Five raptor intakes in one day midweek, plus two more in the days just before and after Christmas and the “guests” already present, made for a crowded Christmas at LWR.

On Wednesday, LWR had three birds arrive in the morning and two in the afternoon. Because I also had a red-tail from Thanksgiving who needed a healing wing fracture re-x-rayed, I checked with Smalley’s to see if they could work in the most critical birds late Wednesday afternoon, with the less critical to follow on Thursday.

Have I mentioned how much I love my vets and their staff?

Within minutes of my call, I had the merlin, Coop and screech in the car for vet visits.
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The Coop, a second-year female, had an open fracture, which made her situation a done deal, but I wanted x-rays anyway. It’s always helpful to see just what caused the break to be open. She’d managed to break the bone right at the joint somehow. Even if it hadn’t been open, there was no fixing this fracture. She was euthanized.

The merlin had been with an incompetent vet in another county, who claimed the wing had been x-rayed and had then done an absolutely godawful job of splinting and wrapping it using the really hard, sticky surgical tape, causing the wing to dangle at an angle that would have required a do-over on the “repair” work by my highly skilled vets at Smalley’s if the wing was, in fact, fixable. You see, I’ve had dealings with this vet before and wouldn’t trust the person to accurately diagnose or treat roadkill.
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My suspicions were correct, sadly. An x-ray at Smalley’s showed the wing was shattered—a splint and feather-ruining tape weren’t gonna repair this poor bird’s wing. He was also euthanized.

Because the screech came from the same so-called vet, I wanted him checked out ASAP, as well. Luckily, he had only a cloudy eye and dilated pupil from a concussion and was alert and aggressive as only a screech can be. I adore screeches; there’s just so much attitude, all of it bad, packed in those tiny little bodies! I’ve said for years if they were as big as they think they are, I’d never go outside at night again.

I don’t normally post x-rays that show no fractures, but this one of the screech was funny because it showed just how tiny they are in proportion to human hands!
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Sir Screech is recovering nicely and eating well and slated for release within the next few days.

​The next day, the remaining two Wednesday intakes headed for Smalley's, along with the Thanksgiving RT, whose wing fracture is healing so well it nearly had us all doing a happy dance. I think nearly everybody had to take a gander at this x-ray!

There’s still not enough callus to even consider flight conditioning, but it’s only been a month, so he’s got a few weeks yet to finish healing.
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The barred owl was recovering from a concussion and x-rays showed no fractures. He got so antsy as he recovered from his nasty headache that I opted to release him Christmas Eve. On exit from the box, he flew straight to the ground and sat there…I turned off the camera, swore mightily, grabbed the net and gloves, and started toward him to recapture him—at which point he basically gave me the avian version of the finger and flew to the highest branch he could find and glared down at me. Hey, not a “picture perfect” release, but I’ll take it!

​He also attracted the aggravated attention of this yellow-bellied sapsucker, who flitted about scolding him vociferously for about 10 minutes—sorry, no vid of that; it was hard enough getting him on the right side of the tree to snap a couple of half-decent photos!

​The red-tail, another first-year, this one a small female, also had no fractures and is beginning to get antsy herself. I’d like to release her ASAP but she’s awfully skinny so I think she’s gonna hang around a few more days and get some weight back on her.

​On Friday a caller reported a windowstrike where she worked. She’d scooped the bird up and got it to me as soon as she got off work. It was a warbler—that much I knew. I first thought pine but then realized it didn’t look quite right, so I spent some time comparing photos of warblers in my various bird books and apps and online, finally deciding this was in fact a palm warbler.

​The poor fellow had some serious neurological damage from the blow and his balance was badly off-kilter; he somersaulted rather than walked and was breathing heavily but with his beak closed (beak open heavy breathing can often be a sign of a ruptured lung). I followed standard procedure for windowstrikes: dark, cool space and checks every few hours to see if the bird has “snapped out of it” and might be releasable. By sunset he seemed more alert but still clumsy. He survived the night but died shortly after sunrise, still unable to walk properly or fly. The photos below were taken post-mortem to show the identifying characteristics of palm warblers—yellow-tinted breast, deep yellow rump and white spots on tail feathers.

​The flyers still occasionally come out en masse when I’m still in the room; more often it’s just one or two. The millet provided such fun for them and me the previous week that we repeated the treat last week and managed some cute photos and video again.

​The barnies are doing well, although we did have a self-release last week, so now there are only three. The oldest barnie had a bad tendency to perch on the raptor flight door, and I’d ease the door open just enough to reach up and prod him to make him fly to the back of the flight. On Thursday evening, he managed to squeeze through that tiny opening and soar off across two entire fields. I’m not happy about his self-release; he’d never been live-prey tested so his chances of survival in the wild are, quite frankly, extremely slim. I called raptor rehabber Steve Hicks to bemoan his probable fate and discovered that he’d had the same thing happen with a clutch of four he’d raised earlier this year—one of his bounced off his head and flew away as he entered their flight pen. Misery loves company, you know…

​The remaining three don’t share his tendency to perch where they shouldn’t and are eating well now, but my heart still twinges when I walk into that flight and see only three birds…

​And just this morning, this first-year male Coop came in. He’d been found under bushes on Christmas Day, unable to stand. I suspect a pelvic fracture but won’t know for sure until we can get x-rays tomorrow, when Smalley’s reopens after the holidays. In the meantime, he’s in a donut to ease pressure on his keel and make it easier for him to breathe.

​Next week’s update will be back on schedule, so that’s it for –well, until next year, actually. See you on New Year’s Day!

​…And it’s business as usual at LWR. The barred owl who was in the raptor flight was released and barely gave me time to focus the camera for a release video, much less a decent perched shot post-release. In fact, the one crappy perched shot I got was at full optical zoom (30x) and I could STILL, at that distance, hear him beak-clicking before he took flight again to get farther away from me!

The plan was to then move the great horned owl recovering from capillaria into the raptor flight briefly, before releasing him and getting the barnies in. Unfortunately, he died between the morning box-check and that afternoon’s planned move—just pitched forward like a baby GHO would to sleep. No clue why—he was responding to treatment, alert, eating well…Given his general antsy attitude, maybe it was sheer stress—who knows? It was NOT the outcome I’d expected for this bird, though…
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Yet another barred owl came in mid-week, this one with both a small open fracture and bones at the wrist so badly shattered I could hear and feel the “crunching” of the fragments. No x-ray needed for this poor bird; both fractures were unfixable. He was euthanized within minutes of intake.

​The red-tailed hawk recovering from a wing fracture continues to do well and the goal is to get him in for x-rays this week to see how well the wing is healing. This is his “where’s the food?” look!

​I managed quite a few photos of the flyers this past week when I gave them their first millet spray as a treat—and what a treat it was, for them and me, and now for you!

The barnies are now in the raptor flight—moved ‘em Saturday, and oh, the hue and cry over that move…The screaming was so loud and prolonged that my father’s dog came running full-tilt to see who was being murdered! Not to worry, I had regained my hearing within an hour or so…
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For the first several hours, they hunkered on the ground, head-shaking vigorously—it’s actually called toe dusting and is a defensive/threat display, the idea being to intimidate their “foe.”  By dark, the two oldest barnies were perching; by this morning, the two youngest had decided to perch, as well. They were all too stressed by their new digs to eat last night; I haven’t checked yet to see if they ate their breakfast.

​And a reminder—next week’s update will be on Monday, Dec. 26.

As is the norm in wildlife rehab, the past week at LWR saw status quo for some critters and releases of various kinds for others.
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Let’s start with the release: the Coop…ummm, pardon the pun…flew the coop so fast I barely got a video of the release, and no post-release photos because he headed straight into the woods and disappeared!

It’s always with a sigh of relief that I release Coops; they’re known for slamming themselves into flight walls and breaking their necks, so the sooner they’re outta here, the better—that’s my philosophy, anyway, and the Coops seem to share it!
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The barred owl with the blood-filled eye is now in the raptor flight and slated for release within the next couple of days. His eye is almost normal-looking now, he can fly well, and he’s able to find his food no matter where I place it in the raptor flight—in other words, he’s good to go.

No new pix of the male red-tail recovering from a wing fracture, but he’s doing well and will go in for follow-up x-rays in the next week or so to see how things look. He’s a typical laid-back red-tail, though, and hasn’t done anything stupid to aggravate the injury, so I expect gorgeous calluses on his next x-ray.
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Unfortunately, this young female RT, probably early second year, wasn’t as fortunate and required euthanasia. She came in with both wings fractured—both open fractures. If you’re wondering what could have led to fractures of both wings, my theory is that she tangled with a great horned owl and lost. GHOs and RTs are both apex predators and, aside from man, about each other’s only real threats. This is the time of year in Georgia for GHOs to be pairing off; by next month there should be eggs in their nests. Maybe this RT wandered too close to established GHO territory or a nest—who knows? I discussed my theory with Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends raptor rehab, and he agrees it seems the most likely explanation. Nature is truly red in tooth and claw…

​Speaking of GHOs, this gorgeous male came in the same day as the doomed RT—no, not from the same area; that would’ve been a bit too coincidental, right?!—with a nasty case of capillaria. It was so bad the inside of his beak was almost white. As a reminder, capillaria are worms that raptors pick up from their prey. The worms fill the crop, and the bird starves to death because it feels full. Fortunately, although he was weak and thin, he was found in time for the treatment to work and his appetite now is typical GHO bottomless pit. He’d like to leave LWR immediately but has one more treatment in a few days—and he needs to fatten up a bit—before he can bid us adieu. Try explaining that to a GHO, though…they’re known for their aggression, not their smarts!

​The flyers are just hangin’ in there, overwintering in style. They’re getting more skittish about the camera, though, so photos might be fewer over the next couple of months. We’ll see…

And the barnies are essentially fully feathered and self-feeding, although I’m still having to cut open their mice. We tried whole mice for a couple of days and they weren’t happy. The plan is to move them to the raptor flight as soon as possible, but the barred has to be released first, and then the GHO needs a turn to build his strength back up, and once the RT gets vet clearance, he’ll need some time to regain use of that healed wing…I really need a second raptor flight. In the meantime, we’ll just keep playing fruitbasket turnover, switching birds in and out…

​Oh, and early notice—there will be no update on Dec. 25. I’ll post it on the 26th instead. I’ll remind y’all next week, too. I’d hope y’all have better things to do than sit at your computer Christmas Day, anyway!

Yes, thanks to several very generous last-minute donors, the fundraiser is now over, and we exceeded the original goal, with a grand total of $2410! Heartfelt thanks to those who donated to ensure these overwintering babies and additional intakes—we’re at 305 for the year now—have sufficient food. Time for another mouse order!

If you’ll recall, in last week’s update, LWR had three birds headed for Smalley’s Animal Hospital that following Monday…Well, it ended up being FIVE birds: Coop, red-tail, great horned owl and two barred owls. All on a Monday after a holiday, when things are insane anyway…

Have I mentioned how wonderful the folks at Smalley’s are? From the front staff to the kennel techs, they have the patience of saints when I show up with boxes and boxes of birds. We had an assembly line x-ray going: unbox, x-ray, box, and repeat…times 5. The results were mixed.
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The GHO’s wing was trashed, with both radius and ulna broken, as well as the small bones of the “hand.”  He was euthanized.

​The Coop showed no fractures, so we did an anti-inflammatory and crossed our fingers. It seems to be paying off; he’s in the raptor flight now—still a little wobbly but improving!

​The red-tail does have a wing fracture but it’s not badly displaced and should heal to allow for unimpaired flight. He’s eating with gusto, too, which is good!

​One of the barred owls had a nasty wing fracture that was unfixable. He required euthanasia.

​The second barred owl was cut from a barbed wire fence and, surprisingly, had no fractures—just a lot of tangled, twisted feathers. However, in wildlife rehab, as I’ve mentioned before, things are often not as they seem. He died during the night, and I still have no clue why. He was well-fleshed and showed no signs of frounce or any parasites; the only damage we found during his vet exam was a small flesh wound beneath the broken feathers, and I was treating that. Who knows? 

Yet another barred owl came in last night, found sitting near the edge of the road. The husband who brought it to LWR said his wife initially passed by it and presumed it was eating prey, but when she came back the same way half an hour later and he hadn’t moved, she called her husband, who retrieved the owl from the roadside and brought it to LWR.
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This small male has no discernible fractures and is fairly alert today, with some residual blood in his right eye from a concussion. He should be releasable if the eye continues to clear up, and it looks better today than it did last night.

​The flyers remain utterly precious. While they’re full-grown and, in warmer weather, would be ready for release now, they have no winter digs in the wild. Other flyers already have winter nests and food stashes; these babies don’t. This is why they’ll overwinter and be released somewhere around late February-mid-March, when the weather has warmed enough that it’ll be easier for them to scout out nest sites and food supplies.

​And below are photos of what happens when a rehabber gets complacent and lazy when handling raptors. I was changing the barnies’ paper yesterday and failed to take into account that they’re not babies anymore. I’d gotten so used to handling them barehanded that I didn’t think twice when I reached in—with no gloves—to move them to the “waiting box” while I cleaned out their “good” box…and that, my friends, was a mistake…One of my darlings footed the crap out of my hand, and I can only be grateful that he’s still young and doesn’t have the full foot strength an adult would. The area around the thumb bled well and while swollen today, isn’t that sore or stiff; the area around my middle finger had barely a pinprick and didn’t bleed well; it’s not only more swollen, it’s also stiff and pretty damn painful. 

On the bright side, I’m at least confident none of the barnies are imprinted!
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And of course, those adorable barnies continue to grow apace. While they still require their mice to be cut in half, they’re not being forceps-fed now; I can just toss the mouse halves in the box and let them have at it—and look at that feather growth! As soon as they can eat whole mice on their own, they’ll be ready for the raptor flight.