Last week was a return to more normal fall activity, with just two new intakes, both red shoulders, to add to the raptor mix.
First, though, the results of the screech x-rays: his wing is well and truly broken. It’s anybody’s guess if it will actually heal; we know it won’t heal for flight. So if, in a few weeks, the fracture has begun callusing over, we’ll worry about placing him as an ed bird. Right now, we just need to see if it’ll heal. The good news is, he’s keeping the wing level—no drooping—and his appetite is excellent. Personality? Ehhh…typical pissy screech.
First, though, the results of the screech x-rays: his wing is well and truly broken. It’s anybody’s guess if it will actually heal; we know it won’t heal for flight. So if, in a few weeks, the fracture has begun callusing over, we’ll worry about placing him as an ed bird. Right now, we just need to see if it’ll heal. The good news is, he’s keeping the wing level—no drooping—and his appetite is excellent. Personality? Ehhh…typical pissy screech.
The first red shoulder to come in last week had a nasty open fracture; he was euthanized.
The second was luckier; he only had a concussion, evidenced by the bruising on the roof of his mouth, but no fractures. He’s in the mini-pen now, awaiting release.
The barred owl that was in the mini-pen was moved to the raptor flight to give him a chance to flex his flight muscles after two weeks in the mini-pen.
The barred recovering from the wing fracture continues to eat well; he has another couple of weeks before we re-x-ray that wing.
The house finch in the songbird flight is flying beautifully now—no signs of wobbliness at all. As I mentioned last Sunday, though, he and the mourning dove will stay put till first dove season ends.
The kestrel remains a source of amusement and bemusement. He’s about the most gorgeous little bird I’ve ever seen, and the better he feels, the pissier he gets. He’s determined to turn my hands into sieves!
He did open a small wound on the “head” of his wrist, so he remains on meds to keep it from getting infected. It’s scabbed over nicely, though, and when he rips off his wing bandage, which happens about every other day now, the wing doesn’t droop, so that’s good.
He also continues to shred his paper daily, and every evening I remove all the shredded paper and give him fresh paper to begin shredding the next morning. Thus, he’s acquired a name: Sisyphus. And nope, I’m not explaining—if you don’t get it, look up the name and you’ll quickly understand!
The house finch in the songbird flight is flying beautifully now—no signs of wobbliness at all. As I mentioned last Sunday, though, he and the mourning dove will stay put till first dove season ends.
The kestrel remains a source of amusement and bemusement. He’s about the most gorgeous little bird I’ve ever seen, and the better he feels, the pissier he gets. He’s determined to turn my hands into sieves!
He did open a small wound on the “head” of his wrist, so he remains on meds to keep it from getting infected. It’s scabbed over nicely, though, and when he rips off his wing bandage, which happens about every other day now, the wing doesn’t droop, so that’s good.
He also continues to shred his paper daily, and every evening I remove all the shredded paper and give him fresh paper to begin shredding the next morning. Thus, he’s acquired a name: Sisyphus. And nope, I’m not explaining—if you don’t get it, look up the name and you’ll quickly understand!
Look at that gorgeous little notched beak!
And look who visited yesterday! I’ve seen one at a time off and on over the past several weeks, but yesterday was the first time both vultures showed up at the same time in quite a while.
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