Sometimes you just have one of “those” weeks…
The red tail suddenly stopped eating—totally—and didn’t even fight when I went in to catch him for euthanasia. Not normal at all for a bird who’d fought beak and talon on intake and had been insanely food aggressive. He’d basically just given up…
The long-shot barred didn’t make it to the vet this week; we’ll aim at next week. I’m trying to remain optimistic about his chances, but honestly, as badly displaced as those bones were, it’s hard to maintain any real hope of proper healing for flight.
Midweek an adult sandhill crane came in. He came from about 90 minutes away; Laurens County isn’t in the sandhill flyway. He was blown into a power line by an early-week storm; the eyewitness said he hit the wire and “exploded; there were feathers everywhere.” A game warden near the site of the accident captured him and took him to a volunteer transporter who lives near him, who met me at Smalley’s with the quite angry bird. X-rays showed no wing fractures but he did favor his left leg. The capturing game warden said he was running and had to be chased down, though. He also seemed to have some slight difficulty breathing, which the game warden also noticed when he captured him, but he was alert, aggressive and eating well—at least at first. Within two days, he was beak-breathing with his neck stretched out full length, lethargic and not eating, and when I lifted the unresisting bird up to euthanize him, blood seeped from his beak. I strongly suspect there was some sort of blood clot that broke loose in his lungs.
The red tail suddenly stopped eating—totally—and didn’t even fight when I went in to catch him for euthanasia. Not normal at all for a bird who’d fought beak and talon on intake and had been insanely food aggressive. He’d basically just given up…
The long-shot barred didn’t make it to the vet this week; we’ll aim at next week. I’m trying to remain optimistic about his chances, but honestly, as badly displaced as those bones were, it’s hard to maintain any real hope of proper healing for flight.
Midweek an adult sandhill crane came in. He came from about 90 minutes away; Laurens County isn’t in the sandhill flyway. He was blown into a power line by an early-week storm; the eyewitness said he hit the wire and “exploded; there were feathers everywhere.” A game warden near the site of the accident captured him and took him to a volunteer transporter who lives near him, who met me at Smalley’s with the quite angry bird. X-rays showed no wing fractures but he did favor his left leg. The capturing game warden said he was running and had to be chased down, though. He also seemed to have some slight difficulty breathing, which the game warden also noticed when he captured him, but he was alert, aggressive and eating well—at least at first. Within two days, he was beak-breathing with his neck stretched out full length, lethargic and not eating, and when I lifted the unresisting bird up to euthanize him, blood seeped from his beak. I strongly suspect there was some sort of blood clot that broke loose in his lungs.
And yesterday another game warden from out of county brought a small adult male barred owl with an open left wing fracture. He also was humanely euthanized. The photos below were taken post-euthanasia.
All in all, not a good week…
Hope some of you are participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which ends tomorrow, so there’s still time to take part.
Hope some of you are participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which ends tomorrow, so there’s still time to take part.
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