Business as usual…whatever THAT is…

Last week was a typically predictably unpredictable week. Confused yet? You’re welcome; I try…

The absolutely great news is that the gunshot Mississippi kite will NOT require surgery— as I’d hoped, once the infection was treated and the swelling went down, the bones are nearly perfectly aligned. Vet Jim Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital was as excited as I was upon seeing last week’s x-ray! The caveat is that because of the position of the pellet, removing it would do more damage than good…We’ll play it by ear; he’ll go back for follow-up visits and x-rays until there’s a nice callus forming, and then we’ll go from there.

On the left, the most recent x-ray; on the right, the original x-ray

The mockers, blue jay, bluebird and dove all went to the flight pen last week. They’ve all pretty much got the self-feeding thing down pat now, but we’ve had rain predicted for the past several days, so there they sit, bless their hearts, waiting for lower rain chances. In Georgia in the summer, isolated thunderstorms, especially later in the day, are a given, but when the chances are higher than 40%, I hold off on releases. 

Bathing beauties

Because the barred owl’s eye was almost completely open and clear Monday morning and he was bouncing off the walls, I  cancelled his vet trip. By Tuesday he let it be known he was by-God ready to go. Honestly, some of the guests at the LWR bed and breakfast are SO ungrateful…

When the call came about three “baby pheasants” I was positive the caller had one of three species: quail chicks, turkey poults, or killdeer chicks. All three are high-stress species; one of the birds the caller had was found with a broken leg. Not good.

When the birds came in, they were tiny little quail. I was pretty sure the leg fracture was fatal but ran the bird to Smalley’s to confirm. What I hadn’t noticed in my haste to have vet Peggy Hobby examine him was that the leg was broken at both the hip and ankle—open fracture at the ankle. In other words, this little guy was a goner.

Still, the surviving sibs seemed alert; they appeared to be eating; their poop looked good…maybe they had a chance. I set them up with the requisite low heat and feather duster for stressy precocial birds. (Precocial just means they hatch with their eyes open, covered with down, and leave the nest immediately after hatching to follow their parents around.) Maybe, just maybe…

Alas, the next morning both sibs were dead under their feather duster.  I wish I could say I was surprised, but I really wasn’t…

The world’s messiest possum finally got big enough for release. He didn’t care; possums are so clueless…I, on the other hand, was delighted to be relieved permanently of daily wash-up duties. In the video below, you can see he was still pretty messy when he was released. Watch for that huge yawn that shows just how concerned he was…I released him in an area with plenty of grubs, etc., on the ground, which you can see he’s chasing every which way!

Yesterday two new chimney swifts arrived. As you might recall, swifts are very high-maintenance birds in a rehab setting. Plus it’s pretty late in the year for babies this young. Nevertheless, here they are…The older sib seems a bit weak-eyed to me, so I’ve already checked with the next-closest songbird rehabber in my area, some 50 miles away, in case I need to place the younger one with another group. Swift singletons generally don’t fare well. Unfortunately, because it IS late in the season for baby swifts, she has none...Again, we’ll just have to play it by ear and hope for the best.

And just this morning, despite my clear message that I’m currently accepting only birds and flying squirrels, someone left a message about a cat-attacked rabbit. Against my better judgment I called the person back, figuring if nothing else I could at least humanely euthanize the poor thing. He seemed alert despite four open wounds, two on each flank, and was moving all four limbs and attempting to eat, so I treated the wounds, started antibiotics, gave him a bit of food…and ended up euthanizing a few hours later when it was obvious he was crashing.

Folks, here’s the deal, from someone who’s both a cat lover AND a wildlife rehabber: if you don’t want your cat wreaking havoc on the wildlife in your yard, KEEP THE CAT INDOORS. It’s not only safer for the wildlife in your yard; it’s safer for the cat, who is no longer exposed to ticks, larger predators, worms, etc.  If you truly love your cat you’ll keep it safely indoors; if you allow your cat to roam freely, it WILL kill birds, rabbits, squirrels and any other small prey animals it can snag. Cats are predators. It’s what they do. I can’t fault cats for acting on their nature, but I can damn sure fault people who irresponsibly allow their cats to roam outdoors and blithely ignore the damage they do to our native wildlife.