Did I say “fall slowdown?” HAH!

Murphy surely cackled with sadistic glee after that one… LWR had 7 intakes last week, 4 of them on Saturday alone.

Tuesday a pre-fledgling mourning dove came in after wandering into someone’s carport after falling from the nest. The finder said he could see the nest, such as it was—doves are notoriously lousy nest-builders—but he couldn’t reach it, and with good reason, as he was still in a boot from a broken ankle.

Then Wednesday a juvenile yellow-billed cuckoo came in with some sort of spinal trauma, or possibly a pelvic fracture—he could move his wings and his feet, even attempting to perch, but couldn’t stand or even squat and refused to stay in a donut. The original plan was to get him in for x-rays Thursday, but the poor fellow didn’t survive the night.

Friday a cattle egret—growing up, we called them cowbirds, and a lot of people still do—came in with a really nasty mangled wing. It was broken at the shoulder and the flesh was raw. He would have required euthanasia but he handled it himself, dying before I could euthanize.

Saturday started with a hummingbird with a definite broken right leg and a possible broken right wing. The leg should be fixable; the wing is a waiting game.

Then a juvenile mourning dove arrived with what appeared to be a gunshot wound. It’s dove season in Georgia, so this is highly likely. Aside from being swollen, the wound appears clean, so we’re doing meds and time to see what happens.

Then the third mourning dove for the week arrived, another juvie. This one had feathers fluffed and was cool to the touch. I started meds and low heat, but he didn’t survive the night.

And intake number four for the day was a second-to-third year red tail who’d been kept by his finder for at least two days. Nothing appears broken but his head feathers are disheveled and he still has a somewhat stunned look on his face. Yup, we have some head trauma goin’ on here.

In releases, the Eurasian collared dove gained his freedom early in the week. They’re such laid-back birds; he’d found a comfy perch and was napping when I snapped this photo.

Poe the crow also decided early in the week to stop the “come-and-go” soft release and go for full freedom. My cousin had just cut the hay behind the house, so flocks of crows were taking advantage of the exposed bug buffet, and Poe happily joined them. Then Thursday evening I heard a crow calling near dark—not normal—so I searched till I found Poe hanging by his wings in a magnolia tree, too weak to perch. I snatched him up and brought him inside. An examination revealed that his once-healthy red gape (inside of his mouth) was now pale white. The only color was the black spot on his tongue and even it was grayish. I started him on a slurry and waited for poop to see if it was black or loose or…whatever. It had a sharp chemical smell that usually indicates some sort of pesticide or insecticide poisoning. Obviously it wasn’t from anything in the hay, as it’s destined to feed cows and isn’t sprayed with anything, so we have no clue what poor Poe got into. He died overnight.

This is one of the benefits and drawbacks of soft releases: The birds are near a familiar face and environment should they get into trouble, and I can monitor for issues, but it’s heartbreaking to have one of your releases show up again a week or two after release, badly injured or ill from some sort of poisoning…It doesn’t happen often, thank goodness, but when it does, it hurts like hell.

The July 4th red tail awaits release; I’d planned on this coming week but the rain chances look too high for most of the week.

And once the head trauma red tail has recovered enough to go in the raptor flight, the great horned owl recovering from a hand fracture will go in the mini-pen.