Let’s lead with two gorgeous releases, shall we?
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After last week’s failed release for the coot, it was anybody’s guess how a second attempt would end, but this time he decided it was time to leave the LWR B&B. It was quite a pretty release!

​And just this evening, the screech flew the coop, as well; however, he didn’t waste as much time as the coot being photogenic—as you can clearly see in his release video. And forget any post-release photos; when a screech doesn’t want to be seen, he will NOT be seen!

Of course, few weeks in wildlife rehab are without tragedies. The red tail who inhaled food but refused to perch died Monday. No clue as to why, given that he was eating so well and alert, and a post-mortem exam revealed no obvious reasons for his sudden death.
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And yet another barred owl came in requiring euthanasia. This poor fellow had an open left wing fracture, and his left leg was shattered, as well.

​Tuesday an adult male red shoulder came in with a damaged left eye and blood bubbling at the back of his throat. To be honest, I didn’t expect him to survive the night, but aside from the eye having swollen massively over the past couple of days, he’s actually doing well—eating normally, alert, aggressive…the eye seems to be getting worse rather than better, though, even with meds, so that’s worrisome.

​Also Tuesday, while I was walking on our property, I found a near-adult red-bellied snake—and thanks to colleague Kathryn Dudeck of Chattahoochee Nature Center for identifying it, as I had no clue what species I was looking at. Since it had major abrasions to its side, Kathryn also recommended a course of treatment that would involve overwintering a difficult-to-rehab species. Sadly, the poor fellow died overnight.

​The two barred owls in the raptor flight are good to go this week, probably early in the week.

​The flyers are totally self-feeding now, so I seldom see them except when I’m checking their food stash inside the nest box.

​Sisyphus the kestrel remains as pissy as ever—some things never change!

​And the second kestrel has numerous issues that will require time to work through. For starters, he has massive head trauma, aka traumatic brain injury (TBI). This has led to very un-kestrel-like docility—the contrast between his behavior and that of Sisyphus is like night and day: one an aggressive little snot who draws blood every time he’s handled and the other perching calmly on my hand with no attempt to maim me. Also, he’s quite literally blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other. His injured eye looks better but he’s also blind in his uninjured eye at the moment. Whether this is permanent is anybody’s guess. TBI is a weird thing. He may regain sight in one or both eyes tomorrow, next week, next month…or never. And the docility may also reverse itself or be permanent. We just have to give him time and see what happens. He currently has to be hand-fed, as he cannot see to locate his food, but he did cock his head to the right and look down today as if he might be regaining at least partial vision in the “good” eye—or it could just be wishful thinking on my part. As I said, we just have to give him time. Meanwhile, though he doesn’t yet have a name, he gets called “Little Buddy” an awful lot because he’s so blessed sweet right now!

Rehabbers don’t get sick leave; we drag our sorry carcasses out of our sick beds; feed, clean and medicate, as needed, all the critters; and then and only then do we crawl back under the covers—and pray the phone doesn’t ring.

But it always does…and we drag ourselves back up long enough to settle in the new intake and crash again. And then the weather goes sideways and puts a screeching halt to plans to rearrange critter pens…

The “fun” just never ends…

Oh well… let’s get on with the update.

The barred owl who came in two weeks ago that I felt was iffy died that night. There were obviously internal injuries.
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Week before last, a second-year red tail came in—no injuries but dazed and confused acting, and a bit on the thin side. He’s eating well but still acting dazed and confused over a week later, so I’m not sure what his issue is. I moved him to the mini-pen, where he promptly bathed but refused to perch, even though he’d been perching in his box inside. 

​And then a gray-phase screech came in, found in the middle of the road. Amazingly, nothing was broken, and he flies quite well inside, as I found out when I inadvertently left his box unsecured one night while I was sick. Outside, we’re not so sure about yet; the mini-pen and raptor flight are occupied at the moment. But I think he’ll be just fine once he’s had a chance to stretch his wings a bit—soon, I hope.

​The raptor flight currently houses the two barred owls. The one recovering from the wing fracture can fly the length of the flight and back again, so he’s doing exceptionally well. The one with the eye injury isn’t quite as confident yet.

​Northern Harriers are only in Georgia during the fall and winter, and I honestly don’t recall the last time I saw one in the wild or in rehab, until last Sunday, when a first-year Harrier, probably female based on size, came in with an open wing fracture. She’d been down a while and was rail-thin. Thinness we can work with as long as the bird will eat; an old open fracture is the “fatal blow.” This gorgeous gal had to be euthanized.

​And on Thursday another gray-phase screech came in. This poor fellow was pulled out of a fog light and he definitely had a leg fracture. Given his total inability to stand, I also suspected a pelvic fracture, but there was no need for x-rays; he died overnight, which would indicate internal injuries.

Friday must’ve been a BOGO day for birds. The day started with a barred owl whose leg was beyond repair. I euthanized immediately; no photos.
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Then a second male American kestrel came in with a swollen black eye and bloody nose. His eye looks better today but he’s reluctant to eat, unlike Sisyphus, who I’m pretty sure would eat my hand if I left it in his cage long enough.

​And then an American coot arrived.  Given his general level of alertness, I figured he’d just crash-landed in the parking lot where he was found, so as soon as the several days of rain we were experiencing ended, I took him to a favorite release site for water fowl. And he stood in the water…and stood there…and stood there, occasionally interrupting his preening to sip a bit of water…After 20 minutes I finally decided he was just gonna take his time leaving and started to walk away myself. However, I was less than five yards away when I heard splashing and turned to see him on his side flailing helplessly in the shallow water. Needless to say, he’s back at LWR until we can figure out what’s going on.

​The flyers are in a larger cage now and mostly self-feeding, so photo ops for them will probably be limited going forward; we’ll see.

​And Sisyphus continues to cuss me out at every opportunity…Attitude, attitude—and all of it bad!

​Yep, one more barred owl came in this afternoon, brought by a local game warden after being found in the road last night. Remarkably, nothing seems broken but his right eye is cloudy and he doesn’t wanna keep either eye open. He’s still very woozy and weak, and honestly, I’m guessing there may be internal injuries given his general level of lethargy. We’ll see what the morning brings…

​The other two barreds look great and will be moving from the mini-pen to the raptor flight this week.

​The flyers are still in that “pee on everything” phase that accompanies their eyes opening, so they require swabbing down with a damp cloth at every feeding, meaning they’re seldom not at least a little damp, either from being swabbed down or peeing on each other, and remain on low heat to compensate. The good news is that they’re starting to really chow down on the blueberries so within another week or so they should have the hang of peeing in the corner of their box and not all over each other. They’re also in constant motion when their box is open, making photos a challenge.  It’s a work in progress…

​And Sisyphus the kestrel remains a pissy little fellow, footing and biting the fool outta me every time I change his paper. Maybe his name shoulda been Pissyphus? Gotta love a kestrel’s outsized ego!

​And that, folks, is it for this week. Sorry I’m not chattier or more profound, but I appear to have some sort of low-grade infection or sinus/allergy thingy goin’ on. I’m normally quite hot-natured but today if I set the heat any higher in my end of the house, Satan himself is gonna consider relocating Hell…