Baby season over?

With no new babies for two weeks, it appears baby season might be over, for feathers, at least; it’s just hitting full swing for flying squirrels. No flyer calls yet, though. That’s a hit-and-miss thing; some years we don’t see any in rehab; others, like last year, we see flyers out the wazoo. And we could still see some late-season mourning doves; I’ve had them come in as late as early October—but not often.

So now, as early migration begins, we’ll start seeing the injured migrants—there’s always something “in season” for wildlife rehabbers. Nothing is quite as intense and exhausting as baby season, though!
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The mourning dove is in the songbird flight now and unsure if she’s happy about that or not. Poor baby wants to remain a baby forever, and that’s not happening!

​The screech finally passed his live prey test late in the week and was subsequently released.

​So now the MIKIs are in the raptor flight, and I have to confess it’s not looking promising for any of the three. Nobody can fly; nobody’s even attempting to “ladder up” the perches for added height.  We’ll see what happens over the course of next week, but at the moment their futures are in serious doubt.

​We had two hit-by-car victims this week, a quail and a great horned owl (GHO). The quail, a juvy, had open fractures of the left leg and wing and was DOA.

​The GHO was luckier; he had a deep cut to his cere (right above beak) and a scraped eyelid. He also had a little road rash on his legs and a shallow puncture wound on his chest, but no obvious wing fractures. He came in late Saturday, so we’ll play it by ear and see how he’s faring Monday morning before planning a vet visit. As of this afternoon, he’s looking more alert, so that’s a good sign! His mouth looks a little pale, so he’ll get treatment for capillaria before release, just to be on the safe side.

Above, day of intake; below, today.

Not as impressive as last week, but still not a bad week, overall. Just keep your fingers crossed for those MIKIs…