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Generous donors ensure critters have a Merry Christmas!

12/4/2016

8 Comments

 
Yes, thanks to several very generous last-minute donors, the fundraiser is now over, and we exceeded the original goal, with a grand total of $2410! Heartfelt thanks to those who donated to ensure these overwintering babies and additional intakes—we’re at 305 for the year now—have sufficient food. Time for another mouse order!

If you’ll recall, in last week’s update, LWR had three birds headed for Smalley’s Animal Hospital that following Monday…Well, it ended up being FIVE birds: Coop, red-tail, great horned owl and two barred owls. All on a Monday after a holiday, when things are insane anyway…

Have I mentioned how wonderful the folks at Smalley’s are? From the front staff to the kennel techs, they have the patience of saints when I show up with boxes and boxes of birds. We had an assembly line x-ray going: unbox, x-ray, box, and repeat…times 5. The results were mixed.
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The GHO’s wing was trashed, with both radius and ulna broken, as well as the small bones of the “hand.”  He was euthanized.
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​The Coop showed no fractures, so we did an anti-inflammatory and crossed our fingers. It seems to be paying off; he’s in the raptor flight now—still a little wobbly but improving!
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​The red-tail does have a wing fracture but it’s not badly displaced and should heal to allow for unimpaired flight. He’s eating with gusto, too, which is good!
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​One of the barred owls had a nasty wing fracture that was unfixable. He required euthanasia.
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​The second barred owl was cut from a barbed wire fence and, surprisingly, had no fractures—just a lot of tangled, twisted feathers. However, in wildlife rehab, as I’ve mentioned before, things are often not as they seem. He died during the night, and I still have no clue why. He was well-fleshed and showed no signs of frounce or any parasites; the only damage we found during his vet exam was a small flesh wound beneath the broken feathers, and I was treating that. Who knows? 
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Yet another barred owl came in last night, found sitting near the edge of the road. The husband who brought it to LWR said his wife initially passed by it and presumed it was eating prey, but when she came back the same way half an hour later and he hadn’t moved, she called her husband, who retrieved the owl from the roadside and brought it to LWR.
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This small male has no discernible fractures and is fairly alert today, with some residual blood in his right eye from a concussion. He should be releasable if the eye continues to clear up, and it looks better today than it did last night.
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​The flyers remain utterly precious. While they’re full-grown and, in warmer weather, would be ready for release now, they have no winter digs in the wild. Other flyers already have winter nests and food stashes; these babies don’t. This is why they’ll overwinter and be released somewhere around late February-mid-March, when the weather has warmed enough that it’ll be easier for them to scout out nest sites and food supplies.
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​And below are photos of what happens when a rehabber gets complacent and lazy when handling raptors. I was changing the barnies’ paper yesterday and failed to take into account that they’re not babies anymore. I’d gotten so used to handling them barehanded that I didn’t think twice when I reached in—with no gloves—to move them to the “waiting box” while I cleaned out their “good” box…and that, my friends, was a mistake…One of my darlings footed the crap out of my hand, and I can only be grateful that he’s still young and doesn’t have the full foot strength an adult would. The area around the thumb bled well and while swollen today, isn’t that sore or stiff; the area around my middle finger had barely a pinprick and didn’t bleed well; it’s not only more swollen, it’s also stiff and pretty damn painful. 
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On the bright side, I’m at least confident none of the barnies are imprinted!
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And of course, those adorable barnies continue to grow apace. While they still require their mice to be cut in half, they’re not being forceps-fed now; I can just toss the mouse halves in the box and let them have at it—and look at that feather growth! As soon as they can eat whole mice on their own, they’ll be ready for the raptor flight.
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Yeah, we had a little confusion to begin with as to whether pellets were re-edible...
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8 Comments
Pipette
12/4/2016 09:38:14 pm

I can't imagine getting FIVE raptors to/from the vet's; I can barely do that with my one cat. I tip my hat to you AND to your vets at Smalley's -- you make a great team!

Getting footed, OW! Hope your hand will be fine.

Looking at the photos week after week, I realize you must go through prodigious amounts of disposable pads, as well as cardboard boxes and other items. Do you have to buy boxes afresh, or can you obtain and re-use them from another source?

The flyers - ah, what bundles of mischievous adorability they are!

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
12/4/2016 09:47:55 pm

Thanks Pipette! My vets and their staff are indeed amazing people, and I love them dearly.

Hand's still swollen, stiff and sore but that's the norm for 2-3 days after a good footing, and he nailed me good!

I buy some boxes and have some donated; the pads I usually just buy.

Yeah, those flyers are too cute--and like greased lightning when one slips past me when I'm freshening their food and water!

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Pipette
12/4/2016 09:44:41 pm

PS: I know it's taking tons of mice to raise those barnies, but it is absolutely fascinating to see the changes as they grow up, week by week, as shown in your photos & videos. Am always amazed at how the feathers come in. And those faces!! Right now, they look like a great puppeteer made them.

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
12/4/2016 09:50:34 pm

Aren't they starting to look gorgeous, though?! I'm thoroughly enjoying watching them grow, too!

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Ann Feldman
12/4/2016 10:07:30 pm

Lord those owlets are homely! But you are doing such a good job with them. When and how will you release them? Will they hang around after official fledge, like they do with their parents? I know you'll have them for the winter.

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Laurens Wildlife Rescue
12/4/2016 10:38:57 pm

LOL Ann, I think they're adorable at this stage! You're right, they'll overwinter, during which time we'll work on live-prey testing to make sure they have the skills they need for release. Their skills and the onset of spring will determine when, where and how they'll be released.

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Kelly
12/5/2016 07:54:41 am

Thanks so much for the update and pics! One question: what is the explanation for the typical side-to-side head bobbing of the owls, that movement that makes them look like a saucy valley girl?
It always hurts my heart a little bit to imagine a bird tangled in barbed wire. It must tear at your heart something fierce to see them come in like that.

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
12/5/2016 11:44:55 am

Hey Kelly! Sometimes the bobbing is to aid in locating the source of a sound; sometimes it's a defensive mechanism--a threat. And yes, I've grown to hate barbed wire with a passion...

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