Carolinas out, Carolinas in

The Carolina wrens that came in after the Fourth have been released, but Nature do abhor a vacuum (yes, it’s grammatically incorrect but it reads funnier that way). Released three; three came in!

Here are some pix of the released three, as well as a short video clip of one of ‘em attempting to nap in the underbrush.

Hot on the heels of the Caro release, a call came in about a singleton baby in a destroyed nest. The caller said there was a snake nearby, so my guess is the snake ate this little guy’s sibs and possibly even his mother if he raided the nest at night, as this guy’s age at intake indicated Mama Wren would’ve still been brooding the babies at night.

Then, a few days later, a family was moving a deceased relative’s truck and in the grille was a nest of—you guessed it: Carolina wrens!

These babies are a few days older than the singleton but they’ve all snuggled happily together in a nest. See if you can identify the youngest Caro in the photo below—I don’t think it’s that difficult, but still…I see the little rascals every day. Give it a whirl!

No new photos or video of the poor possum this week. He’s doing well and gaining weight normally now, but I swear, I’ve never had such a messy little possum. They’re normally very clean critters, but this little guy absolutely wallows in his food. (No, I mean really—he drags his dishes into his bed and sleeps with them!) When he’s not sticky with food, he’s wet from being washed. Neither state makes for a decent photo!

The blue jay was released and hauled his feathered butt off without even a backward glance. Normally, recently released blue jays are notorious beggars, but in my experience, when they come in as fledglings, they’re much more likely to not hang around when released. The flycatcher, however, released last week if you’ll recall, is still showing up several times a day for handouts and will occasionally perch and “chat” amiably with me…

The swifts are almost ready; a few more days of building up their flight muscles and they’re outta here. It’s been surprisingly difficult to find an established colony to release them into, but I found the ideal spot on private property and have permission to release there when they’re ready. The video clip below is from earlier in the week; it’s all but impossible to manage a video now!

The barred owls are looking better after over a week now of a proper diet. One still refuses to attempt to fly; the other flits but has real difficulty with the landings. I observe this from outside but when I go into the flight pen, they try to imitate wax figures…which is a GOOD thing; it means they’re not likely to be imprinted. To be honest, I worried about that, given that they’d supposedly spent two months in someone’s bedroom.

This little cardinal nestling was found on the ground after a storm that had accompanying high winds. He has pneumonia—you can hear the crackling in his lungs—and he had pretty nasty diarrhea when he came in, which you can see in the video clip. But he’s alert, his appetite is excellent, and he’s on antibiotics.  As of today, we have no more diarrhea but the labored breathing from the pneumonia still bothers me. In the video clip you can see one of young cardinals’ more endearing habits. Watch closely after he eats, and you’ll see him lick his beak several times!

And this week’s pièce de résistance, as it were, is this nestling Mississippi kite. A tree surgeon in a neighboring county who should have known better felled the tree his nest was in, resulting in his need for rehab. (And no, I don’t know the tree surgeon’s name; no one will supply it to a vindictive rehabber set on making sure he gets fined, at the very least.) Luckily, he’s not injured, just confused about his changed environment…and mouthy. Very mouthy.

Kites are neat birds who, despite being classified as raptors, actually eat mostly insects caught while they’re flying. For those who’ve never seen this display of aerial prowess, the kite will swoop down on an airborne insect, snatch it in his talons in mid-air, and zoom back up, turning his head to eat the insect as he flies. It’s pretty darned impressive to watch, lemme tell ya!

The babies look nothing like the adults, who have stunning red eyes and feathers that deepen from pale gray on their heads to charcoal gray on their bodies to gray-black on their wings and tails. Below is a photo of an adult kite from last year, for comparison with this guy’s current coloration. Quite a difference, huh?!