Finally, a euthanasia-free week!

Of course, LWR had just one new intake this week, too, so that may play a factor in the lack of EUs this week. Whatever the case, neither I nor my vets are complaining about it.
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The single new intake was a yellow-bellied sapsucker, a winter guest in Georgia. They don’t breed here. I couldn’t remember getting one in previously, so I went back through the LWR records and sure enough, this gorgeous little male woodpecker was a first. 

He was found in bushes near a driveway and didn’t seem to be able to fly, although he was alert and active. I guessed he’d been sideswiped by a car but he had no obvious fractures, so we tried overnight cage rest to see if maybe he just had a mild concussion. The next morning he was still unable to fly, so I then suspected a coracoid fracture, which I wasn’t really hopeful would show on a x-ray, but off to Smalley’s we went, to see what we could find out.
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To our surprise, he had a clavicle fracture—yeah, an actual collarbone fracture—which did show quite clearly on the x-ray. If you’ve ever seen a human with a broken collarbone, you know that this isn’t something that can actually be splinted or wrapped, especially in a bird this small, so he’s getting cage rest for a few weeks and then we’ll try the flight pen again.

​In the meantime, he’s a very unhappy camper, banging away at his wooden “guest suite” all day, guzzling “rehab sap” like it’s goin’ outta style, and screaming insults at me when I handle him to change his paper—sounds like a dog’s squeaky toy! (The video below shows him in a cardboard box, which obviously wouldn’t work long-term for a woodpecker, while his wooden suite was being prepared.)

​In more good news, the male red-tail from Thanksgiving received flight clearance from vet Jim Hobby last week, after his last follow-up x-ray showed a gorgeously healed wing—and you can also see the keratin on his wings from the molt he’s going through! 

Both RTs will be headed to colleague Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends early next week, as he has one empty raptor flight. We held off on transferring the female until the male had been in for that final x-ray, so our volunteer transporters could make just one trip.

While the LWR raptor flight will be free in another month or so, it’s not fair to these two hawks—especially the male, who’s been sitting in a box since Thanksgiving, waiting on that wing to heal—to sit here staring at four walls for another month that they could be using for flight conditioning. Steve has graciously agreed to take both birds so they can regain their freedom sooner.

The tufted titmouse is still awaiting regrowth of those missing flight feathers. He’s eating well and doesn’t even cuss at me when I handle him to change his paper.

​The flyers are getting increasingly difficult to photograph, but this little sequence shows what I see several times a week.

​And while I didn’t manage any decent photos of the barnies this week, the video showcases their ever-improving flight skills.