Black vultures released!

Given the younger vulture’s swift transition from half-down, half feathers to very little down at all, yesterday seemed like a good time to open the mini-pen door and see what the rascals would do.

They spent the day wandering around the back yard, finding an old log to sit on, then moving over to the path leading to the main flight.

I left the mini-pen door open all day, in case they wanted to go back in, and near nightfall, when I went to close it, both doofuses were back inside, perched and already half-asleep for the night. This morning, they were ready to come out again and roam the yard some more.  Oddly enough, the older vulture, who’s been at LWR since he was all downy, seems to be following the lead of the younger one, who’s not as trusting of humans since he came in as an older bird. This should be an interesting soft release.

Black vultures are so adorable!

The sharpie is eating again but pretty much just perches and glares at me when I’m in the main flight putting the food out. Accipiters are weird, psychotic little things...

The great horned, after taking a turn for the worse, as I mentioned last Sunday, died that night. I’m thinking very slow brain bleed, given the gradual decline throughout the previous week.

A barred owl came in from a state park about an hour south of LWR, brought there by a visitor who found it on the side of the road. Sadly, the owl had an open wing fracture and required euthanasia.

This afternoon, a local off-duty police officer brought another barred owl he and his family found last night on their way home from a city a couple of hours northeast of LWR. This one was luckier; he only had a bad road rash on one foot and some minor head trauma. His wings had no fractures, although he did favor the right one slightly—possibly some mild tendon sprain, as he could fully extend it when tested. He’s fairly alert but a little uncoordinated, which is typical for a bird whose bell’s been well and truly rung. I don’t foresee him having to remain a guest of LWR for more than a week or two.

There will be no update next Sunday, Labor Day weekend.