Happy Independence Day!

Yeah, it’s not till tomorrow, but the weekly update is today, so...

No releases last week; we had a week full of high rain chances, most of which didn’t pan out till yesterday, when the bottom fell out and we got 2 inches of rain. That said, there were obviously no releases, and this week isn’t looking promising, either.

LWR had three intakes last week; one required euthanasia, one was DOA, and one is doing well and we’re hopeful will be releasable.

Let’s start with the (fingers crossed) releasable bird: a first-year sharpie, aka sharp-shinned hawk. He’s a tiny fellow, and well-fleshed, so he’d been a successful hunter prior to his injury. He was found in the middle of a busy highway in a neighboring county, and when he came in, his wing was obviously broken and he had a flesh wound right at the wrist.

This wasn’t a fracture I was comfortable “calling” so I checked with Smalley’s to see if they could work him in that very afternoon; as luck would have it, they could. Upon viewing the x-rays, vet Jim Hobby and I agreed this was worth giving the bird a chance. His ulna and “hand” are broken but not badly displaced. We think the wing will heal for flight.

Because of the open wound, we couldn’t wrap, and honestly, sharpies and Coops don’t do well with wing wraps in our experience, so I’m treating the wound and hoping he continues to remain as unusually calm as he is right now—as long as he doesn’t get stupid, he should have a good chance at release. Thus far he’s eating well, too, which is always a good sign.

Prior to the sharpie intake, an adult MIKI, aka Mississippi kite, came in. This is their nesting season, so I cringe when an adult comes in. And this poor fellow couldn’t be helped; his wing was trashed, so he required euthanasia.

Friday a gorgeous first-year red tail came in, emaciated beyond belief; she was so weak she could barely lift her head. Volunteer transporter AJ Rogers had received the call about her and picked her up and got her to me immediately. We actually thought she was already dead when we opened the box on her arrival at LWR, but she was barely hanging on to life.

We went into triage mode as I held the bird and AJ gently pried her beak open so I could get the slurry into her crop. Surprisingly, I saw no signs of frounce but she could have had capillaria, which wouldn’t show in the throat. After a small feeding, she seemed a bit stronger and had even started resisting being fed, although she still hadn’t opened her eyes, so we placed her in a donut with a thick towel to serve as a blanket to help trap her body heat. I made plans to stay up all night, feeding her every two hours, as a bird in this horrific shape can only be fed small meals every couple of hours.

Two hours later, when I went back to give her the next slurry feeding, she was gone; she had opened her eyes and died. And I have no shame in admitting I lost any semblance of clinical detachment and slumped over her box sobbing. There are those special intakes that break down all your defenses. First, she was a red tail. That in itself was enough to make her special. Second, you could see that prior to starvation, she had been a big, gorgeous gal. Third, she was a first-year bird, so she never really had a chance at life. And, of course, red tails are my very favorite diurnal raptors, so it really hurt to lose her, even though I knew intellectually, from a rational standpoint, on intake that her chances of survival were slim to none. My heart refused to accept that, though, until she lost her battle to survive.

The remaining red shoulder trio are good to go as soon as we have several days of low-to-no rain chances. But I’m not complaining about the rain; we need it.

And the doofusy vulture FINALLY decided to eat on his own. The bird ain’t right but he IS amusing. And exasperating...

The color variations between his two photos result from morning light versus evening light. He's not part chameleon!