Hectic week, part the second

Good Lord, I don’t even know where to start…

Last Sunday a Carolina wren fledgling and a nestling barn owl came in. The Caro didn’t survive the night, sadly; the barnie had me worried, as he had maggot eggs in one nostril and I wasn’t sure I’d cleaned them all out—plus he didn’t want to eat, at all. I had to literally force-feed him. Luckily, I did get all the maggot eggs and after a few days of being force-fed he decided taking the proffered food from the forceps was much less stressful.  The first photo below is him on day of intake; the second is today. Today’s pic isn’t that great, but he’s moved into the hissy stage and even a barnie hiss is…ummm…not pleasant to the ears, so I sort of guerilla-snapped that photo!

​Monday a cat-attacked grackle came in but didn’t survive the day, despite immediate medication on intake.

​Tuesday a nestling bluebird came in, the sole survivor of a snake raid on the nest.

​Wednesday, an adult female bluebird came in, along with a nestling red shouldered hawk. The bluebird favored her left wing, which was swollen, but x-rays showed no fractures. You can clearly see the swollen tissue, though. No photos of her because she’s a little escape artist!

​The red shoulder had a broken leg. Because the mammal rehabber who transferred him to me had said the break was mid-bone, we were all hopeful it could be fixed, but x-rays indicated otherwise. It was indeed mid-bone but so badly displaced that vet Peggy Hobby, vet tech Autumn Parker and I all simultaneously moaned in dismay at the x-ray. We sounded like some sort of Greek chorus…

​Thursday,  a nestling grackle came in, THREE DAYS after being found and fed a crap Internet diet. His finders were “worried” about him on day three, as he didn’t seem as “chipper.” Yeah, three days of crap in your system when you’re a growing bird will do that. He also showed signs of respiratory distress, so I started meds immediately, but he died overnight. 

​An adult barred owl with an open wing fracture also came in Thursday; there was nothing to be done for him except end his suffering.

 And a Thursday morning caller said they’d taken a “baby bird with a blue tail” from their cat. Its wing was RIPPED OFF, and could they keep it as a pet? I kid you not. This conversation continued until I thought I was gonna have to call the game warden but I finally convinced these people to get the bird, a fledgling bluebird, to Smalley’s, where I was having the female bluebird and nestling red shoulder x-rayed.
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The right wing was indeed ripped off, and the left wing was mauled underneath. The poor baby was dying from shock and blood loss anyway but we euthanized to end his misery. Peggy and I both adore bluebirds, so that made this particular euthanasia even worse, despite it being the right thing to do. The wing photos below were taken post-euthanasia.

​Friday an adult cedar waxwing came in with only a slight droop to his left wing, indicative of a coracoid fracture. He was alert and well-fleshed, so I figured a little time to heal and he’d be good to go. He was dead the next morning. No clue as to why, unless he’d gotten into pesticides or insecticides.

​Another fledgling brown thrasher came in, as well, after one parent was hit by car and died. The finders tried to put the bird back in the bushes but he kept hopping out into the road, so it was deemed safer for him to send him to LWR.

​This poor little nestling blue jay had serious head trauma and neurological issues on intake. He was found on the ground in an apartment complex. He kept flipping onto his back and twisting his neck so that it looked like he had wry neck (a condition where the bird’s head is flipped upside down). I honestly didn’t have high hopes for him but refused to give up without a fight. 

​By Saturday, he was at least positioning himself properly in the nest most of the time, although his head still tended to twist a bit.

​Today, he was sitting upright and begging for food like a proper little jay. He still has some tremors but things look much more hopeful for him than three days ago!

​Also on Friday, a couple called and said a tree surgeon had cut down a hollow oak on their property and discovered, too late, a nest of owls. It’s my understanding that tree surgeons are supposed to be trained to LOOK for things like owl and songbird nests, but we all know profit comes first, right? I explained how to recover the owls and get them to LWR, expecting two more barreds, but noooo, they showed up with two half-grown, hissy barnies!

​And yet another adult barred owl came in Friday, also. He was concussed out of his gourd, to the point that Saturday morning I honestly thought he’d died during the night. He’s still a bit loopy but improving.

​Rounding out the week a second nestling red shoulder came in Saturday with his left lower eyelid ripped loose. The tissue still looked fairly healthy, so colleagues Steve Hicks and Kathryn Dudeck and I discussed triage until he could get to Smalley’s Monday. However, he died overnight, after throwing up everything he’d eaten. There was also a sharp chemical smell, so I suspect his ripped lower eyelid was the least of his worries; his parents had probably fed their babies rodenticide-laced mice. I hate rodenticides with a passion…

​The five bluebirds and five finches, after time in the songbird flight, were released. The bluebirds tend to come down for supplemental feedings singly; the finches en masse.

​The mockers are now in the songbird flight.

​The titmouse and “older” (last week’s) brown thrasher are indicating today that they’re ready for the songbird flight, but I’ll hold them a little longer, till the mockers are out. Those mockers would bully my sweet thrasher and titmouse something awful!

The barreds in the raptor flight are looking good but have a while yet before they’re releasable. The great horned is getting antsy and needs to be in the raptor flight soon. The nestling barred from last week is self-feeding this week, and the flyers are slated for release in June.
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The killdeer are adorable and growing like weeds.

​And hopefully that’s got everybody updated. I think. Maybe…