Dispatch from the Middle Georgia desert

Yeah, I’m trying to be snarky about it, but ALL of Georgia desperately needs rain. Some areas—not us—got a smidge Saturday, but not nearly enough to alleviate this drought, and South Georgia’s got two wildfires raging that, combined, have decimated over 41,000 acres. So far, no reported loss of human, pet or livestock life, but my heart aches for the wildlife that couldn’t escape these spreading infernos.

Only one new intake last week, a runt male red shoulder found on the roadside in Laurens County by partying teens. They wisely called the game warden, who got the bird to LWR. He was alert but emaciated and had apparently been grounded long enough that he’d been eating insects to survive; the single small pellet he cast was nothing but insect exoskeletons. He had no wing or leg fractures. Hydration and small, frequent meals ultimately didn’t help; the poor fellow died 48 hours after intake.

The barred twins are almost ready for the mini-pen. They’re starting to wing-flap vigorously but are still not eating their mice whole. As cut-up mice attract flies and ants more quickly, these two fuzz-buckets need to be eating whole mice before they can go into the mini-pen. Maybe by week’s end…

And the great horned thinks she’s ready to go but she’s still refusing to hunt the mice hidden around the main flight and has obviously not passed a live prey test yet. Teenagers, right?! She’ll figure it out…eventually…maybe…

Y’all pray for significant rainfall for all of Georgia but especially for Brantley and Clinch counties, the two counties battling horrific wildfires at the moment.