Or perhaps “the best-laid plans o’ mice and men...” The good weather predicted for last week didn’t really materialize—remained too windy and with heavy rains predicted for the end of the week, everybody stayed where they were (and brother, did it rain...). So no releases, no moves into flights...just a holding pattern. And this week’s not looking much better, weatherwise.

Actually, the hen-eating first-year red tail is providing competition and encouragement to the first-year re-learning to fly after recovering from the elbow fracture. Last week I walked into the raptor flight to find the “older” bird (the one who’s been here the longest, in this case) on the high perch for the first time since he was moved outside—and he flew across the flight pen to land on the low perch. So looks like “hen-eater” is gonna have his release delayed while he serves as motivation for “elbow” to continue to test his limits.  They’re both eating well and competitive for food, although obviously “hen-eater” is more mobile—and a heckuva lotta fun to watch snag his food. I tried all week to get video of him catching tossed mice in mid-air; the short clip here is the best I could manage: https://youtu.be/dISRQYo90Y8. It’s not the sharpest focus but look at that bird’s mobility! (And sorry I can't post the video directly this week; Weebly's being stupid and refusing to let me upload YouTube videos.)

The barred owl who came in with the foot fracture should be in the mini-pen at this point, but I also need it for the Coop from last week’s update. Given the Coop’s high-strung nature, he’ll probably get first dibs just because I want him flight-ready and outta here before he has time to do anything stupidly “Coopy.”

And the deadly beginning to this year continues, with yet another barred owl coming in Tuesday with both wings broken, one an open fracture, and a first-year sharpie (sharp-shinned hawk) coming in last night with a bad open fracture. And of course, the sharpie managed to nail me as I was examining him. I eased my grip ever so slightly, and he jerked one deadly little foot loose and buried his hallux (back toe) talon right in the webbing between my fingers and the other talons across the top knuckle. While I was dripping blood everywhere, the finder kept asking if there was anything he could do. I had him reach up and flip off the headlamp I was wearing (the bird came in after dark); it took a few minutes but the darkness led the bird to relax his grip enough I could pry him off my hand. Normally a footed hand swells a bit and is really stiff and sore the next day; this one didn’t swell and isn’t stiff or especially sore...which I’m certainly not complaining about! I hated even more than usual to have to euthanize him, given his spunk and the fact that he was only a first-year bird, but his wing wasn’t fixable.

Let’s hope the remainder of this month and year is a little less deadly for wildlife; I’m thoroughly tired of getting in unsavable birds, and we’re just two weeks into 2022...

Rehabbers have mixed feelings about winter; on the one hand, it’s our slower season, time to relax a bit and recharge. On the other hand, the vast majority of our winter intakes either are DOA or require euthanasia, making it a frequently horrific time.

LWR’s first intake of the year was, not surprisingly, a barred owl. Unfortunately, he had a nasty open wing fracture that required euthanasia.

He was followed within a couple of days by a gorgeous mature red tail who had an open fracture at the elbow and a closed shoulder fracture. He also required euthanasia.

The head trauma barred from last week was well and truly permanently blind. He couldn’t see to find a perch and couldn’t locate his food outside the confines of his box. So he required euthanasia.

And the proverbial cherry on top was the great horned owl who came in Christmas Day, whose eye worsened rather than improving, so he also required euthanasia.

And then, starting this week off on the wrong note, an adult brown-headed cowbird came in late this afternoon; his leg was broken right in the joint, so yet another euthanasia to start this week...

Let me assure you, euthanasia NEVER gets easier. If anything, it gets harder. There are times, yes, when the bird is so far gone it’s a foregone conclusion. But when the bird is alert, aggressive and healthy apart from a life-ending fracture, you find yourself apologizing repeatedly to the poor creature as you put it down. It hurts like hell, even though you know it’s the right thing, the humane thing, to do.

All wasn’t gloom and doom, though, thank goodness.

The adult Cooper’s hawk, most likely male based on size, who came in with wounds along the right side of his body and upper thigh is—so far—doing well and has a healthy appetite. Nothing appears broken but he came in late Friday so he hasn’t seen a vet yet and may not need to; I’ll make that decision this week. Coops are high-strung, stressy birds, so I hold my breath every time I feed him or handle him to medicate him but as I said, so far, so good...

The barred recovering from a broken foot should be good to unwrap this week. I’ll check with Smalley’s to see if we need follow-up X-rays or if I can just unwrap it here at home.

The red tail removed from the chicken coop is rarin’ to go but it’s been too windy to release him just yet. This week is looking good.

And the red tail struggling to regain full use of his wing after the healed elbow fracture continues to surprise me—just when I think I need to start steeling myself for euthanasia, he shows improvement in his flight skills. I’m honestly beginning to suspect I’m being played here—he knows a good thing when he’s got it: steady meals, shelter...

Here’s hoping the rest of this week is less deadly. After last week and today, I could definitely use a break from euthanasias.

Hope everybody had a great Christmas, as well. Things were slow but steady here at LWR for the last two weeks of 2021, with three new intakes and a release.

Let’s dive right in with the release. The mature red tail who came in late on Dec. 19 was released once the blood in his eye was re-absorbed. He was quick to take his leave.

On Dec. 20, a caller reported removing a red tail from his chicken pen but not, unfortunately, before it ate one of his bantam hens and bloodied its face a bit trying to escape the pen. The caller said there was one area he’d not yet had time or funds to cover, which was where the hawk got in, but once in he couldn’t figure out how to get back out. When the caller arrived at LWR with the poor first-year bird, he looked a bloody mess from the scrapes on his face and the chicken blood in his feathers, but his crop was about three times the size of his head.

However, the facial wounds were superficial and he was alert and active. He was also very thin, hence the raid on the chicken pen—easy food. The finder said he would’ve just released him once he got him out of the pen except for the facial wounds and the fact that he didn’t want to lose any additional hens. Smart move—the bird would’ve likely returned to an easy food source.

He honestly didn’t eat for three days—I mean that crop was FULL. But once he’d finally digested all the hen, his appetite became voracious. He’s flying beautifully, eating well, and will remain at LWR for a while longer just to get him back up to a healthy weight before release.

He’s “rooming” with the other first-year with the frozen elbow, who’s not showing any additional improvement—he can manage about three feet of lift. We’re back to facing a tough decision with him...

On Christmas Day callers reported finding an owl by the side of the road. Since probably 95% of the owls found by the roadside are barreds, I expected a barred when they arrived. To my surprise it was a great horned. Size-wise, it could be a small female or a large male. I’m leaning toward male. His left pupil is completely dilated but he’s finding food and moving about the mini-pen with no trouble. We’ll give the eye more time to see what happens with it.

And on Dec. 29 a barred owl came in, found—surprise, surprise—by the roadside. Both pupils are completely dilated, milky and unresponsive to light but we’ll give him a little more time to see if there’s any improvement. Head trauma can sometimes take a good long while to resolve, while other times it resolves within days. It’s unpredictable.  Frankly, I suspect there’s some limited vision, as he seems to be able to find his mice when I place them in his box. Fingers crossed I’m right.

Finally, the barred recovering from the foot fracture should be ready to remove his boot in another week or so. Despite his general antsyness he’s actually been a pretty cooperative patient. I’m almost as anxious as he is to see how that foot’s healed.

This will be the last update before Christmas, here’s hoping y’all have a very blessed Christmas surrounded by family and friends. And on a side note, there will be no updates next week, on Dec. 26.

The head trauma barred owl was released; he did the same thing one of the red tails from a couple of months ago did: sat on the glove until I put the camera away to take him back in, then flew off. Unlike the red tail, though, the barred did land where I could see him, so I managed one decent post-release shot before he flew off again, deeper into the woods.

This afternoon, a caller reported hitting a red tail—said it flew into the side of his vehicle and lay in the road on its back but when he got out to check on it, it was still breathing. When he arrived with the bird, luckily nothing was broken. He does have some blood in his right eye and a little blood in his mouth, consistent with head trauma, but he’s alert and not happy to be at LWR. A few days of R&R and a steady supply of mice, and he should be fine as long as there are no internal injuries—and he doesn’t act as if there are, so fingers crossed.

Another barred came early last week in from an out-of-county vet that I’d never worked with before and don’t care to work with again, quite frankly. Apparently they have some degree of fame and expected that to matter to me; wanted to garner some publicity from a follow-up on the owl; and—well, let’s address those issues first. Fame means diddly-squat to me. I’ve turned down numerous offers to have a TV crew film LWR’s activities but here’s the thing—which also relates to the follow-up this clinic wanted: I know how these “reality” shows operate. The “reality” is that they’re as staged as anything else you see on TV. If the lighting isn’t right or the sound quality isn’t what they want or the bird doesn’t react in some flashy way that will cause uninformed viewers to ooh and ah, they want retakes and so forth. Not happenin’ with “my” birds.

See, once these birds are at LWR, they’re now MY responsibility. My permits and my conscience demand that I do everything possible to ease their stress and discomfort, and that includes protecting them from invasive, prying eyes. They’re here to be treated and slated for eventual release, not as part of some circus sideshow. So no, there will be no filming of birds under my care aside from the short videos I take during routine care and at releases.

And on to the other issues: the transport group that initially contacted me about the owl said they were pretty sure it had a wing fracture. The next day, the vet contacted me and claimed the tibia was broken but “not separated.”  The tibia is a LEG bone, not a wing bone. I asked to see the x-rays they had supposedly already done; I was told they’d be sent shortly. This was just after noon. I got the x-rays nearly four hours later, and the time stamp on them indicated they were taken only about 15 minutes before being sent to me. The fracture was indeed in the WING, the radius in fact, and it was displaced pretty badly but given its location it should have healed for flight. I confirmed receipt of the x-ray.

Then they informed me they’d contact the transport group to arrange transportation, so I left it in their hands. This was on Friday...I heard nothing else from them or the transport group over the weekend, so I presumed transport had been arranged to another rehabber, or possibly to Auburn.

On Monday they called to ask if I’d gotten the x-rays. See above—I’d already confirmed receipt on Friday. And they asked when I was coming to pick up the bird. Excuse me? THEY were supposed to be arranging transport FRIDAY. I contacted a stalwart volunteer transporter and asked her if she could get the bird, which she did. It was stressed out beyond belief, having been set in a box in the middle of what she described as a chaotic and noisy exam room. It had not eaten the mice they had tossed in its box. The bird refused even slurry here at LWR, spitting everything back up.  Meds were ineffective. After watching him sit there, eyes closed, near-catatonic and refusing food, for most of last week, I euthanized; it was the kindest option at that point.

And I have asked the transport group to avoid sending anything to this clinic ever again. Not even roadkill.

The broken-foot barred owl remains feisty as ever. I’m as eager as he is to get that boot off his foot so he can be moved outside but he’s got another few weeks yet before we can do follow-up x-rays and remove it. I just hope his constant jumping up and down hasn’t prevented proper healing. We’ll know in a few weeks!

And the red tail who recovered from the broken elbow is still flying very low but for longer distances—nearly the length of the flight pen now. Given the weeks of no improvement, even this slight improvement is promising, especially given that I’d pretty much resigned myself to having to euthanize him. He’s not scot-free yet but I’m hopeful now he’ll keep improving, however slowly.

Again, Merry Christmas, and y’all remember there will be no update on Dec. 26!

Barreds are the world’s worst at ending up in rehab, partially because they tend to hunt along the edges of roads and end up getting whacked by vehicles. As a result, they’re probably the most common species raptor rehabbers see as intakes. One year LWR had something like 23 come in, and not one was savable—that was a really bad year. Fortunately, few years see that sort of 100% euthanasia rate.

This past week, this barred came in with head trauma. He was lucky; nothing was broken. He was just having trouble adjusting his horizontal and vertical hold, as it were. Then we had several days of rain, a wet spell that just ended in the wee hours this morning. So he’s been sitting on ready for a few days now and will be released early this week.

The broken-foot barred continues to eat well and remains antsy—I honestly don’t see how that foot will ever heal, the way he bounces around in his box, but we’ll see. And he delights in trashing his box daily, as you can see... At least he’s leaving the boot on, which vet Jim Hobby and I really didn’t expect. We figured we’d be re-wrapping it nonstop.

And the red tail won himself a slight reprieve when twice last week I saw him attempting low flight—I mean VERY low and not far. But it was a vast improvement over seeing him just run along the ground, and he IS a red tail, so he gets another chance. However, he’s also developed bumblefoot where he and the older red tail released last month locked talons one day, so now that will need treating, as well. It’s always something...

As for the fundraiser, it ended at midnight Saturday with under 50% of the goal met. Heartfelt thanks to those who donated; to those who waited for “someone else” to donate, let me explain some hard facts to you: In the entire state of Georgia, there are just 11 licensed raptor rehabbers, most of whom are in the metro- Atlanta area. Currently I’m the only one listed for the mid-state area; there are two in South Georgia and one on the coast. If those of us outside the metro-Atlanta area stop taking birds, that means there’s no one south of the metro area licensed to take them—which would mean a drive to Atlanta if you wanted help for an injured raptor. Those few of us south of Atlanta keep people from having to make that day trip.

LWR doesn’t do fundraisers because they’re fun; they’re not. Quite frankly, they’re a massive headache, especially given the low response rate, and the funds raised come nowhere close to covering our expenses. But we feel that the fundraisers give the public some stake—some sense of “partnership”—in our efforts. Not everyone can rehab, but most people can spare a donation now and then. Sadly, even the people who bring us birds seldom donate toward their care, and the general public seems not to care at all—until they need a rehabber. Then they cannot understand why no one is within convenient driving distance, why no one can drop everything they’re doing to come get their one bird...or, in extreme cases, why the rehabber whose number they were given says they can’t take anything else at the moment due to space or financial constraints.

Y’all, we don’t do this to make money, but it takes money to do it. And most of us use our own funds to cover the shortfall in our rehab budgets. THIS is why fundraisers are important to us. And they should be to you, as well, because if the state/feds ever decide to create paid positions for wildlife rehabbers, YOUR taxes would go up to cover the salaries for those new government employees. A tax-deductible donation to LWR or your nearest wildlife rehabber keeps us in business and keeps your taxes from increasing. Something for you to consider...

If y’all recall, I mentioned last week LWR would initiate a fundraiser on Giving Tuesday, Nov. 30. It’s not going well: Thus far, just $210 of $1500 has been raised, and the fundraiser is slated to end Dec. 12. This means you have just 7 days to help keep our winter intakes fed. During this season of giving and feasting, please take time to make sure our raptors also eat well as they recover from injury/illness.

A prime example of a bird benefiting from your generosity is this barred owl, who came in with a broken foot. The week before Thanksgiving, vet Jim Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital crafted a boot for him to wear as his foot heals. He’s an antsy fellow now, as with that boot on, he feels good to go—can’t convince him he’s got another month or so at LWR! But during his stay at LWR, he needs food—healthy, species-appropriate food that will not only keep him at a healthy weight but will also provide the nutrients he needs to aid in the healing of that foot. Your donations help keep birds like him fed.

Another example is this first-year red tail who’s struggling to recover from an elbow fracture that healed but froze the joint. His future doesn’t look promising, but until we’re sure he absolutely cannot fly, he needs to eat well. Again, your donations help keep him well-fed.

The only new intake last week still benefited from your largesse, in a different way. This gorgeous great horned owl came in with a closed shoulder fracture and an open elbow fracture. The wing wasn’t salvageable; he required euthanasia. Your donations allow LWR to keep the supplies on hand for a quick, humane euthanasia when there’s no other aid we can provide a bird.

To give you an idea of the cost to feed these birds, I used most of the $210 already donated to get a few bags of mice while the supplier was having a sale: 4 bags of mice—a total of 200 mice—cost $173. Each raptor currently at LWR can eat anywhere from 4-6 mice daily—more if the weather is cooler, less if the weather is warmer. At the moment, I have just two birds, so that’s between 8 and 12 mice daily. You do the math: How long will 200 mice last? I’m serious. Grab your calculator and see just how far nearly $200 worth of mice will go for just 2 birds at, say, 6 mice per bird per day. THIS is why we hold fundraisers a couple of times a year—so YOU can help us keep these birds fed!

If you’ve donated already, many heartfelt thanks; for those who haven’t, can our birds really count on YOU to be “fed for Christmas?”

Here at LWR it was an unusually quiet holiday—the phone didn’t ring once during the day. Now THAT’S a rarity! And we have no new intakes to report. Both could be the result of abnormally cool weather for Middle Georgia over the past week; people just haven’t been getting outside as much.

Let’s start off with an update on the barred owl with the foot fracture. As indicated last week, he went back in Tuesday for vet Jim Hobby at Smalley’s to splint and brace the foot. Jim, as usual, did an excellent job, although the barred wasn’t as pleased with the results as we were...as you can see...

The screech wasted no time skedaddling when the opportunity presented itself; the photos below were taken right before I left the mini-pen door open near dusk to give him the option of self-releasing. Fifteen minutes later, he was long gone!

And I’m still delaying the inevitable on the red tail. He proved this week that he really cannot fly; that elbow is well and truly frozen. I suppose it’s time to call it; further delays aren’t fair to the bird, as he’s showing weekly that he’s not releasable and his personality isn’t really suited for an ed bird, sadly. I’m exploring a couple more options this week before calling it, though.

And just a heads-up so you can start collecting those pennies: LWR will be launching a Christmas fundraiser on Nov. 30, this year’s Giving Tuesday. Details will follow on that date!

Last week saw no releases and a couple of intakes: a barred owl and a screech.

The barred owl came in after being found by the roadside, unwilling or unable to fly. An intake exam revealed no wing fractures but his left foot was swollen and “crunchy” right above his toes and he kept that foot balled up. By his vet visit the following day, though, he had the foot fully extended in a more normal position. X-rays showed the foot was indeed fractured but because it was still quite swollen, vet Jim Hobby and I opted to do a soft wrap for the weekend to give the swelling time to go down before splinting the foot early this week.

The screech wasn’t as lucky; he flew into the bumper of a car, resulting in an open femur fracture. His finders initially thought nothing was broken and were going to wait until the following morning to bring him to me, but when they saw blood they called back to ask if they could go ahead and bring him that night. He lasted mere minutes after they arrived with him; it appeared that the broken femur sliced or punctured a vein or artery, causing him to bleed out en route.

The red tail whose elbow fracture froze the joint when it healed is still not showing any measurable progress but, well, he’s a red tail. As I told a colleague last week, unless a red tail is bleeding from every pore or has three inches of bone exposed, I’m inclined to give it as much time as possible—and sometimes it pays off. So we’ll just have to wait and see with this fellow.

The screech who’s recovered from a dislocated shoulder is pretty much good to go; I’ll most likely open the mini-pen door about dusk one evening this week and let him decide when/if he’s gonna leave. I’m sure he’ll disapprove of that, as well—it’s a screech thing...

And since the next update will be after Thanksgiving, I hope y’all all have a happy Thanksgiving!

LWR released two birds last week, the mature red tail who came in rail-thin and the barred owl who came in the previous weekend with head trauma.

As antsy as the red tail was, I was sure he’d be gone quickly. Not so...he sat on the glove in threat posture. And sat. And sat. And sat. Finally, I gave up trying to record his release, put the camera up, and reached for the glove I had tossed over my shoulder. And then the uncooperative little snot took off like a rocket. So no release video and no post-release photos, but isn’t this a lovely shot of him just prior to release? (Yeah, those green stains were on his underwing when he came in, from where he pooped in the box he was being transported in. A month later, he still hadn’t fully groomed them off.)

The barred owl decided to get vocal with me the day before his release; that, coupled with his general alertness and healthy appetite, convinced me he was ready to go, so he was released late in the evening on the same day the red tail was released. The barred didn’t waste time, as you can see below—if I do say so myself, that’s a gorgeous release video! Go full screen for the best results.

The first-year red tail recovering from the elbow fracture isn’t looking promising. He makes no real attempt to fly. He needs to show me some effort, some slight improvement, or we’re gonna have to start thinking about hard decisions.

The screech refuses to let me see him fly but I know he can. He’d rather give me the screech death glare. I’m so terrified...NOT. Gotta love screeches!

While there were numerous calls last week, none resulted in intakes. Honestly, I’m never sure if that’s a good thing or not. In a couple of cases, the would-be rescuers did let me know the bird they were attempting to rescue was able to fly away so at least I know those birds should be okay. I know: “You can’t save ‘em all.” Doesn’t stop you from wishing you could, though.

It was a slowish couple of weeks: calls but no intakes until yesterday, and one release to round things out.

Starting with the release, the red tail who’d come in with a ruptured crop regained his freedom this morning. After his initial reluctance to leave two weeks ago, followed by a week of rain and high rain chances, it was good to see him finally return to the wild. He immediately flew to the far range of my camera's zoom, so these are the best post-release shots I could manage.

The mature red tail should be headed out this week; he’s gained weight and is alert and feisty.

The red tail recovering from the elbow fracture still needs some time. His fracture was so close to the joint that there was some concern as to whether it would heal for flight. Thus far, I’m not seeing satisfactory progress; it looks as if the joint may have “frozen,” meaning the callus that formed when the fracture healed has caused the joint to be immobile. I’m not willing to give up on him yet, so we’ll give him another few weeks.

The screech recovering from the dislocated shoulder is back in the mini-pen, where he’ll remain this time until he can be released. He was making good progress when I moved him back inside because I needed the space for the just-released red tail.

And the barred owl who came in yesterday has no fractures and his eyes are clear but his bruised left ear is a definite indication of head trauma. Given his increased level of alertness and beak clicking this morning, I’d guess he’ll also be released by week’s end.

Hope everybody enjoyed that extra hour of sleep this morning!