Hope everybody had a great Christmas, as well. Things were slow but steady here at LWR for the last two weeks of 2021, with three new intakes and a release.
Let’s dive right in with the release. The mature red tail who came in late on Dec. 19 was released once the blood in his eye was re-absorbed. He was quick to take his leave.
Let’s dive right in with the release. The mature red tail who came in late on Dec. 19 was released once the blood in his eye was re-absorbed. He was quick to take his leave.
On Dec. 20, a caller reported removing a red tail from his chicken pen but not, unfortunately, before it ate one of his bantam hens and bloodied its face a bit trying to escape the pen. The caller said there was one area he’d not yet had time or funds to cover, which was where the hawk got in, but once in he couldn’t figure out how to get back out. When the caller arrived at LWR with the poor first-year bird, he looked a bloody mess from the scrapes on his face and the chicken blood in his feathers, but his crop was about three times the size of his head.
Note the chicken feather sticking out of his beak...
However, the facial wounds were superficial and he was alert and active. He was also very thin, hence the raid on the chicken pen—easy food. The finder said he would’ve just released him once he got him out of the pen except for the facial wounds and the fact that he didn’t want to lose any additional hens. Smart move—the bird would’ve likely returned to an easy food source.
He honestly didn’t eat for three days—I mean that crop was FULL. But once he’d finally digested all the hen, his appetite became voracious. He’s flying beautifully, eating well, and will remain at LWR for a while longer just to get him back up to a healthy weight before release.
He honestly didn’t eat for three days—I mean that crop was FULL. But once he’d finally digested all the hen, his appetite became voracious. He’s flying beautifully, eating well, and will remain at LWR for a while longer just to get him back up to a healthy weight before release.
He’s “rooming” with the other first-year with the frozen elbow, who’s not showing any additional improvement—he can manage about three feet of lift. We’re back to facing a tough decision with him...
On Christmas Day callers reported finding an owl by the side of the road. Since probably 95% of the owls found by the roadside are barreds, I expected a barred when they arrived. To my surprise it was a great horned. Size-wise, it could be a small female or a large male. I’m leaning toward male. His left pupil is completely dilated but he’s finding food and moving about the mini-pen with no trouble. We’ll give the eye more time to see what happens with it.
And on Dec. 29 a barred owl came in, found—surprise, surprise—by the roadside. Both pupils are completely dilated, milky and unresponsive to light but we’ll give him a little more time to see if there’s any improvement. Head trauma can sometimes take a good long while to resolve, while other times it resolves within days. It’s unpredictable. Frankly, I suspect there’s some limited vision, as he seems to be able to find his mice when I place them in his box. Fingers crossed I’m right.
Finally, the barred recovering from the foot fracture should be ready to remove his boot in another week or so. Despite his general antsyness he’s actually been a pretty cooperative patient. I’m almost as anxious as he is to see how that foot’s healed.
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