LWR had a quiet Thanksgiving, for which we are truly thankful! With no new intakes, let’s move right into an update on the current “guests” at the LWR B&B.

The screech is good to go, and I’ve been in touch with his finder, who’s planning to pick him up early this week to return him to his home.

The barred owl is also ready for release and we’re aiming at a mid-week release for him.

This will free up both flights for the falcon and the great horned.

The falcon’s toe has had plenty of time to heal and she’s using it normally now, so we’ll start her off in the mini-pen.

And the great horned’s bruised, cut toes are fully functional once again, so he’ll go into the main flight just for a little conditioning prior to his release.

Finally, with Giving Tuesday approaching, LWR is trying a laid-back, low-goal end-of-year fundraiser. We’re not going to set up a FB fundraiser or one through Fundrazr; we’re just announcing our goal of $1200 (12 days of Christmas, so $1200 seemed a good goal) and asking that those who feel led to do so donate through the PayPal links on all our pages and at the top right of this page.

A mostly slow week ended Friday with a great horned owl intake—and he had a small leg hold trap hung on two toes.

The couple who found the owl brought him to LWR, and the husband and I tried unsuccessfully to remove the trap, as one side was rusted and needed more pressure than we could provide to get it open. In a desperate attempt to ensure the poor bird kept those two toes, I called a neighbor, who had a channel lock that we were able to use to remove the trap from the bird’s foot. He used the channel lock on one side, the husband pried open the other side, and I kept either of them from ending up with interesting new body piercings by restraining the bird and pulling his toes out once they had the trap open.

The couple who found the owl were infuriated, as he was found on their property, where they walk with their dogs daily. The husband was worried that a deer their dog had chased that seemed to be limping might also have been a victim of another such trap.

Luckily, it was a small trap and the toes don’t seem to be broken, just very sore. Had it been a larger trap, he’d’ve lost both those toes or, if more of his foot had gotten caught, ended up with a broken leg or worse.

And here begins the rant, one y’all’ve heard numerous times before: There’s a special place in hell for people who use those leg hold traps. Sadly, they’re not illegal, but they’re damn sure inhumane and dangerous. The meat used to bait them attracts curious dogs and cats, as well as hungry wildlife such as bobcats, foxes, possums, and raptors—and let’s not even consider the possibility that a child might wander up on one. It’s my considered opinion, after years of dealing with the aftermath of these contraptions, that people who use them are lazy, irresponsible and inhumane. The trapped animal suffers until the “trapper” shows up to kill it—and what about the traps that the “trapper” forgets the location of? I don’t even care what the intended prey might be—coyote or whatever—the damn traps are still cruel and no ethical person would use them.

Excuse me while I step off my soapbox so we can move on…

The barred owl is in the main flight and not showing any inclination to fly yet. Barreds are weird that way; nearly every one that goes into the main flight takes several days to try their wings…and to begin eating again…

The screech is in the mini-pen and both eating and flying well. This bodes well for his release in another week or so.

And the falcon threw a full-on screaming hissy fit when I changed her entire box last week; she’d shredded the sides of the former box. Apparently I insulted her interior decorating skills by replacing the whole box. I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing I don’t speak Falcon fluently, as it sounded to me like I was being called everything but a child of God…

Hope y’all all have a happy Thanksgiving!

When the weather turns cool and rainy, birds that were already potentially compromised and struggling in the wild end up in rehab if they’re lucky enough to be found by a Good Samaritan, even though their final outcomes may not be good. This was the case for three birds last week, as our weather went from 80s to 50s for daytime temps, accompanied by rainy, overcast conditions.

The first was an adult great horned owl whose left wing was badly broken, requiring euthanasia.

A few days later, a barred owl was found in the road, thinnish and somewhat lethargic, possibly concussed. He was found in time, however, and steady meals appear to be making the difference for him.

And yesterday, a mature male red tail came in, starvation-thin and weak. I was hopeful he’d also been found in time but sadly, he died overnight.

The falcon remains an unhappy camper who nonetheless inhales all she’s offered—no hunger strikes from this one!

And the screech’s right eye is pretty well trashed, as I suspected, but the swelling in the left eye finally went down and it’s perfectly normal looking, so he’ll go to the mini-pen next week to test his flight and food-finding capabilities for a week or so before calling his finder to take him back where he was found.

Even though the outcomes weren’t ideal for two of the birds last week, at least they didn’t die sitting wet and cold, shivering because their feathers’ waterproofing was compromised, and hungry. They were warm and had eaten at least a small meal before being euthanized/dying. Sometimes that’s all a rehabber can do: make sure the bird has as peaceful and painless a death as possible.

The barred owl who’d been in the main flight for a couple of weeks finally gained his release back into the wild. He was so eager to “git” that I barely had time to focus the camera before he took off. And as you can see in the second video, he wasn’t letting me get close enough for any post-release photos, either!

Sadly, the second barred—the one whose eating was inconsistent—didn’t make it; she died mid-week.

The falcon continues to heal; that toe already looks considerably less swollen than it did on intake, and she’s inhaling food like there’s no tomorrow. She does hold her right wing at an odd angle at times, but her x-rays were clear—no current wing fractures, no signs of healed fractures. We’re watching that closely, though.

And the very first intake of November was a red-phase screech, found by the roadside in a neighboring county. Y’all know I love my screeches, and red phases are my favorites. As a refresher, screeches come in two color phases or morphs: red and gray (which actually looks brown).

His right eye looks iffy, and the left remains swollen shut nearly 72 hours after intake. But he can see well enough to locate and devour the mice placed in his box, so I’m hopeful he’ll be releasable. Time will tell…If so, his finder knows exactly where he came from and is willing to take him back there for release.

And that’s it for this week—short and sweet! (I’d say kinda like the screech, but y’all know they may be “short” but “sweet” ain’t in the screech vocabulary…which is one of the reasons I love ‘em so!)

LWR seems to get its fair share of unusual intakes…well, okay, we get the weird stuff, the unexpected stuff, the “how did it get here from there?” stuff…

And so it should come as no surprise that LWR ended up with a juvie peregrine falcon late last week.

Yup.  You read that right: a falcon. In Middle Georgia—not exactly “falcon central” by any stretch of the imagination. Although in the interest of fair disclosure, the bird came from South Georgia, where she apparently was found in a hospital parking lot and taken to a local state park, whose superintendent sent the bird to LWR.

According to Georgia DNR Head Biologist Bob Sargent, Arctic peregrines are migrating through Georgia right now, which was my “one new thing” to be learned for the day of the peregrine’s intake.

There were no apparent wing fractures, but given that dove season had just ended, it seemed best to take the peregrine in for x-rays to make sure there was no birdshot in her body. To our delight at Smalley’s, the wings and body were clear, but something seemed “off” about a toe on her right foot, so we x-rayed her foot and…she has a broken toe, right at the talon.

Go ahead, laugh. Colleague Kathryn Dudeck of Chattahoochee Nature Center and I snickered about it for a good ten minutes. I mean, having experienced a broken toe myself, I know it’s dang painful, so I do sympathize with the poor bird, but there’s just some sort of twisted rehabber humor in, of all things, a broken toe. The issue for her is that she can’t really push off to take flight, nor can she grasp her prey properly, because it hurts like Hades to do so, hence her thinness and being grounded.

She’s a drama queen but is eating well and is as calm as a falcon can be. Her reflexes are lightning-fast, as two of my poor fingers can attest—payback for laughing at her toe fx, I suppose. Colleague Steve Hicks suggested I just decide where I want my new scars; I replied that it appears she’s making those decisions for me.

She’ll be at LWR for a good month, which Kathryn, who deals with peregrines on a much more regular basis than I do (LWR has had three falcons in 20 years; Kathryn sees them yearly at CNC), says shouldn’t impact her migration; she’ll still be good for release, rather than overwintering. Thank goodness. She’s gorgeous but good Lord, the melodrama…

Meanwhile, the “oldest” (meaning the one who’s been at LWR the longest) of the two barreds is good for release; he’s flying from one end of the main flight to the other and back again. Work obligations (yeah, you know, my actual paying job that keeps the lights on) have prevented his release thus far, but next week is looking promising.

The more recent of the two, however, isn’t doing as well. She has balance issues and doesn’t want to eat consistently. Apparently there was some true TBI (traumatic brain injury) associated with her concussion, so we’ll just give her a little more time and see what happens; there’s no real treatment for TBI aside from time.

“And there was great celebration in the land…”

The wonky red shoulder finally, on the third try, was released. I’m not sure who was happier, me or him. (I’m thinking me, though!) It wasn’t a picture-perfect release but after flying to the ground—about the third time now that’s happened on a release—he then flew up into the trees and sat twitching his tail excitedly as he surveyed his kingdom.

This freed the main flight for the barred owl whose arrival was pending last Sunday—the first of three barreds who came in last week. He’s a little runt male who had a nasty concussion but no fractures. His flight is still uncertain and wobbly, so he needs a little more time to fully recover from his head injury.

He was followed a couple of days later by a large female barred with a broken wing. It felt like a fracture right in the joint, so the plan was to get x-rays the following day to see how bad it was, but the bird died overnight. Apparently there were also internal injuries.

And Friday barred #3, another female, came in, again with a concussion but no fractures. She’s still out of it nearly 48 hours later, not interested in food yet. This isn’t unusual with head injuries, so we’ll just keep her comfortable and give her time.

For those who’re wondering, barreds are among the most “frequent flyers” in rehab, due to their tendency to hunt near the road. Any raptor on the hunt focuses primarily on the prey, developing a sort of tunnel vision as they concentrate on snagging their next meal. This means they don’t see the oncoming vehicle until it’s too late—or at all. Barreds are also tough birds, often escaping their encounters with metal monsters with only concussions. I like to call ‘em the “Timex birds” of the raptor world—they take a licking and keep on ticking. (Some of y’all will get that reference immediately; for those who don’t, you’re just too young!)

That, y’all, is a summary of the past two weeks. Oh, y’all want details? If y’all insist…

The barred owl was released, flew to the ground, and then, when I went to recapture him, decided he was having none of that and took off for the nearest tree.

The red shoulder flubbed his release completely. Really—he flew to the ground, sat there, and flipped over on his back in defensive mode when I went to recapture him. Thing is, he can fly, and fly well, in the flight. I’ve watched him fly from one end to the other—multiple times. But take him out of the flight and attempt release, and it’s like he forgets what his wings are for. I’ve consulted with other raptor rehabbers and the general consensus seems to be that he might have some depth perception issues caused by the severity of his malnutrition on intake. Recall, if you will, he was so starvation thin on intake I honestly didn’t expect him to survive the night.

At any rate, last week was too rainy to try again, and today has been too windy. So this week at some point we’ll try again. Perhaps the third time will be the charm?

The bird en route is an owl. The finders called it a barn owl, then said it was small and “likely young,” so who knows? People call barreds barnies all the time, and are forever claiming adult screeches are “young” barreds. The more pressing issue, and the one that boils my blood, is that they’ve had the owl for THREE DAYS. Specifically, they think it has “a minor wing injury,” admit they “have no idea how to take care of it,” and say the injury “happened three days ago” when the bird was “tapped by a car.” THREE DAYS, y’all. THREE DAYS. With the utmost effort, I’ll refrain from further comment (because all my other comments at the moment seem to consist of guttural screams, which don't translate well to print), aside from urging anyone who finds injured wildlife of ANY species to seek a licensed rehabber IMMEDIATELY—no delays.  A delay, especially a three-day delay, could well be the difference between life and death for that wildlife. Hopefully it won’t be too late for this owl of as-yet indeterminate species.

LWR has two birds whose releases are imminent! The red shoulder is flying from one end of the main flight to the other, and last week’s barred owl has a clear eye now. The goal is to release both this week.

The red shoulder, who’s a typical mouthy fellow, is flying well and eating everything he’s offered, so he’s good for release.

If y’all recall, the barred had a really cloudy eye last week. It cleared up nicely, and he’s also eating well—another prime candidate for release.

However, during dove season I generally don’t release on weekends—too much risk from “spray and pray” dove hunters.  During the week is much safer for all concerned, as the weekend “spray and prayers” are back at work and not blasting at anything with wings.

To be clear, I have no issue with people who hunt for food; however, the people who own the property abutting LWR’s release site are irresponsible, in the opinions of pretty much everyone who’s dealt with them.

LWR had only one new intake last week, a barred owl pulled from a barbed wire fence. Honestly, when the call came in, I figured it was a great horned, as they’re most commonly the birds that seem get tangled in fences, so I was a little surprised to see it was a barred instead. Sadly, there was too much damage to the wing to save the bird.

Just as a heads-up, there will not be an update Sunday, October 8.

LWR had only one new intake this week, a barred owl found on state property in a neighboring county.

He was concussed on intake and his left eye seemed “squinty” during a cursory exam when he arrived. A full intake exam as soon as he was inside revealed that eye is very cloudy, as you can see in the photo below.  The good news is he’s alert and eating well; now we wait to see if the eye will clear. If not, owls hunt more by hearing than sight, so he may still be releasable. In a couple of days he’ll go into the mini-pen to see how he does with balance, perching, etc.

The red tail was, as indicated last week, euthanized. The broken humerus hadn’t healed at all, after over two months, bless his sweet heart.

And the barred owl that led to my soapbox rant last week died the next morning, before the finders could bring it to LWR.

We attempted a release for the red shoulder; he flew straight to the ground and ran to a fence row, which made it easy to recapture him.  Nothing is broken; he just can’t seem to fly. This would suggest some sort of soft tissue damage like a strained or torn tendon/ligament, so he’s in the main flight now to see if perhaps he just needs more conditioning or additional time for the soft tissue damage to heal. He’s been at LWR plenty long enough for a coracoid fracture to heal, so that can pretty confidently be ruled out. So we just give him more time to see what will happen…

And in really old news, we finally got the necropsy results, courtesy of Bob Sargent, head of DNR’s eagle program, on the adult bald eagle that came in back in June and was sent to UGA for euthanasia: starvation, trauma, with secondary bacterial arthritis (Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae).  In layman’s terms, he was basically DOA and just didn’t know it yet. According to vet Richie Hatcher of Magnolia Grove vet clinic, who saw the bird in June, “any one of those alone will get you for sure.”

No new intakes, no releases…yet. The red shoulder is getting quite vocal about his desire to be gone, eyeing the door every time I walk in to feed him and staring at me urgently. I foresee a release for him by week’s end; he’s ready!

The red tail isn’t looking as promising. After that one very low flight, he’s remained mostly stationary on one perch or another, glaring at me and refusing to eat. The angle of that wing indicates our “long shot” didn’t pan out, either, so his future is likely short, sadly. I’d always rather give the bird that long shot than call it too soon, though; as all my vets are fond of saying, you can always euthanize later but once it’s done, you can’t take it back.

And there may be a barred owl en route this evening; LWR was texted about it late Saturday evening. The texter balked at driving two hours to get the bird to LWR and asked what he could do himself, then, several hours later, said he’d try to get it to LWR this evening.

Folks, by terms of our permits, all rehabbers can do is explain how to secure wildlife and keep it safe until you can get it to us; we cannot give care advice. It’s illegal for non-licensed individuals—and dangerous, when you don’t have the proper safety gear—and could cost us our permits. I’d rather have the public mad at me than lose my permits, y’all, so pardon me if your huffing and puffing doesn’t faze me.

Also, please remember we’re not state or federal employees; we don’t get paid to rehab (aside from a few folks who work at larger centers).  Your wildlife is ONE of many we get calls about. We cannot drive all over the state picking up whatever you have and still properly maintain the wildlife currently under our care AND hold down our paying jobs, as well.

Lemme give you an example: If I get 5 calls in one day (not unusual during raptor baby season)—from Macon, Forsyth, Eatonton, Douglas, and Statesboro, to randomly pick a few towns north and south of LWR—how can I reasonably be expected to drive to all these locations—each at least an hour away—in one day, feed and medicate the birds in my care, and perform the duties of my paying job? Yet each of these callers would have ONE trip to make, not five. THIS is why I and other rehabbers ask callers to bring the wildlife to us. Logistically, it makes more sense.

Anyway…off the soapbox, and we’ll see if the barred actually makes it to LWR this evening…