Last week was…interesting, to say the least. I’m not even sure where to begin…
Let’s start with the comedy: two downy black vultures were rescued from an imminent dog attack midweek, so their new home is LWR. It’s been a looooong time since LWR has seen any baby vultures. I’d forgotten what utter clowns they can be—and these two are most definitely adorable little stinkers, in the most literal sense of the word “stink”!
Let’s start with the comedy: two downy black vultures were rescued from an imminent dog attack midweek, so their new home is LWR. It’s been a looooong time since LWR has seen any baby vultures. I’d forgotten what utter clowns they can be—and these two are most definitely adorable little stinkers, in the most literal sense of the word “stink”!
Also, on Friday DNR delivered a banded osprey. When I traced the band number, the bird turned out to be 20 years old, originally banded in New Jersey in 1999! He was emaciated and lethargic on intake, and had a wound on his left wrist that both the DNR wildlife tech and I thought looked suspicious. Add to that the fact that the people who reported the bird to DNR as downed in a field seemed very cagey, and the stage was set for possible illegal activity.
Unfortunately, the poor old man succumbed to illness, injury, or just old age—or maybe a combo of the three—overnight. I’m still planning to get x-rays of the carcass Monday before turning the bird back over to DNR Tuesday, as they want to send it to UGA for a necropsy. We’re all, like the Elephant’s Child, ‘satiably curious about what actually led to this bird’s death after he’d survived 20 years.
He’d be both the tragedy and mystery in the headline…
He’d be both the tragedy and mystery in the headline…
The young great horned is in the raptor flight. Owls have to be the most frustrating birds in the world when the young ones are first placed in the flights. It’s like in their dim little minds, they think, Oh, this isn’t my box; I can’t eat here, and they basically go on a hunger strike for several days. Our young female Einstein (HEAVY sarcasm there; owls are many things but bright ain’t one of ‘em) is still refusing to touch her mice…
Several birds are due for follow-up x-rays next week: Screech 1, the barred and the adult great horned. The plan at the moment is to take them in Monday when we x-ray the osprey carcass.
And that about does it for this week—like you needed anything else after seeing those baby black vultures, right?!
And that about does it for this week—like you needed anything else after seeing those baby black vultures, right?!
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