The fundraiser is at $2260, with just $240 to go to meet our goal. Heartfelt thanks to those who’ve donated; to those who’re waiting, time’s a-wastin’—the end of the month is fast approaching!

LWR had two new intakes last week, neither of which ended well. On Tuesday, an adult MIKI (Mississippi kite) came in from Laurens County with an open wing fracture and required euthanasia.

On Friday, DNR brought a juvenile female barn owl from Montgomery County. The poor little girl was starving to death on arrival. The plan was small, frequent meals to build her back up if possible, but she died within an hour of intake, shortly after her first small meal. And yes, y’all know it sucked. I don’t like losing birds, period, but losing a baby or a juvie is always harder because they never had a chance at life.

The swelling in the red shoulder’s eye is slowly going down and his appetite has picked up now that he’s not so loopy. It was hard to get a photo of the “black” eye, as now that the bird’s more alert, he wants to keep himself turned toward me with his good eye. Another week, and that shiner should be healed up.

The screeches should start a comedy act; they crack me up every time I enter the mini-pen to feed them.

And the red tail is—well, a red tail. What more needs to be said? She takes my breath away every time I walk into the main flight to feed her. She’s just gorgeous. She’s been having fun exploring the flight but she stubbornly refuses to search for her food; if it’s not easily visible, she just lets the ants have it. But she did show a strong interest in a baby skink crawling on the flight wall this morning, so maybe her predatory instincts are starting to kick in. Meanwhile, she sure can strike a pose, huh?!

Remember, just $240 to go before we reach our $2500 goal. The fundraiser runs through the end of July, so there’s still time for y’all to donate!

Beginning with the fundraiser, we’re now at $2250, so we have just $250 to go! Thanks to all who’ve donated, and to those who’re waiting, now’s the time—we’re SO close to our goal!

And while LWR may have taken a week off from updates, it was by no means a downtime in any other sense of the word, with three releases and five intakes.

The banded red tail was released on July 1, making room for the osprey in the main flight.

On July 4, an adult Mississippi kite came in from Bleckley County with an open wing fracture. He was humanely euthanized.

The juvie red shoulder self-released from the mini-pen on July 5 when I ducked to avoid wasps that had gotten in and were flying at my face as I walked in to feed him. He saw a gap, took advantage of it, and quite literally flew the coop.

Also on July 5, another osprey came in from Baldwin County. His wing was fractured right in the elbow, and so he was humanely euthanized.

USFWS delivered a barred owl from Spalding County on July 8. Aside from a swollen eye and some sort of oily, motor-oil-smelling substance on his wing, his only issue seemed to be head trauma. I suspect he ingested some of that oily stuff before I could clean it off, though, as his condition has been steadily deteriorating. He started out eating well and is now lethargic and not looking real promising.

Within less than two weeks in the main flight, the osprey was flying as high as possible in the flight, from one end to the other and back. He was released on July 9, making my cousin Steve, who’d been supplying him with fish, quite happy! The last I saw of Mr. Osprey, he was headed around the river bend at top speed. For some reason, YouTube is being stupid about the release video and insisting it's not available to embed, so just click on this link instead: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxh3dduGrK8

On July 10, a young red shoulder came in from Wheeler County with a massive shiner and a slight elbow ding—no fractures. The swelling in the eye has gone down some but he’s still a bit loopy.

And also on July 10, another barred owl came in, this one from Twiggs. He had a massive open fracture but before I could euthanize or get photos, he checked himself out, making him a DOA.

With both flights available, the screeches went into the mini-pen, from which they’ll be released. It’s plenty big enough for them to get their flight conditioning. Now that they’ve adjusted to being outside, we’ll try live prey testing and aim at release within a week or so.

And the gorgeous juvie female red tail is now in the main flight, where she’s really getting a chance to discover what her wings will do. She’ll be at LWR for a while longer, and there’s a good possibility I’ll try to place her with a falconer rather than straight release into the wild. Given the approximately 80% first-year mortality rate among red tails, the time and training with a falconer would ensure that upon her release from falconry, her odds of survival would increase dramatically. We’ll see; she might surprise me and turn out to be a fierce huntress without extra training.

Finally, an update on the juvie bald eagle who was sent from LWR to UGA in May for repair of a badly fractured femur: my colleague Kathryn Dudeck reports he’s now at Chattahoochee Nature Center to complete his rehab. Kathryn says he was immediately able to leap from the ground to a 12-foot perch, so that’s excellent news!

Again, with just $250 to go on the fundraiser, we’re SO very close—please consider donating to help us meet the full $2500 goal.

As of today, the fundraiser sits at $2000, so we need just $500 more to meet our goal. Many thanks to those who’ve donated so generously already; to those who’re waiting, time’s a-wastin’!

Let’s start the update with a series of screech photos. I swear, these two LOOK for ways to look goofy! They’re ready for a flight pen as soon as one frees up.

Speaking of freeing up space, the osprey has been cleared for the main flight as soon as it’s available. His fracture shows a nice callus and we’re hoping he’ll regain full flight capability.

The juvie red shoulder is also ready for a flight posthaste. The problem this time of year is we have a “waiting list” of birds ready for flights and limited flights available to hold them.

The UGA red tail finally gained his release but the best I could manage with him was a post-release photo at maximum zoom.

With “UGA’s” release, the banded red tail went into the main flight, where he just…sits. I’ve yet to see the bird fly, even when I walk close to him. His vision is fine; he clearly sees what’s going on around him and can locate his food. I think he’s a few bricks shy of a load, honestly.

The Bibb red tail, however, is a feisty, intelligent gal who fairly oozes personality. I may have mentioned once or twice that I’m utterly besotted with this beauty. She’s doing a lot of jump-flapping and tossing down around like confetti. I’m pretty sure my lungs are now coated with raptor down…

LWR had four new intakes last week; two were DOA and two required euthanasia. It was NOT a great week for the birds.

Sunday evening, a second-year red tail came in from Appling County, weak and emaciated but with no obvious injuries. The next morning the bird was dead, with a pool of blood at his beak. Internal injuries don’t show till it’s too late and can’t be repaired, anyway.

Monday another red tail came in from Laurens County, this one a first-year bird. He was also emaciated—we’re seeing too damn much of that this year—and had apparently gotten desperate enough for food to tangle with a squirrel, as he had a puncture wound on his leg and blood all up in his leg feathers, indicating more wounds that weren’t obvious at first glance. The flesh around the main wound was already raw and gray, a sign that it was in the early stages of infection. I started topical treatment on his wounds and oral antibiotics, as well.  Tuesday morning, he was dead. Sometimes our help is too little, too late.

Wednesday morning, Smalley’s called with an owl dumped on their doorstep overnight. I told them I was en route anyway, bringing the osprey for follow-up rads. As I headed out, I received a call from DNR head biologist Todd Schneider that an eagle might be en route to me from Dodge County; they’d received a call about a possible downed eagle. After joking about all the potential birds that could’ve been misidentified as an eagle, we hung up, and shortly thereafter Laurens County game warden Ben Hawkins called to report he had located the bird, a red shoulder hawk. He met me at Smalley’s with the bird.

And let me interrupt the tale here to express my sincere thanks to the folks at Smalley’s, who handle all this sort of insanity with calm efficiency. I couldn’t ask for better vets or staff to work with; these folks are the cream of the crop.

So after getting rads on the osprey, we examined the barred owl. His rads showed no fractures but his right eye was gone. I mean totally deflated, so that the orbital bone showed. We can release birds with limited sight in one eye, but not a bird totally missing an eye. He was euthanized.

And the “eagle” who turned out to be a red shoulder was not only lethargic and crawling with maggots; he also had a wing fracture that made us all grimace and shudder. Additionally, his spine was fractured at the base of his tail and his left hip was broken. We didn’t bother to get rads on those, as the wing fracture was already a death sentence. He also required euthanasia.

There will be no update next week; while LWR will still be receiving birds, I’m taking a break from the updates for the Independence Day weekend. This doesn’t mean y’all need to take a break from donating toward that last $500 needed to meet our goal, though!

The LWR summer fundraiser is stalled at $1100, with $1400 remaining to be raised.  Donations may be made via the PayPal links on each page of the LWR website. As I indicated in last week’s update, feeding these birds gets more expensive yearly, with our most recent mouse order totaling $761 for only 14 bags of mice. We remain grateful for those who’ve already donated; for those who’re waiting for “someone else” to donate, YOU are that “someone else!”

And also as indicated in last Sunday’s update, with its grand plans for rearranging birds, “the best-laid plans o’ mice and men” were indeed trashed by the weather, with rain at least every other day last week. That means no one has been moved or released yet. And because I didn’t want to struggle with getting the osprey in and out in the rain, he’s not had follow-up rads yet. Yeah, I know, lazy and a little wimpy of me, but y’all try juggling a box full of antsy bird, raptor handling gloves, and an umbrella too!

LWR had two new intakes last week, a first-year red tail and a mature Mississippi kite, both from Jones County. The red tail didn’t make it through the night.

The MIKI came in with open fractures to both wrists, a beak hanging by a thread, and actively bleeding from his right eye. I mentioned to the finder that this looked consistent with the bird having hit a power line, and she said she had indeed found him beneath a power line. There was nothing to be done for this poor bird but to humanely end his suffering. In over 25 years of rehab, I’ve only had one adult MIKI that was releasable. All the others have come in with life-ending injuries. It sucks, too. I love these fierce little aerial insectivores.

The “resident” (for the time being) red tails are all in fine fettle. I suspect the UGA red tail is beginning to think I’m a congenital liar, as I’ve been promising him release “soon” for two weeks now. Currently it looks like we may have a narrow window this week; we’ll see. Fingers crossed.

The banded red tail and the Bibb juvie have sorta-kinda bonded, so I may try placing them together in the main flight, assuming the weather ever lets the patience-tested UGA bird be released. The Bibb gal likes to perch on top of the banded bird’s box while I’m preparing her food, and he tolerates her presence there pretty well. I’d never put two mature birds together, but a mature and a juvie might work. We shall see, I suppose…

The juvie red shoulder is going stir-crazy inside, but both flights are full, so again, we’re waiting on the weather to cooperate.

The screeches are more than ready for flight conditioning and live prey testing, but—repeat it with me—the flights are full and we’re waiting on the weather to cooperate.

And the osprey doesn’t seem to care about anything as long as he gets his fish. After seven weeks of me entering his pen daily, he still rushes me and tries to intimidate me. It’s hard to be intimidated by an osprey; they’re such goofballs. Further insulting him, I now call him Fishbreath…

Please consider donating to the LWR fundraiser; if even a third of the people who follow this page would donate just $15, we’d more than double our goal!

With two releases and no new intakes last week, the population at LWR is at a more manageable level, but the food demands are still high, hence the fundraiser.

Starting with the fundraiser, tying it into the United States’ 250th anniversary, it seemed like a good idea to go with a goal of $10 for every year of the USA’s existence, for a total of $2500. We’ll run the fundraiser through mid-July unless the goal is met sooner. Once again, PayPal seems to be the best platform choice, as there are donation links on each page of the LWR website, and PayPal’s “cut” is less than that of other platforms.

To give y’all an idea of the cost of feeding these birds, LWR just placed a mouse order: 5 bags of large mice (50 ct each), 5 bags of medium mice (50 ct each), and 4 bags of small mice (100 ct each). The total? $761. And that’s with the tax break and free shipping the company provides tax-exempt organizations like LWR. And then we have the boxes and liners and exam gloves, etc., that are also necessary, so the costs add up quickly, especially during baby season.

One bird especially benefiting from a steady, reliable food supply is the gorgeous female red tail fledgling who, if y’all recall, came in from Bibb in a state of near-starvation. Now that she’s getting regular meals—and Lordy, does she have an appetite!—her adorably goofy personality is starting to shine. She’s vocal, insistent that she’s starving to death despite eating 8 (yes, EIGHT!) large mice a day, and she doesn’t mind perching on the side of her box to supervise the food prep, while she complains about slow service. And I have YET to crop this bird out. I’m a little scared to see just how much she could actually eat at one sitting if allowed unlimited access to the mice!

And the recently released red shoulder hawks also benefited from a steady food supply but were quite ready to go it on their own when offered the chance. The first gave us a pretty nice release and then started screaming insults; the second release would’ve made for better footage if I’d remembered to zoom back out from Mr. Screamer.

YouTube didn't provide an embedding option for the second red shoulder release, but here's the link for that video: https://youtube.com/shorts/ejPT1Mf1Poc?si=F-mPzdAl_vSz3OfH

With the red shoulder releases, the UGA red tail went into the main flight and is ready for release once we have another three days of low-to-no rain chances.

Then the banded red tail will go into the main flight. He’s getting pretty bored inside.

Once he’s had his turn in the main flight, the plan is to move the osprey into the main flight. He goes back for follow-up rads this week. Of course, “the best-laid plans o’ mice and men…”

If we can stay on track with the current plan, though, once the osprey is in the main flight, the screeches will go into the mini-pen. (They were determined to be as unphotogenic as possible last week; this was the best of numerous photo attempts!)

Once the osprey is good for release, the red shoulder fledgling will move into the main flight

And then the Bibb red tail will go into the mini-pen or main flight, depending on space at that point. Again, of course, all this is based on current birds; new intakes will necessitate all-new plans to accommodate them, as well. Baby season is a constant process of Fruit Basket Turnover and revising plans on a dime!

With five releases last week, the LWR inn is no longer at capacity, but it’s still pretty crowded!

As indicated above, all five barreds were released; short videos of each release are below.

The sole intake for the week was a gorgeous female red tail fledgling. She was found by the road in Bibb County and was so emaciated and weak upon arrival at LWR that I honestly expected her to check out overnight. She had to be hand-fed—literally prying her beak open and placing the food in it—and couldn’t stand. By the next evening she was offering a soft begging cry for food; within 48 hours she was standing and eating on her own. What a recovery—and what a bird! I love all red tails but I confess to being a little more besotted than usual with this beauty.

The banded red tail has fully recovered from his abuse at the hands of the truckers and is now alert and aggressive. His band info is below. He made quite a journey to reach God’s country!

The UGA red tail has been a pistol from the get-go, as his photo indicates.

Of course, with the barreds released, the juvie red shoulders went into the main flight. However…one of the UGA red shoulders sounded very…Coopy… as they were being moved outside. It’s not unusual for juvie red shoulders and Coops to be confused for one another, and the juvies of both species have been mistakenly housed together by rehabbers forever, so I didn’t really worry about it. But then the little feathered fool did the “Coopest” thing possible his second night in the flight: he flew into the back wall and broke his neck. For those of y’all who’ve been with LWR for a while, y’all know Coops are prone to this sort of behavior, which is why rehabbers really don’t like having Coops in their care.

The good news is that the two red shoulders are flying like champs and were already hunting before their intakes at LWR, so they’re slated for release ASAP. Then each of the mature red tails will have his turn in the main flight, individually.

The stubborn red shoulder nestling FINALLY decided to start self-feeding, which was cause for great celebration on my part.

The osprey is almost ready for follow-up rads to see how his wing fracture is healing.

And the screeches have graduated to a larger box and utterly despise The Hand that invades their box daily to place fresh food out. The Hand is their mortal enemy and must be footed at each incursion.  I’m so “skeert!” Gotta love that pissy little screech attitude!

Y’all, LWR had intakes out the wazoo last week, and there is quite literally no room at the inn. There are bird boxes everywhere and both flights are full. The good news is we should have three days of “low-to-no” (rain chances, that is) midweek, at which point Operation Fruit Basket Turnover goes into overdrive so we can free up some space.

Where to begin? Let’s start with another “naming names” intake. Y’all know I don’t generally name names, not so much to protect the guilty as to keep myself from facing defamation lawsuits for calling out idiots. But when, as with last week’s eagle, people engage in praiseworthy acts, they deserve to be mentioned by name for doing the RIGHT thing.

Case in point: A young woman, Julie Pierce, had stopped at a local gas station and heard a trucker bragging about how he’d hit a hawk and mouthing off about what he was going to do to this injured bird. When Ms. Pierce went over to see how badly the hawk was injured, she found the sociopathic trucker and some of his equally sadistic buddies poking the bird with sticks, and the trucker who’d initially hit it threatened to run over it again. Ms. Pierce didn’t hesitate to wade into the middle of these pathetic excuses for humans and rescue the bird, calling around until she reached Game Warden Rodney Horne, who gave her the LWR number.  I cannot begin to adequately express my admiration for and thanks to Ms. Pierce for rescuing this gorgeous, albeit highly stressed, red tail from the scum of the earth.  (And yes, I hope and pray that those arseholes of truckers are plagued with all sorts of engine, tire, code and law enforcement headaches for a looooong, loooong time.)

Interestingly enough, as you can see, he’s banded but I’ve not tried to examine the band yet; that can wait till he’s fully destressed. Nothing appears broken, and he’s eating well as of this morning, so the next step will be to check the band.

His intake came on the heels of two DOA red tail intakes, and y’all know red tails are my favorite diurnal raptor, so it really stings to lose one, let alone two within 12 hours of each other.

The first DOA came from Monroe County, where the finders said they saw a woman standing by the road with the hawk, holding her phone, so they went on about their shopping. When they came back by, the woman was gone but the bird was still standing by the roadside. They rescued the bird and brought it to LWR the next morning. On arrival it was lethargic and rapidly losing body temperature. The inside of the beak was white rather than a healthy pink. Its keel was razor-sharp; there was quite literally no flesh on its breast. Despite supplemental heat and attempts to feed it a slurry, it didn’t last an hour after intake.

That afternoon, the game warden brought me a late nestling/early brancher red tail from Laurens County who seemed alert and had no discernible injuries. She ate well and everything looked promising. The next morning she was dead. No clue why, unless there was internal bleeding from the fall.

In between those two DOAs, a late nestling/early brancher red shoulder from Toombs County came in. He’s doing well, despite a reluctance to self-feed. He wants the food but doesn’t want to be hand-fed and also doesn’t want to pick it up himself. We’re working on self-feeding because I’m tired of the mouthy rascal screaming in my ear as I hand-feed.

And yesterday, UGA transferred three birds to LWR for flight conditioning prior to release: two juvie red shoulders and a feisty and highly peeved second/third year red tail.

The osprey continues to keep my cousins busy fishing; he’s got about another three weeks before we try for follow-up rads to make sure his wing fracture healed well. And yes, I know, every week’s photo of him is a variation on the same pose. What can I say? He likes to look threatening, the big doofus.

The barreds are slated for release in that “low-to-no” window I mentioned earlier—both the juvies and the adult barred with the eye injury. He was moved into the main flight with the juvies late yesterday and is flying well despite lingering cloudiness in that eye.

The juvie red shoulder who’s been at LWR for a couple of weeks will then join the UGA red shoulders in the main flight for a week or so of flight conditioning, followed by (weather permitting) release.

Then we’ll move the two red tails into the main flight.

The screeches are eating their mice whole now and getting right footy when I reach in for their food dish. Pretty sure, based on size and general behavior, we have a male and a female. The male tends to hunker down; the female lunges right at my hand. And y’all know screeches are my favorite nocturnal raptor because of their pissy little attitudes, so they can get away with all sorts of shenanigans!

Just a quick update from UGA today on the juvie eagle from yesterday's blog, since I probably left y'all fearing the worst, just like I was:

Just wanted to give you an update on our eagle. The surgery went well; there is a lot of hardware in that femur but he is doing well with recovery. Going to be a long road to recovery and we're expecting to keep him in hospital for several weeks before removing the hardware and sending to a rehabber. 

And at no point was this made clearer than with Monday’s juvie bald eagle intake. Y’all would not believe the number of people involved in getting this bird aid—and I don’t usually name names, but in this case everybody deserves credit for a job well done.

First off, around 10:15 AM, Game Warden Connor Moon alerted me that the eagle, reported fallen from its nest at the Dodge County PFA on Saturday but unable to be located that day, had been found and he was en route to LWR with it. I then alerted state and federal authorities that we had an eagle en route and called Smalley’s to tell them the same thing.

When Connor arrived with the bird, I was ready to head to Smalley’s ASAP, right after he removed the fishing line wrapped around the bird’s left leg and foot. On the way to Smalley’s I was on the phone with colleague Kathryn Dudeck the entire time, as the poor fellow’s lethargy made me fear AVM or lead poisoning. And Mondays are Kathryn’s day off, too…

We continued to text, bouncing ideas off each other, as I waited for the staff at Smalley’s, always efficient, to move as quickly as possible to get rads on the eagle. I don’t even remember who-all worked on him aside from vet tech Autumn Parker and vets Jim and Peggy Hobby, but there were several others who assisted, as well.

As evident in the rads below, his right femur was broken and badly displaced. This necessitated a transfer to UGA for surgery.

So then I put out the word to the Georgia Wildlife Network, a statewide group of volunteer transporters, that we needed transport to UGA immediately if not sooner. At the same time I contacted falconer Dennis Mock, as the falconry community has stepped up in the past to transport eagles. Sure enough, falconer Ken Dunn was willing to transport the eagle to UGA’s Wildlife Clinic.

Meanwhile, I’d updated the state and feds as to the situation and also contacted UGA’s Wildlife Clinic to send them the rads and request an update on the final outcome for the bird, as Kathryn and I had agreed that the break looked very iffy in terms of fixability.

It was after 10pm before poor Ken got back home from delivering the eagle to Athens, and it was Wednesday before the vet assigned to the case contacted me. To our great surprise and relief, lead levels were low, and they were going to attempt surgery to repair the fracture either Thursday or Friday. As of today, no updates, which makes me think no news, in this case, is probably not good news. I hope I’m wrong; I would be delighted if I am. Sometimes you WANT to be wrong. But we shall see…Keep your fingers crossed for this young eagle.

And it’s not just eagles that people step up to aid. The GSW osprey has a very specific diet of whole fish. I don’t fish. My cousins Steve and Seth have been fishing like crazy to provide food for this picky eater, allowing him to have the proper nutrition to aid in healing his wing fracture.

I try to always make a point of individually thanking all the people who help, but today they get public thanks en masse. Without all these wonderful professionals and volunteers, my job would be a helluva lot harder, if not virtually impossible.

Aside from the eagle, LWR had two other new intakes, a first-year Coop and a barred owl. The Coop was found in the road and was in pretty bad shape. I didn’t really expect him to make it through the night, and he didn’t, poor fellow.

The barred owl, whom I totally forgot to get a photo of, came in with a nice little concussion and blood in his right eye. As of today, he’s eating well and the eye is looking great—still some blood but it’s clearing daily.

The juvie barreds remain in the main flight, as we haven’t had three consecutive days with low or no rain chances—and I’m NOT complaining about that; we still desperately need the rain. They’re ready for release as soon as the weather allows.

The juvie red shoulder has finally discovered his voice and loves the sound of it, as do all red shoulders. Mouthy little things…

And the screeches outgrew their extra-small box AND started totally self-feeding last week. *sniff* They grow up so fast… Typical screeches, they have now assessed the world and decided they hate it, me, and pretty much the entire universe. Gotta love a screech!

Grab a chair and sit a spell, ‘cause the past two weeks were pretty darn busy!

On May 4 an osprey came in from Laurens County, supposedly found grounded near a pond. His right wing was broken, and my gut said he needed rads for more than just the fracture. Sure enough, the next day at Smalley’s, he lit up like a Christmas tree, making LWR’s first illegal activity report to the state and feds for the year. Fortunately, the break was a “good” one, meaning if the bird had to have a fracture, this one should heal for flight—if the birdshot didn’t damage any tendons or ligaments.

Two days later, a juvenile red shoulder came in from Tift County in what the volunteer transporter and I agreed was a case of general human stupidity. The bird had been taken to a Tift-area vet clinic, where it remained for A WEEK before they decided to do anything about getting it to a rehabber. Honestly, had this volunteer transporter been contacted at the beginning of that week, she probably could have reunited the bird with his parents; she’s experienced at reunification. He’s doing well and antsy to be outside but because the flights are full, he’s stuck inside for a while yet.

Then on May 8, screech twins came in from Emanuel County after a tree cutting destroyed their nest and killed a sibling. The finder immediately did the right thing, contacting LWR and getting the birds here ASAP. Y’all know I love screeches, but I did try not to go overboard with the photos of the irascible little rascals.

The next day, another osprey came in, again from Laurens. This one was found near a road and had a broken leg. The goal was rads the next day to see if the leg was fixable, but the poor fellow must’ve also had internal injuries, as he didn’t survive the night.

Aaaaaannnnd…today a young adult barred owl came in from Dodge County with a cloudy eye and a bruised ear that indicated a concussion. He was found in the middle of the road. Everything seems functional, so we’ll just give him time for the eye to clear up and the headache to go away.

In releases, the Bulloch red shoulder regained his freedom and was utterly delighted to leave LWR behind him—so much so that I couldn’t manage a decent release video, as y’all can see. I did manage a quick shot of him getting his bearings post-release, though.

And the great horned brancher gained her freedom, as well, showing her gratitude for her bed and board and flight conditioning by screaming insults and beak-clicking all the way to the release site, where she offered one final insult by whipping her head around and biting me, leaving a nice bruise and nearly breaking the skin—through a shirt and bra, mind you. Great horneds are not to be taken lightly; those beaks can break bones, and their feet have a grip strength of up to 500 psi.

The barred quadruplets are now in the main flight, where they tend to spread out. They’re flying beautifully and finding their food wherever I hide it, so they’re not too far from release themselves.

And that’s it for this week’s update!