Comings, goings and stubborn holdouts

It’s the end of the month, so this is the last update to begin with a “hat-in-hand” plea for donations. We’re currently at $1615, so another $385 would make our goal of $2000. I’m not overly optimistic we’ll manage that additional $385, but hey, $1615 ain’t bad and will definitely help see us through the rest of baby season and the end of the year...Again, many thanks to those who generously donated to help us care for these wildlings.

Now for the goings: we had eight—yep, EIGHT—releases this week! The robin, tanager, goldfinch, cowbird and all four Carolina wrens are now experiencing the sweet taste of freedom. They do, however, still bombard me, begging for handouts, every time I walk outside. And they get so excited at the handouts that they sling food everywhere…which means for the past several days, I’ve been more covered than usual with bird food…oh well…occupational hazard.

No further comments needed on these photos and the video:

Only had my phone with me for this vid; sorry...

The stubborn holdout? That would be the screech owl. If you’ll recall, the plan was to move him into the flight pen AFTER he started tearing into his own mice. He was going stir-crazy inside, though, so I moved him out anyway. Will he rip into those mice on his own?? Nooooo…But he has gotten really good at giving me the stink-eye when I go in to provide His Majesty with his ripped rodents. Sooner or later he’ll get the hang of it, and of course, I also need to see him kill his own prey before he can be released. It’s a work in progress...

Now, as for the comings…oh Lordy…LWR now has SIX chimney swifts. Swifts and I do not have a good history. Their stays at LWR have always ended badly in the past. They’re adorable little birds but they are VERY difficult to rehab. That’s why when this lot came in, a nest of five and an older singleton, I reached out to my Canadian colleagues at Swift Care Ontario to learn from their best practices. They’ve been extremely helpful, so while I’m still taking a “so far, so good” attitude, these little swifts are at least stable for the moment and have a much better chance thanks to the lovely folks at Swift Care Ontario. Fingers crossed…

When a vacationing Macon family found this great crested flycatcher at a public pool in Savannah, they assumed he was a young bird since he made no attempt to fly away. Luckily, they were headed home today and their path took them close to LWR. After I got the bird home, his general condition and demeanor raised questions: he was an older fledgling, rail-thin, and amazingly docile for a wild bird. So I called the finders back for further details. Seems the little fellow was sitting near the pool begging people for food. He flew into their child’s hair; tried to do the same to the mother, and put up no struggle when the father scooped him up to safety.

Hmmm…a wild bird who flies toward people and begs from them? My best guess? Someone raised this bird illegally, feeding it God-knows-what, and decided since it was fully feathered it was capable of fending for itself…and dumped it. Folks, THIS is why I get so worked up about people having the proper permits and training before working with ANY wildlife.

Great crested flycatchers, despite their fearsome-sounding name, are gentle little loves who must be taught to—as their name would suggest—catch flies and other insects on the wing. They’re not seedeaters; they’re not birds who can be shown a dish of mealworms and figure it out. A properly trained and permitted rehabber would know these things, and this little darling wouldn’t be sitting calmly in a cage at LWR, rail-thin, with barely the strength to perch…

What are his chances? I dunno. He’s severely emaciated but will readily take the food I offer and even call for it. Hopefully the rescuing family found him in time and we can pull him through. 

And then there’s this little guy…

I normally try to avoid rehabbing mammals during baby bird season, but someone dumped this little guy on my vets at Smalley’s Animal Hospital, so…yeah…we have a possum whose eyes just opened yesterday.

Possums are neat little critters: they’re North America’s only native marsupial, and they’ve changed very little over the past few million years. They’re also incredibly slow eaters as babies, and since I refuse to tube a healthy animal for my own convenience, this means we spend a minimum of 15 minutes per feeding on this one little guy. This is why I don’t work with possums a whole lot these days, despite my fondness for the clueless little rascals. Thankfully, it doesn’t take them long after their eyes open to begin at least limited self-feeding. I’m looking forward to his reaching that point…soon…

And yes, I did notice—after snapping the photo—that he appears to be sucking his thumb! Possums have opposable thumbs on their back feet!