-year/early second-year red tail came in after being left at the police department of a town in a neighboring county. Nothing is broken, and he’s much more alert today than he was on intake yesterday. We’ll give him another night inside and then put him in the mini-pen with the older red tail.

The older red tail was quite happy to be placed in the mini-pen after the Coop release.

The Coop, obviously, was released and wasted no time skedaddling. Not a great shot, but Coops aren’t known for being cooperative.

The two barred owls are tolerating each other better now; it took the slightly older juvie most of the week to decide to perch, so he still has some lingering head trauma. He’s eating, though, and the younger gal who’s been at LWR longer has decided she can handle sharing her digs with him—which is good, given that I have nowhere else to put him!

And for those who’ve been reading along, anxiously wondering when I’d announce the results of the crow-naming fundraiser, the name garnering the largest donations ended up being…POE! The amounts donated toward each name are listed below:

Poe $225
Crowvid $135
Corbeau $50
Cawrona $45

Poe still has some foot/leg issues but we’re fairly confident we can work through them. It’ll just take some time and patience. Meanwhile, he’s looking like a real little crow now—look at those raised head feathers in the last two shots: he’s not so sure he likes the camera!

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Couple of clear(ish) days allowed a release

Late summer lull

Fairly quiet week, all things considered

Another set of uncommon visitors for LWR

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