May decided to enter with a mushroom cloud-sized “I’m heee—eeere!” Including the babies that arrived today, in just the first six days of this month, LWR has had 20 intakes. Yeah--20. That’s already almost half the total intakes for April. Remember, I did say if April was any indication…
I don’t even know where to start, aside from warning you there will be a good bit of ranting going on this update. Pull up a soapbox and have a seat.
Lord, I dunno; let’s start with the “older” guests. The adult GHO did require euthanasia; the barred trio is now in the raptor flight, where they sit and look…ummm…less than intelligent all day. Cute but not smart. At least they’re eating, though, right?
I don’t even know where to start, aside from warning you there will be a good bit of ranting going on this update. Pull up a soapbox and have a seat.
Lord, I dunno; let’s start with the “older” guests. The adult GHO did require euthanasia; the barred trio is now in the raptor flight, where they sit and look…ummm…less than intelligent all day. Cute but not smart. At least they’re eating, though, right?
The phoebes were released after a few days in the songbird flight and didn’t hang around any longer than the nuthatches.
The Carolina wren refused to leave and ended up hanging out with the bluebirds when they moved into the songbird flight. By the end of this week, they might be releasable.
The brancher GHO is quite happy in his new digs but would prefer to be in the raptor flight. I may end up switching him and the barreds back and forth so they all get flight time.
The flyers are, of course, adorable and gearing up for release next month.
Early in the week, a cat-attacked chuck-will’s-widow arrived, TWO DAYS after being found. Despite immediate meds on intake, it was too late; the poor bird died overnight.
Then a cat-caught cardinal came in. He had two ruptured air sacs, neither in a life-threatening location, but despite being started on antibiotics immediately upon arrival, he died overnight. His finder was livid, as it was a stray cat wandering through her yard who caught the poor baby. I suggested a humane trap and taking the cat to the local shelter once it was caught.
People, once again, CATS BELONG INDOORS.
Next, a juvenile pileated woodpecker was rescued from dogs. He was a self-feeding juvie who wanted very little to do with humans, so after a couple of days’ observation, he was released and hightailed it away from me as fast as he could.
Next, a juvenile pileated woodpecker was rescued from dogs. He was a self-feeding juvie who wanted very little to do with humans, so after a couple of days’ observation, he was released and hightailed it away from me as fast as he could.
The very next day, five late nestling house finches came in, dumped at a vet clinic in a nearby county and delivered to LWR by a volunteer transporter. Finches are such sweet, exasperating little birds, as they’re content to remain in the nest forever. These babies are fledge-age now and still sitting in the nest, even though I’ve moved them into a larger enclosure with a perch. “Us, perch? Naaah…”
Shortly afterward, an early fledgling brown thrasher was found in the road; his finders thought perhaps his wing was broken, and his left underwing was a bit irritated but not broken. No, his issue is a weak left leg/foot, probably as a result of a nest injury. He can use it; it’s just weak and probably always will be. But it’s much improved over intake—he’s now perching a bit and walking around. Promising progress!
And this adorable little fledgling titmouse came in after over two days of crap diet. I won’t even list the stuff in the so-called “diet”, as I don’t want to give anyone any bright ideas. Suffice it to say his finder was able to Google a crap diet immediately but took three days to decide to look for a rehabber. The poor bird was near comatose when he came in, and I really didn’t have high hopes, but he seems much improved. Look, people, just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s true, accurate, or an appropriate diet for wildlife. GET THE BIRDS TO A LICENSED REHABBER ASAP.
DNR brought two barred owls this week, a runt brancher and a HBC (hit by car) adult. The brancher is still not self-feeding and is so much smaller than the brancher trio in the raptor flight that I’m keeping him inside for a while yet.
The adult had an open wing fracture and required euthanasia.
Yesterday someone posted on one of those cesspool Facebook pages—you know the ones I’m talking about; they’re either honest-to-God unadulterated gossip sites or they’re supposedly yard sale-type sites; either way, they’re sites where people gather to show their ignorance. In this case, the poster had four pre-fledgling mockers that she was asking care advice for and getting the world’s worst advice, including feeding them MILK. Folks...BIRDS DON’T HAVE BOOBS. Got it? Have you EVER seen a bird nursing its young? If you have, get pix and video, ‘cause you’re about to be a very rich person once you sell the rights to THAT story.
Luckily, someone with some sense actually monitors these pages and alerted me, providing the contact info for the mocker person. After some hemming and hawing and false starts and nearly the threat of turning the matter over to DNR, a volunteer transporter was finally able to get the birds to LWR.
Luckily, someone with some sense actually monitors these pages and alerted me, providing the contact info for the mocker person. After some hemming and hawing and false starts and nearly the threat of turning the matter over to DNR, a volunteer transporter was finally able to get the birds to LWR.
And bear with me now as I well and truly hop on my soapbox on these next birds. A “science educator” (the person’s term, NOT mine) who knew ol’ so-and-so at a local college and “worked closely” with DNR on conservation education supposedly saw a mother killdeer killed about TWO WEEKS ago. (Now, in my experience, when you start tossing out the names of all the “important” people you know or organizations you’ve “worked with” it’s usually because you know you’ve screwed up and you’re trying to lend some legitimacy to your screw-up.) This person then took the eggs from the nest, incubated them, hatched them, and THEN decided to look for a rehabber—not so much to do the right thing for the birds as to get feeding advice, which, as you well know, I do NOT provide, aside from emergency measures until the bird(s) can be taken to me or another rehabber. I explained the legal issues, provided an emergency care plan and expected to hear from the individual the next morning. Nope.
So I texted to ask what the status was. The person called, took a deep breath and launched into ALL the reasons they couldn’t bring the birds. I finally had to just interrupt and point-blank state that if I didn’t have the birds by end of day, I was turning the matter over to DNR. Then the individual tried to guilt trip ME, moaning about how they were trying to do the right thing. Sorry, that particular bird don’t fly with this rehabber.
I then reminded the person of the contact info I’d given them for WREN (Wildlife Resources Education Network), a group that coordinates volunteer transporters, and told the person to call them, which I’d advised the previous day. Liz with WREN then called me a bit later, as frustrated and exasperated as I was, only this individual had outright admitted to her that they wanted to keep the killdeer because they’d make a great “educational project” for the person’s children (unclear if this was students or offspring or both). I was livid. First off, these are LIVING CREATURES who need proper rearing, NOT a damn science experiment. Second, what “educational” experience can one provide when one is blatantly breaking the law? “Children, the laws only apply to OTHER people, and we only obey those we want to”?
Between Liz and me and the threat of state and/or federal action—because I did contact DNR to see if the wildlife tech in the area could confiscate the birds—we managed to convince the person to meet a volunteer this morning. When she and her husband brought me the killdeer, she also expressed her frustration at dealing with this individual, and laughed as she told me I was not on this person’s list of favorite people right now.
Folks, let’s get one thing clear: I DON’T CARE if people aren’t happy with me. I wasn’t put on this earth to please people. Life ain’t a popularity contest; it’s not about how many “likes” and “attagirls” and “oh, you’re such a good persons” you can get on Facebook or Twitter or wherever. What I DO care about is the fate of wild birds in the hands of people who think because they have a little education (I have a PhD, and I’m WELL aware of the extent of my ignorance) or can Google disastrously wrong info, they know how to care for the birds. GET THE BIRDS TO A LICENSED REHABBER ASAP!!! We don’t do this because it’s “fun” or “neat” or an “educational” experience; it’s damn hard, soul-sucking, heartbreaking, all-consuming work. We do it because we care about our native wildlife and we want to try to compensate in some small way for the wholesale destruction of wildlife habitats that humans cause daily—and to give the wildlife in our care a second chance at living the life God intended it to have. The “rewards” we seek aren’t public adulation; we want to see the wildlife in our care successfully released back into the wild. When injuries or illness preclude that possibility, we can at least make sure its end is humane and quick.
*deep breath* Rant over.
The killdeer were not in an optimal setup; they were being fed only periodically when they’re self-feeding from hatching and need constant access to food 24/7, etc., etc. So far they seem to’ve adjusted nicely to a proper setup; hopefully the stress of their first few days won’t cause any long-term problems.
So I texted to ask what the status was. The person called, took a deep breath and launched into ALL the reasons they couldn’t bring the birds. I finally had to just interrupt and point-blank state that if I didn’t have the birds by end of day, I was turning the matter over to DNR. Then the individual tried to guilt trip ME, moaning about how they were trying to do the right thing. Sorry, that particular bird don’t fly with this rehabber.
I then reminded the person of the contact info I’d given them for WREN (Wildlife Resources Education Network), a group that coordinates volunteer transporters, and told the person to call them, which I’d advised the previous day. Liz with WREN then called me a bit later, as frustrated and exasperated as I was, only this individual had outright admitted to her that they wanted to keep the killdeer because they’d make a great “educational project” for the person’s children (unclear if this was students or offspring or both). I was livid. First off, these are LIVING CREATURES who need proper rearing, NOT a damn science experiment. Second, what “educational” experience can one provide when one is blatantly breaking the law? “Children, the laws only apply to OTHER people, and we only obey those we want to”?
Between Liz and me and the threat of state and/or federal action—because I did contact DNR to see if the wildlife tech in the area could confiscate the birds—we managed to convince the person to meet a volunteer this morning. When she and her husband brought me the killdeer, she also expressed her frustration at dealing with this individual, and laughed as she told me I was not on this person’s list of favorite people right now.
Folks, let’s get one thing clear: I DON’T CARE if people aren’t happy with me. I wasn’t put on this earth to please people. Life ain’t a popularity contest; it’s not about how many “likes” and “attagirls” and “oh, you’re such a good persons” you can get on Facebook or Twitter or wherever. What I DO care about is the fate of wild birds in the hands of people who think because they have a little education (I have a PhD, and I’m WELL aware of the extent of my ignorance) or can Google disastrously wrong info, they know how to care for the birds. GET THE BIRDS TO A LICENSED REHABBER ASAP!!! We don’t do this because it’s “fun” or “neat” or an “educational” experience; it’s damn hard, soul-sucking, heartbreaking, all-consuming work. We do it because we care about our native wildlife and we want to try to compensate in some small way for the wholesale destruction of wildlife habitats that humans cause daily—and to give the wildlife in our care a second chance at living the life God intended it to have. The “rewards” we seek aren’t public adulation; we want to see the wildlife in our care successfully released back into the wild. When injuries or illness preclude that possibility, we can at least make sure its end is humane and quick.
*deep breath* Rant over.
The killdeer were not in an optimal setup; they were being fed only periodically when they’re self-feeding from hatching and need constant access to food 24/7, etc., etc. So far they seem to’ve adjusted nicely to a proper setup; hopefully the stress of their first few days won’t cause any long-term problems.
And late this afternoon this dog-attacked Carolina wren came in. To this guy’s credit, he and his son chased down the dog, took the bird and, after looking up short-term care options, contacted LWR and made arrangements to get the bird here ASAP. He did admit to asking his local pet store’s clerk what food to use, and they sold him hand-feeding formula for exotics that CLEARLY states it’s not for use with wild birds, which he noticed and commented on. As I told him, the pet store clerk isn’t interested in the welfare of the bird; he’s interested in getting you to buy something. The wren’s wing is very swollen and looks like it may be broken; we’ll try for x-rays early next week to see.
I’ve been working on this update all day, between feeding birds, and I’m honestly too tired to come up with any pearls of wisdom to end with, just these reminders:
- KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS.
- If you find an injured or orphaned bird, CALL A REHABBER IMMEDIATELY. Not after Googling feeding instructions, not after posting on Facebook asking for godawful advice on feeding the bird, not after calling your best bud. IMMEDIATELY.
- Don’t ask pet stores for feeding advice for wild birds; they will sell you inappropriate food that clearly states it is NOT to be used for wild birds. See #2.
- Don’t toss out the names of all the supposedly influential people you know as justification to break the law. I don’t care who you know or what degrees you (or they) have; if you and they don’t have the proper permits, don’t even consider keeping that bird. I *WILL* get angry and I *WILL* report you, without a moment’s hesitation, as will any other rehabber. We don’t play those games when little lives are at stake.
- BIRDS DON’T HAVE BOOBS. Don’t ever feed them milk.
RSS Feed
