Yep, there’s one species of bird—a raptor, specifically—that has no set breeding season; they breed based on food availability rather than length of day. So…yeah, as of late Saturday evening, it’s officially baby season, part 2. Four—FOUR!!—very recently hatched barn owls came in.
Their finders said they were cleaning out around their deer stand and found these wee ones on the ground. Barnies don’t nest on the ground, so my best guess is the nest was in the deer stand and was blown out by the gusty winds we’ve experienced the past couple of days.
(Again this week, no clue why a horizontally recorded video is flipped vertically…) As you can see, they’re all different sizes, which would, in other species, imply they’re not from the same clutch. BUT…unlike other birds, whose eggs all hatch within a 24-48 hour window no matter when they’re laid, barnie eggs hatch one at a time, one a day, in the order they were laid. So in this clutch, we have baby weights at intake of 16.7g, 21.4g, 48.1g and 62.8g. Nobody’s eyes are open yet, and even the 62-grammer still has a little scab where his yolk sac was, so they’re VERY young.
Late last Sunday, a gorgeous mature male red-tailed hawk came in covered with what appeared to be oozing abscesses and sporting a necrotic foot. While I was fairly sure all this was from grabbing the wrong end of potential prey—a gray squirrel, for instance—I wanted to be sure there was no birdshot in his body, as that’s always a possibility.
Monday he headed for Smalley’s Animal Hospital, where x-rays showed no lead, no fracture. And the abscesses, as nasty as they looked, were more than likely treatable, with lots of time and patience. However, vet Peggy Hobby, after examining the foot closely, agreed with my initial assessment of necrosis—the foot was dying; there was nothing we could do to treat it. It was too far gone. Sadly, our only humane option for this beautiful bird was euthanasia.
But the red-tail who’d been reluctant to let me see her fly suddenly got really restless ahead of a weather change and decided to show me what she could do. Shortly afterward, she was released—no photos, as when I headed into the brush to get closer to the tree she landed in, she vamoosed! I did get a short and not that great video of the release, though.
So now the Coop is in the raptor flight and given that he’s not at all reluctant to show me his flight skills, he’ll be released within a few days.
Which is a good thing, as this barred owl needs his turn in the flight so he can be released, as well! This guy came in with fishing cord wrapped tightly around the flight feathers on his right wing. Wisely, his finders cut the CORD, not the feathers, and brought him to LWR with the cord still wrapped. They actually helped unravel it while I held him, and we pulled 90 inches—that’s 7.5 FEET—of cord off his wing. Luckily, it was wrapped only around the flight feathers, not the bone or flesh, so if he’s able to show me he can fly with those disheveled feathers, he’ll be released ASAP, too.
Not sure exactly what happened to this turkey vulture; the wing doesn’t feel broken but it’s raw from the “armpit” almost the full length of the wing. Again, I worry about birdshot, so he’s going in for x-rays tomorrow to see if we can figure out what caused this wound.
He’ll be accompanied by this barred owl who was found by the road and feels as if he has a broken right wrist—again, we’ll know for sure after x-rays tomorrow.
And would you believe an EIGHTH flyer came in last week? Colleagues John and Luanne Brooker in Washington County got in an “only” flyer and when I let Luanne know I had seven and a colony to release into, she sent her baby to be with my current crew. Just like the previous week, the newcomer was welcomed without so much as a squeal. With the cooler weather this week, though, they’ve not been sprawled all over their bed—they’ve been hunkered under the blanket—so I lifted the blanket for the group shots this week; the other guy was in their play tunnel eating and had to check out the camera!
Finally, although I hate to do two fundraisers in a year, the intake of those adorable barnies makes a second plea for funds necessary. I’d pretty much calculated what it would take to get LWR through till January and although it would’ve been cutting it close, we probably could’ve made it. But barnies have voracious appetites—as small as these babies are, they’re already eating three mice a feeding, every 4-5 hours, and as they grow, their appetites will increase accordingly. In other words, it’s gonna take a LOT of mice to feed these babies! And there’s just under $300 in the LWR account right now, not nearly enough to order the volume of mice I’ll need for these barnies, plus the proper foods for the flyers, who will probably need overwintering. So…with baby season, part 2, comes fundraiser number 2. The goal is $1500, so please donate generously to keep all these babies plus the ongoing adult intakes fed through the winter.
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