Laurens Wildlife Rescue
  • Home
  • I found a wild baby - what do I do?
  • How can I help?
  • Contact us
  • FAQ
  • This week in wildlife

Beginnings, endings, and growth

10/20/2013

13 Comments

 
It’s been a fairly uneventful week, so this update’s a bit brief. I could elaborate on almost every aspect of it, I suppose, but you deserve a break from my prattling every now and then, and I have a massive editing load to manage over the next few days, so…short and sweet this week so I can get my nose back to the editing grindstone more quickly!

After some debate as to location, we finally decided on the perfect spot for the raptor flight pen and have begun clearing off the area. It’s on a natural rise and is fairly level, so that will reduce some of the “landscaping” aspects of the construction. It also gets the morning sun, midday dappled sunlight and evening shade—perfect!
Picture
Picture
Picture
The little flying squirrel with the abscess healed beautifully by midweek and was able to rejoin his sibs. Unfortunately, within a six-hour span on Friday, he went from alert, active and greedy to rapidly losing body temperature, lethargic and refusing to eat. Two hours later, he died. I have no clue. The site of the abscess was marked only by a small scab; his sibs welcomed him back with no problems; his appetite was excellent; he was energetic; he was still on antibiotics…and then he was dead. This is the stuff rehabbers’ nightmares are made of.

The other three flyers are growing apace and were moved just today into a larger pen with a proper nest box. They haven’t explored the remainder of the pen—probably won’t see that action till tonight—but the nest box meets with their approval.

This isn’t a great “mast” year for squirrels of any species in my neck of the woods. Last year we had a bumper crop of mast— acorns, pecans, etc.—but this is an “off” year. Why is this significant? Since there won’t be an ample supply of winter fodder out there, I’ll be overwintering these little rascals, to give them the best possible chance at survival when they’re released next spring.
Picture
Picture
13 Comments
neener
10/20/2013 09:46:13 am

Great spot for the raptor pen! :)
Sorry about the little flyer. I was really pulling for him!! :'(
LOVED the video!
Keep up the wonderful work you do! Do you want me to try to collect acorns before I move and ship them to you?Let me know...
Neener

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
10/20/2013 09:54:15 am

Thanks Neener! I actually have a (shhh!!! secret!) location I found last year that should supply me with plenty of acorns for this lot for the winter, without depriving the non-rehabbed wildlife. I appreciate the offer, though!

Reply
Jan Buckwald
10/20/2013 09:49:09 am

Vonda — Super exciting about the raptor flight pen! Wish I lived in GA. I'd def. volunteer. Have a great Autumn. Jan B (from CA)

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
10/20/2013 09:55:09 am

Thanks Jan! I'm pretty excited to finally get started on the raptor flight, too!

Reply
Steve Hicks link
10/21/2013 07:08:59 am

Good site selection. Know exactly where you are displaying. Ground should be high enough for drainage and the space is open enough to provide good ventilation. Should also be adequate protection from the wind in the winter time.
Next pictures should have holes in the ground with posts in place!

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
10/21/2013 07:24:57 am

Thanks Steve! That's my goal, but probably not this week--way too much editing to get done right now.

Reply
Ann Feldman
10/21/2013 01:58:39 pm

Lovely location for the flight pen! So exciting! Poor little flyer. Baby animals are so fragile, nobody's fault. It will be nice in a way to have the other's company through the winter. No acorns? I'm breaking my ankles walking over acorns up here. Go figure.

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
10/21/2013 02:33:04 pm

Thanks Ann! I'd originally considered another site, but this past wet summer kept that area a marsh--glad I hadn't had the funds to build at that point. Would've been a soggy disaster.

I wish I could've had a necropsy done on the flyer, but the only place in the state that does 'em charges rehabbers, so...It's just really frustrating when all seems to be going well and then in a matter of hours they crash and burn.

We had a bumper crop of acorns and pecans last year but the pickings have been slim in my yard this fall. Fortunately, of course, the acorns aren't the bulk of their diet, but I do like to have the foods they'll eat in the wild available for 'em in sufficient quantities--another reason the flyers will overwinter: they're too young yet to've created their own winter food stores. Had their mama not been killed, she would've more than likely kept them with her through the winter, so they'd've had access to her food stores. Flyers are very social little sweethearts and form colonies in the wild.

Reply
neener
10/22/2013 04:27:45 am

Darn! I was picturing the postal inspectors faces when they checked the box! That would have been too funny!

Reply
Pipette
10/23/2013 01:36:49 pm

So sorry about the little flyer who didn't make it; it never gets easier to lose one, does it?

I'm glad the sibs will winter at your fine B&B - sounds like they are fun to have around, and (selfishly) we will get to "see" them grow up here on your blog over the winter months.

Good luck with the new flight pen! It's exciting that it's finally becoming reality, especially knowing how long you have waited. Yet even the wait turned out to be a positive thing in terms of siting the pen in the best location, so the universe IS on your side!

PS: Have got an image of parcel post delivering tons of acorns from the Northeast to you, LOL!

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
10/23/2013 01:58:26 pm

Hey Pipette! No, you're right--never gets easier, and anyone who says it does is lying or doesn't need to be rehabbing...or both.

Yeah, the Terrible Trio have discovered that it's really fun to hang from the open nest box so I can't close the lid...so I get these huge dark eyes and twitching whiskers peering over the edge of the box...Adorable!

My father, bless him, has been clearing out more debris from the flight pen site, which is actually about halfway between our houses. Lord knows I've been too busy with editing all-nighters this week...It's looking really good! (Okay, it's an increasingly bare patch of ground, but hey, you can tell we're doing SOMEthing there now!) He & I have been bouncing ideas back and forth on rebuilding the songbird flight, too. We built the current one and know what NOT to do this time around! The raptor and songbird flights will have different designs for their vastly differing species--you'll be able to watch them go up.

LOL, mass acorn deliveries would be funny, but probably not a good idea. Although UPS delivers rodents and USPS delivers mealworms to me already, so...Actually had the UPS guy ask me once if the box really had mice in it. (They're often labeled "Frozen Rodents".) I didn't even attempt to explain--just said, "Yep" without batting an eyelash...

Reply
dmortii
10/23/2013 01:53:30 pm

Wow so sad about the flyer. :(

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
10/23/2013 02:02:06 pm

Thanks dm. There was apparently something systemic that the antibiotics just weren't touching. That's why I wish UGA would donate 3 free necropsies a year to rehabbers--I'd even settle for one a year. I don't often want a necropsy done but in his case it would've been nice to know exactly what went wrong...

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008

    Categories

    All
    Baby Birds
    Baby Deer
    Baby Opossums
    Baby Possums
    Baby Rabbits
    Bluegray Gnatcatchers
    Carolina Wren
    Common Loons
    Epd
    Fawns
    House Finch
    Mbta
    Migratory Bird Treaty Act
    Mockers
    Mockingbirds
    Orphaned Birds
    Orphaned Deer
    Orphaned Fawns
    Orphaned Opossums
    Orphaned Possums
    Orphaned Rabbits
    Orphaned Wildlife
    Squirrels
    Wildlife
    Wood Ducks

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.