Our area of Middle Georgia has experienced enough rain that I’m threatening to invest in scuba gear for use in my yard…and it’s not over yet. Rain’s predicted till the end of the week…And you watch, come garden-planting time and/or time for the crops to start sprouting, and it’ll be bone-dry. Reminds me of the old Jerry Clower joke about the fool who got elected to Congress (are there any other kinds, really?) and the first piece of legislation he introduced was a bill to move February between July and August, as “it’s a short, cool, wet month and we need the cooler weather and rain right about then.”

At any rate, the soggy weather has affected intakes for LWR, which have actually picked up over the past couple of weeks.
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First, the mourning dove from the pre-Christmas update was a very lucky bird; the x-ray showed the pellet passed straight through with no fractures. He still holds the wing at a bit of an odd angle, but we’re fairly confident it won’t affect flight when the poor bird’s tail feathers grow back in.

​On Dec. 17, two waterfowl came in, the first a great blue heron who showed no signs of fractures but was unable to stand and had no neurological response at all in his feet and legs.  He was humanely euthanized.

Later that same day a juvenile great egret came in, emaciated and with blood around his beak and one ear. He seemed fairly alert and since nothing appeared broken, the plan was to get him to Smalley’s for x-rays the next day, to see if maybe he had a lead sinker or something in his digestive tract that might be causing lead poisoning. He was standing with his head tucked for the night at lights-out and was dead the next morning—very frustrating…

​On Dec. 23, a family called about a bluebird that they’d found on the ground when their dog “pointed” it.  On arrival at LWR the bird, a male, was in bad shape. He had no visible wounds and no fractures but he was lethargic and his eyes were dull; he also refused to stand. He was medicated and placed in a donut with mealworms and water within easy reach, since he couldn’t stand, but he died overnight. My guess—and this is purely conjecture—is that a free-roaming cat attacked him and he wasn’t found in time for the meds to be effective. His finders did say the neighbors had free-roaming cats.

​Then, on Christmas Eve, callers reported finding a hawk in the middle of the road. They brought the bird, an adult male red shoulder, to LWR shortly after dark. He was concussed out of his gourd and reluctant to stand but again, nothing seemed broken. Subsequent x-rays confirmed no fractures, and he’s now attempting to stand and eat but is slow to flare his tail or spread his wings. Vet Jim Hobby and I suspect mild nerve trauma, as I’m seeing daily improvement. The goal now is to get him in the raptor flight as soon as the weather dries out a bit. (Yes, I know birds deal with the rain every day; however, I don’t wanna have to slog through the swamp that is now my yard to the raptor flight every day!)

​And today an adult male barred owl came in. He also appears to have no fractures but has a whale of a concussion: blood in beak, blood in right ear, right eye filled with blood. He’ll be headed to Smalley’s next week but for the next couple of days he’ll be kept dark and quiet and given pain meds to ease that pounding headache he must have.

​Hope everybody had a great Christmas and hope y’all have quiet or festive—whichever’s your flavor—New Year’s Eve. Fellow Southrons, hope y’all found those collards to go with y’all’s black-eyed peas, as there’s a weather-related shortage this year. Folks in Parts North, I don’t know what y’all’s traditional New Year’s Day meal is, but enjoy whatever it is!

…and there’s been slightly more stirring at LWR than in past weeks.

First off, the barred owl from last week didn’t survive the night; I really wasn’t surprised, as I suspected internal injuries on intake.
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Toward the end of the week a late first-year red tail came in. He was starvation-thin and, as the old folks say, “eat up” with frounce (sort of like thrush in a human baby but in the throat rather than the mouth.) His first 24 hours were on a thin slurry; the next 24 were on small bits of chopped up mouse—all while treating the frounce. He seemed to be doing well—was more alert, actually lunging for the food…and then, the morning of the third day, he was dead. And yes, it sucked. I really didn’t see that coming, as he seemed to be responding so well to treatment. 

​Yesterday an adult mourning dove came in. The volunteer who initially picked him up suspected he’d narrowly escaped being a Coop’s meal, given that he’s missing all his tail feathers. Made sense until the second volunteer (they “ponied” the bird to LWR) arrived with the bird and I was able to examine him. He appears to have a pellet lodged in his wing, right at the wrist. I won’t know for sure till we get x-rays, but I suspect it’s not a fixable fracture. This one won’t be reported to DNR or FWS, as it’s dove season and he likely was hit when hunters were “spraying and praying” into a flock of doves. Sloppy hunting but not illegal…

​And today people called about a bird that neighborhood children had apparently been harassing; their own children rescued the bird and took it home, whereupon the parents called LWR. It’s an adult great blue heron—no wing fractures, no leg fractures, able to poop well…but unable to stand. He has a fist-sized raw spot on his lower belly near his cloaca but there are no tears in the skin or anything. He can flail with his wings but he absolutely cannot stand. The raw spot has been treated; the inability to stand will have to wait till tomorrow for a vet visit to see if we can determine what’s going on.

There will be no update next Sunday; due to the work schedules of my niece and nephew, we’ll be celebrating Christmas on the 23rd, as they’re both off that day. So the next LWR update will be Dec. 30.
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Merry Christmas, y’all!

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for our local wildlife, with torrential downpours last weekend, cold temps in between, and more heavy rain and, in some areas of the state, snow, this weekend. Intakes have been low because people are just not getting outside to see wildlife in need; for the most part, they’re staying inside where it’s warm and dry.

That said, LWR had two intakes this week, a screech owl and a barred owl, both found in the road.
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The screech, a tiny red-phase male, came in midweek; he was found in the turning lane of an exit to the interstate. Upon examination, it was obvious he had a ruptured eye and at least one broken wing; the other also felt as if it might be broken. His stress poop, which should have been black, oily and smelly, was instead rust-colored. None of this boded well for the little fellow but he was fairly alert and even tried to preen his wings a bit, so I was hopeful I’d overstated the extent of his injuries.

​However, x-rays at Smalley’s confirmed my initial assessment: the left wrist was shattered; the right ulna was broken in three places, and the right eyeball was totally trashed.  

Obviously, the most humane option for this poor fellow was euthanasia. Given that the entire staff of Smalley’s shares my utter adoration of screeches, none of us were happy about the outcome but we also knew we were ending his suffering quickly and humanely.
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This morning, a barred owl, also male based on his size, came in after being found in the middle of the road several counties away. His right hip feels broken, and his finders attempted to splint his leg to stabilize it somewhat.  He has no neural response in his foot, though, and he also had fresh blood in his poop, in addition to the inside of his mouth being totally white—this indicates internal bleeding. None of this bodes well for the poor bird, but if he makes it through the night he’ll head to Smalley’s for x-rays, as well.

With the weather like it is—cold, wet and nasty—it’s hard for raptors to find food. They’re hunting near roadways because people toss their trash on the side of the road, attracting rodents. When the hawk or owl focuses on its prey and swoops in for the kill, it doesn’t see oncoming traffic; it only sees that potential meal. This is how they get whacked by vehicles. The bird may successfully capture the prey and get hit as it lifts back into the air, or it may get hit as it’s diving after the prey or chasing it across the road. Regardless, vehicle versus raptor seldom ends well for the raptor.
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What can you do? Aside from either not driving at all or driving so slowly that impact with a raptor would cause minimal damage to the bird—neither of which is practical or practicable—be alert when you’re driving. It’s not called defensive driving for nothing. If you’re alert and watching the sides of the roads you may be able to slow, stop or swerve to avoid hitting a hunting raptor. And for the love of all that’s holy, DON’T toss your trash, not even fruit or other foodstuffs, out on the side of the road to attract raptor prey to dangerous hunting areas. Keep a bag or box in your vehicle for your trash; it takes all of maybe 60 seconds to empty it at home or at a gas station. Those 60 seconds could mean the difference between life and death for a raptor.

In other words, a typical week for any rehabber at any given time...LWR had both an unexpected death and a much-anticipated release this week.
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Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: the red shoulder’s x-ray showed a fracture that should have healed perfectly, with no flight impairment at all. 

However, two days later, he keeled over overnight.  Some birds just don’t deal well with the stress of captivity, and that’s all I can figure was going on with him.
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The excellent news is that the red shoulder who’d been recovering from the wing fracture forever and was flying so beautifully in the raptor flight was released. No video, although I tried; he burst out of the box like he had a rocket booster on his tail. After some searching, though, I did manage to locate where he’d landed and get some pretty decent post-release photos.

All calls this week were from folks way out of LWR’s range and were referred to rehabbers closer to them. 
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And that, people, is the sum total of this week’s update!