It’s turning out to be a busy fall, with raptors out the wazoo. At one point this week LWR had 10 raptors crammed into flight pens and the rehab room. I was doing the rehab version of gymnastics just to move around between boxes to feed everybody and change their paper.
Yet another red tail came in, another first-year bird. This fellow has a fracture right at the elbow. It’s pretty close to the joint but not badly displaced, so we’re gonna give him some time and hope the joint doesn’t freeze.
Yet another red tail came in, another first-year bird. This fellow has a fracture right at the elbow. It’s pretty close to the joint but not badly displaced, so we’re gonna give him some time and hope the joint doesn’t freeze.
My game warden sent me a first-year sharpie—we debated whether Coop or sharpie, as neither of us was sure and the juvies and adults of both species are remarkably similar. His behavior initially suggested Coop but his size suggested sharpie. Now I’m pretty sure he’s a sharpie. His x-rays showed no wing fractures but he does have a broken toe on his left foot, so he’ll stay with me for a while to give it time to heal.
The Coop that came in last Sunday didn’t survive; he was standing up glaring at me and then half an hour later he’d keeled over. Coops are really stressy birds, so it could have been internal injuries or it could have been sheer stress.
About the smallest male barred owl I’ve seen in a while came in from DNR. He has some head trauma but no fractures.
About the smallest male barred owl I’ve seen in a while came in from DNR. He has some head trauma but no fractures.
A juvenile turkey vulture wasn’t as lucky; he was seen flailing by the side of the road in the rain. Initially, because he was still wet, I thought he was a black vulture, but as the feathers began drying the brown began to show. Sadly, he had no neural response in his legs and required euthanasia.
The former stargazing red tail was transferred to a falconer for further training. I’d planned to release him but the more I watched his behavior, the more convinced I was he wouldn’t survive in the wild without better hunting skills. Transfer to a licensed falconer will give him additional time to learn those hunting skills and when the falconer releases him in a couple of years, he’ll be a skilled and confident hunter.
Red tail #2, with the eye injury, is looking excellent. The eye is probably always gonna be a little scarred but he’s seeing out of it and flying beautifully in the raptor flight, so in another week or so, he’ll be released.
Red tail #2, with the eye injury, is looking excellent. The eye is probably always gonna be a little scarred but he’s seeing out of it and flying beautifully in the raptor flight, so in another week or so, he’ll be released.
And red tail #3, with the hand fracture, is healing nicely. He’ll move from the mini-pen into the raptor flight when his hand is sufficiently healed.
The red shoulder is eating like a vacuum cleaner and looking good. Once the mini-pen opens up, I’ll draw straws to see if he or the sharpie goes into it first.
The great horned owl’s eyes still look funky but he’s finding his food with no problem at all and is getting antsy at his captivity. I’d prefer at least one of those eyes to look “normal” before release but I’m beginning to think this is as normal as they’re gonna get.
The screech’s dislocated shoulder appears to be healing nicely. Most of the time he’s holding it perfectly level with the “good” shoulder so I’m fairly optimistic at the moment that he’ll continue to heal for release.
And, of course, the black vulture twins are still hanging around...I end up with more photos of them than the rehabbing birds each week because they tend to follow me as I go about my daily activities. It’s a vulture thing; they will eventually stop coming around. It just seems to take vultures longer!
RSS Feed
