First, let’s update the conditions of the two birds awaiting x-rays as of last Sunday: the cardinal and the screech.
The cardie’s humerus was trashed, not the shoulder as I’d suspected. Despite his alertness and aggressiveness, there was no way for the bird to recover from that sort of fracture, so he was euthanized.
Early in the week, two more cardies came in, a male and a female. The male died overnight; the female was releasable after 24 hours’ observation. I tried for a video of her release but she shot out of the box before I could focus the camera and then disappeared into the trees, so…
This gorgeous first-year red tail came in from a neighboring county, crammed into a box way too small, as you can see from the intake photos. His x-rays showed no fractures but he refuses to fully extend his left wing. He’s in the raptor flight at the moment but will be brought back inside this week for the young great horned to stretch her wings instead.