Better late than never

Between meeting editing deadlines and feeding songbirds every half hour, this is the first time today I’ve been able to focus on the update. I’m exhausted, so I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible.

In new birds, there’s a slew.
​
Early in the week a mature male red tail came in with what appears to be soft tissue damage to his right wing. Nothing feels broken and he can and will extend it when he feels threatened—which is every time I’m near him—but it droops badly. I’m thinking a damaged tendon or ligament, which may or may not heal for flight. Time will tell.

​Saturday, what was probably a nestling robin came in after being cat-attacked. While his wounds appeared superficial and he was started on antibiotics immediately on arrival, he died half an hour after intake.

​He was followed in short order by a window-strike hummer, who survived only 45 minutes after intake. There’s no telling how long she’d been without food before she was found on the pavement, and while she did eat for me, it was too little, too late.

​A hit-by-car red-headed woodpecker required euthanasia for an open wing fracture.

​When storms Thursday apparently unnested this young barred owl, he was left on the ground until attacked by a dog. His right wing is wounded and may be broken and his right hip feels “crunchy” but he still has neural response.  My gut says this is a fatal injury, and consults with two colleagues resulted in a general consensus that probably euthanasia will be needed but we all also agreed that since it’s a baby, we’d rather have x-rays just to be sure. We’ll find out tomorrow…

​Today, four near-fledgling bluebirds came in after at least one of their parents was killed by a cat. At this age birds can sometimes be difficult to feed but prior to lights-out tonight, they were all gaping nicely and eagerly.

​And hot on their heels came four nestling house finches, also orphaned by a cat attack.

Do y’all see a theme here? OUTDOOR CATS KILL BIRDS. If you claim to care about wildlife, particularly birds, in your yard, KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS.
​
The female red tail finally made it to the raptor flight and immediately soared to the end farthest from me. A few weeks to build up her flight muscles, and she’ll be good to go!

​The suspected blue-gray gnatcatchers turned out to be brown-headed nuthatches, and the possible titmouse, when he feathered out fully, was also a nuthatch. The six of them are chatty little things, and as cute as they can be. We’re aiming at release late this week, as they fly well now and are almost self-feeding.

​The brown thrasher is also doing a good bit of self-feeding, as is the older house finch. The finch flies well; the thrasher not so much yet.

The phoebe finally started to perch just before lights-out tonight; I was honestly getting a bit worried about her. No decent photos of her this week; she wasn’t real cooperative around the camera.
​
The wood ducklings, from what I hear outside the bathroom door when they’re swimming, are quite active; when I walk in, however, they clump-swim to the back of the tub and shriek. They’re such melodramatic little things…

The mourning doves are doing well; forgot to get photos of them this week.
​
The possum is growing like a weed; it won’t be long before she’s ready for release.

Finally, the “soft fundraiser” is doing nicely, with $550 raised thus far. Just $450 to go, folks!