Blog Archives

Owls’r’still us

11/27/2022

Hope y’all all had a good Thanksgiving! It was a blessedly quiet day for LWR; as a rule, rehabbers tend to get a fair number of holiday calls, but we always welcome those quiet holidays that are the exception to the rule.

The red phase screech’s molt continues apace, and he’s really starting to look good now. Our temps moderated to more seasonal last week, so he was able to go back outside into the mini-pen and, of course, screeches are SUCH grateful and gracious little raptors...

I do love screech attitude! They’re so fierce for their size, it’s impossible not to adore ‘em.

Look at those tail feathers, though, and all the feathers coming in on his head/face. I’m thrilled that a good diet and safe environment have made a difference for him this quickly; I honestly didn’t expect the molt until next year.

The gray phase isn’t stepping on that nerve-/soft tissue-damaged wing as much but he’s also totally not using it, which doesn’t look promising for a release. For once I did manage to snap a quick shot with his eyes open, though; the past few weeks, he’s slitted ‘em up so he looked like he had no eyes. So now y’all have photographic proof that he does indeed have two very pretty, functional eyes!

The barred owl with the blood-filled eye and wonky-looking beak is doing well. He’s very alert and inhales everything offered, so his appetite and beak are both functioning normally, even if the beak does look weird. As you can see, the eye still has a fair amount of blood in it, but that should continue to clear up. In just a week, it already looks much better than it did on intake. Next step for him is the main flight to make sure we have no soft tissue damage that would preclude flight.

And that’s it for this week, so get back to your Thanksgiving leftovers or your pre-Cyber Monday online shopping—and remember that you can designate LWR as your preferred Amazon Smile charity!

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Owls’r’us, part the second

11/20/2022

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It was another “owly” week at LWR, with two more barred owls coming in.

The more recent of the two barred intakes has some serious head trauma but no fractures. His right eye is still too filled with blood to see if there’s any permanent damage; it will take a while for that to reabsorb so we can see what the eye actually looks like. His beak is slightly off-kilter, as well, which will also need further assessment.

The earlier barred had an open wing fracture, which, as you know by now, is fatal. He was humanely euthanized.

After colleague Steve Hicks made the wise observation that as cold as it was here, it was even colder two hours north, where Bubba & Friends is located, our backup plan was to send the bird to Auburn but, in a disturbing sign that HPAI (the avian flu I keep mentioning) is more prevalent than is publicly acknowledged, Auburn’s Raptor Center is closed to intakes. Sadly, the osprey died a couple of days later; they’re reluctant eaters in rehab, and I suspect the stress of force-feeding, coupled with the cold, was more than he could tolerate.

The gray phase screech still favors that left wing but has at least stopped stepping all over it—recall that x-rays showed no fractures, so the wing issues are likely a result of tendon/ligament/nerve damage.

As for the red phase who was illegally held for 3 months, I’m so proud of his progress! Not only did he finally start molting, as I mentioned last week, he also absolutely lunged at the camera when I took the photos below, hissing and clicking his beak. YES! He’s acting like a real little screech now!

Next week the weather looks like it’ll warm up enough for him to go back into the mini-pen; until the gray phase starts using that left wing, though, he’s stuck inside, bless his pissy little heart.

Hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Fundraiser falls slightly short of goal

11/13/2022

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The fundraiser ended with $1480, $320 shy of the $1800 goal, so we’re not ruling out another smaller fundraiser in December. Heartfelt thanks to those who donated—all 7 of y’all—and to those who missed the deadline, the LWR website has PayPal links on every page; you don’t have to wait for a fundraiser to donate.

The big news this week is this young osprey—I mean, like this year’s late-hatch, still-slightly-bluish-tinge-to-the-feet young. A family came home to see him on the dam to their lake and walked over to investigate; instead of flying away the goofball dove into the water. The husband had a fishing catch net and scooped him out to find blood on his chest and wrists. When he arrived at LWR nothing felt broken and I couldn’t find an actual wound associated with the blood clotted in his feathers. Obviously, he was headed for x-rays at Smalley’s...

The really sad thing is that vets Jim and Peggy Hobby’s minds immediately went exactly where mine did—did the bird have lead in his body? We’ve worked with raptors long enough to know that’s a distinct possibility when they come in with blood and no clear wound—bird skin quickly closes up around an entry wound to the point that it can be undetectable aside from the blood.

This bird was lucky—no lead, and while we weren’t actually x-raying to confirm no fractures, the rads showed that, as well. Where did the blood come from? Maybe his last meal before capture; we don’t know. Given that even for a juvie he was a little on the skinny side, I opted to see if colleague Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends could take him, as Steve has a better setup for ospreys than I do.

Since basically the whole state of Georgia was in the path of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Nicole late last week, though, we opted to wait till this week to transfer, so this gangly, awkward, gorgeous “teenager” will be headed to Bubba & Friends early this week.

Of course, we didn’t have all good news; that almost never happens. The barred owl with head trauma turned out to be blind and required euthanasia, and an adult red shoulder came in with his left wing broken at the shoulder and his right leg broken at the hip. He also required euthanasia.

The gray phase screech is still not using that left wing at all; until he shows at least some ability to use it, he can’t go into a flight pen.

And ending on a happy note, the illegally held red phase screech with the ruined feathers is molting! His tail feathers look wonderful, although he refused to cooperate for a photo of them—he’s finally starting to act like a proper footy, bitey, hissy, pissy screech! His head is looking a little rough due to the molt, but y’all have to admit, the unkempt look is kinda cute when you know it’s from a healthy molt.

Given our predicted frigid nights this week, though, he’s back inside for a while—better safe than sorry when dealing with compromised feathers and a molt at the same time.

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Owls’r’us at the moment

11/6/2022

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We’re 81% toward our fundraising goal of $1800—just $350 to go, with 3 days left! Many thanks to those who’ve already donated, and for those who’re waiting till the last minute, well, procrastinate no longer—the deadline approaches!

The red phase screech, our fundraiser “mascot,” continues to do well; his bumblefoot is improving daily, thank goodness, but his feathers will remain an ungodly mess till he molts next year. He’s at least starting to act more “screechy,” hissing softly and glaring at me when I enter the mini-pen to deposit his food.

Appropriately enough, on Halloween, LWR received another screech, a gorgeous little gray phase found on his back in a driveway. Nothing felt broken but he guarded his left wing and refused to flap it at all, even standing on the primaries as if it was badly broken. X-rays at Smalley’s on Tuesday confirmed no fractures; vet Jim Hobby and I suspect soft tissue or nerve damage—you can see the shoulder muscle looks a little swollen on the x-ray. This will be a wait-and-see situation; sometimes soft tissue/nerve damage resolves for flight and sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, it could take days, weeks or months to see any improvement. At least he has a healthy appetite!

Thursday a barred owl came in after finders rescued it from the middle of the road. Nothing is broken but he well and truly had his bell rung. On intake, he sat in the box, head lowered, jerking it back and forth ever so slightly. He’s still not wanting to eat, which isn’t unusual with severe head trauma, but his body weight is good, and raptors can go several days in the wild without food—their eating in the wild depends on both their hunting skill and the availability of prey. At least as of this morning, he’s looking slightly more alert than in these intake photos.

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Owls’r’still us

Owls’r’us, part the second

Fundraiser falls slightly short of goal

Owls’r’us at the moment

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