‘Cause that’s what you’ll be getting this week!
But let’s start with a nighthawk update…she was initially unable to do more than run along the ground, rasping at me, but by her third day in the flight pen she’d started attempting short flights and her wing was straighter and her flight better with each attempt. I’d worried that she might be on borrowed time and was delighted to see her daily improvement in such a short time span. Unfortunately…as her flight improved, so did her frantic flinging herself at the southern side of the flight pen. It’s just mesh-lined hardware cloth for the most part, but she apparently hit that relatively soft material at just the right angle Thursday night, and Friday morning, I found her dead—as best I can figure, she broke her neck trying to escape the flight pen. The migration instinct was too strong, and her flight wasn’t yet strong enough. The really heartbreaking thing is, in another four or five days, I think she’d’ve been migration-worthy; she was progressing so well…
And a quick update on the flight pens, since we’re on that topic, sort of: A.J. Rogers designed a lovely set of plans for the raptor flight pen—a modification of the larger pens she designed for Bubba & Friends—and I hope to begin construction on it sometime this month. As I have more raptors than songbirds during the fall and winter, this pen is the priority; we’ll get the songbird flight pen constructed after we’re done with the raptor flight.
Now…on to your weekly dose of cute!
The little guy with the puncture wound, while quite alert and eating very well, isn’t healing as quickly as he should. The wound keeps trying to get infected, despite his being on oral and topical antibiotics. We’d had several pus-free days, and this morning it was all drainy and smelly again, so he’s headed for the vet Monday to see what else we can do to speed up healing on this stubborn wound.
The furry four are still in the “eat and pass out” phase, although I’m offering various goodies to tempt them to try solids. No takers yet: the formula’s too darn good and filling!
But let’s start with a nighthawk update…she was initially unable to do more than run along the ground, rasping at me, but by her third day in the flight pen she’d started attempting short flights and her wing was straighter and her flight better with each attempt. I’d worried that she might be on borrowed time and was delighted to see her daily improvement in such a short time span. Unfortunately…as her flight improved, so did her frantic flinging herself at the southern side of the flight pen. It’s just mesh-lined hardware cloth for the most part, but she apparently hit that relatively soft material at just the right angle Thursday night, and Friday morning, I found her dead—as best I can figure, she broke her neck trying to escape the flight pen. The migration instinct was too strong, and her flight wasn’t yet strong enough. The really heartbreaking thing is, in another four or five days, I think she’d’ve been migration-worthy; she was progressing so well…
And a quick update on the flight pens, since we’re on that topic, sort of: A.J. Rogers designed a lovely set of plans for the raptor flight pen—a modification of the larger pens she designed for Bubba & Friends—and I hope to begin construction on it sometime this month. As I have more raptors than songbirds during the fall and winter, this pen is the priority; we’ll get the songbird flight pen constructed after we’re done with the raptor flight.
Now…on to your weekly dose of cute!
The little guy with the puncture wound, while quite alert and eating very well, isn’t healing as quickly as he should. The wound keeps trying to get infected, despite his being on oral and topical antibiotics. We’d had several pus-free days, and this morning it was all drainy and smelly again, so he’s headed for the vet Monday to see what else we can do to speed up healing on this stubborn wound.
The furry four are still in the “eat and pass out” phase, although I’m offering various goodies to tempt them to try solids. No takers yet: the formula’s too darn good and filling!
In the last photo above, I’ve indicated the patagium, the skin flaps that allow flyers to glide, with arrows on each side of this little man’s body.
Below, you can see a side view, circled in this photo.
Below, you can see a side view, circled in this photo.
Belly’s full, time for a nap…
This is the look of a flyer who’s been rudely awakened from a post-nursing coma to be moved back into his pen. I wrap them in a small blanket in my lap as I finish feeding each one, then replace them in the pen after everybody’s done eating. This way I’m sure I feed everybody!
But once we’re all fed and settled back in our pen, we’re all comatose again…
…until time for the next feeding, that is. Then we become quite active!
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