Yeah, Laurens County—and indeed, it appears, all of Georgia—is gonna be slammed as Irma moves northward. So I’m breaking from prepping for probable power outages to fill you in on this week’s critters, the good and bad news, and will provide a few wildlife tips for post-Irma—or any severe storm, for that matter.
Let’s get the sad news outta the way first: the WNV red-tail died, despite all our efforts. If you’ll recall, I mentioned last week that I suspected he was in Phase 2; he struggled for two more days before giving up the fight.
Also, on Labor Day, two barred owls came in. While one showed no signs of injury, he could not stand—at all. This is usually a sign of a pelvic fracture, and since he also refused to eat—very unusual for a barred owl—I opted for euthanasia. Pelvic fractures in birds are very iffy as far as recovery, and chances for recovery are nonexistent if the bird goes on a hunger strike from stress.
The second barred owl seemed fine aside from a little swelling at his wrist; I was debating whether he needed x-rays, but he died overnight, so apparently there were internal injuries.
The Coop with the wing fracture didn’t make it in for x-rays; he died Monday night. Coops are high-stress birds, and it was more than likely stress rather than injury that led to his death.
The barred owl from last week’s update was released. It was a messy release; he hem-hawed around until I was about to turn the camera off, then he took off and made a godawful awkward landing in a tree. I did manage to get video of the release and a not-great shot of him in the tree after he got his wings under control. The shot was a long zoom and the camera decided to focus on the crabapples in front of the owl instead of the owl himself…
Let’s get the sad news outta the way first: the WNV red-tail died, despite all our efforts. If you’ll recall, I mentioned last week that I suspected he was in Phase 2; he struggled for two more days before giving up the fight.
Also, on Labor Day, two barred owls came in. While one showed no signs of injury, he could not stand—at all. This is usually a sign of a pelvic fracture, and since he also refused to eat—very unusual for a barred owl—I opted for euthanasia. Pelvic fractures in birds are very iffy as far as recovery, and chances for recovery are nonexistent if the bird goes on a hunger strike from stress.
The second barred owl seemed fine aside from a little swelling at his wrist; I was debating whether he needed x-rays, but he died overnight, so apparently there were internal injuries.
The Coop with the wing fracture didn’t make it in for x-rays; he died Monday night. Coops are high-stress birds, and it was more than likely stress rather than injury that led to his death.
The barred owl from last week’s update was released. It was a messy release; he hem-hawed around until I was about to turn the camera off, then he took off and made a godawful awkward landing in a tree. I did manage to get video of the release and a not-great shot of him in the tree after he got his wings under control. The shot was a long zoom and the camera decided to focus on the crabapples in front of the owl instead of the owl himself…
The second red-tail, also originally suspected to have WNV, actually seems to be severely vision impaired. He’s not blind; he just has real trouble seeing low-contrast items. This is more than likely a dietary issue, as he’s showing marked improvement now that he’s getting steady food. If you’ll recall, he was also rail-thin on intake last week.
We also had a juvenile ruby-throated hummingbird come in this week. Nothing appears broken; wings are perfectly level and move as they should…but the bird cannot fly. At all. It could be a coracoid fracture, which you may remember is similar to a clavicle fracture in humans. These just require time to heal, and sometimes they don’t heal to allow flight. We’ll just have to wait and see on this little fellow.
Yet another red-tail came in last night, this one brought by a game warden from another county. She’s a first-year bird, rail-thin, and has a gunshot wound in her right wing. On intake last night, it felt as though it may have missed the bone; this morning, with swelling down somewhat, I’m not so sure. It will require x-rays, which she won’t get until Wednesday, more than likely, thanks to Irma passing through. Even if Smalley’s is open Monday and Tuesday, the rough weather they’re predicting for our area means this rehabber will not be on the road.
Underside of wing
Top of wing
And the MIKIs that I was afraid would be unreleasable have proven me wrong, which I’m delighted about! If not for Irma, they’d’ve been gone this week. As it is, they’re safer in the raptor flight for the next few days.
Now, for those of you in Irma’s path through Georgia, while there WILL be wildlife needing assistance, please be smart and stay safe. If the winds are taking down trees around you, yes, there may be nests of flying squirrels in them, and there may be birds slammed into trees, buildings, etc., but you can’t help them if a tree lands on you. Wait till the worst of everything passes over before you start trying to assess damage and check for injured/orphaned wildlife—and for God’s sake if there are downed power lines, stay away till they’re taken care of by professionals. When it’s safe, look around downed trees for birds or baby squirrels—and this is gray squirrel breeding season, as well as flyer breeding season. Look amongst the branches and check for cavities that may contain babies.
If you find injured birds or orphaned squirrels, the first thing to do is contain them safely.
For songbirds, a small cardboard box lined with paper towels or an old T-shirt will be fine. For raptors, use a larger box but also line it with paper towels or an old T-shirt. Once they’re safely contained, call a rehabber for further instructions. DO NOT FEED.
For gray or flying squirrels, DO NOT FEED. Place them in a cardboard box—a shoebox lined with an old T-shirt will be fine. For eyes-closed babies, place a heating pad on the lowest setting under one end of the box. If it’s an auto-off heating pad, check it frequently to make sure it’s on. No heating pad? Use Hot Hands or a similar product, wrapped in a paper towel and placed beneath the T-shirt in the box. No hand warmers? Fill a sock with rice and microwave it for a minute or so, then place it under the T-shirt in the box. Then call a rehabber for further instructions.
Keep in mind that, depending on the severity of Irma’s trek through Georgia, rehabbers may be without power as well, and roads may be impassable. Cell phones should still be functional, so you should be able to contact one of us, and if there will be a considerable delay in your getting the critters to us, we will provide you with emergency feeding instructions at that point. Please, please, puh-leez DO NOT FEED any injured/orphaned wildlife you find UNTIL YOU’VE SPOKEN WITH A REHABBER.
And for those of you in Florida already getting slammed and here in Georgia about to be slammed, batten down the hatches. It’s looking to be a rough few days.
If you find injured birds or orphaned squirrels, the first thing to do is contain them safely.
For songbirds, a small cardboard box lined with paper towels or an old T-shirt will be fine. For raptors, use a larger box but also line it with paper towels or an old T-shirt. Once they’re safely contained, call a rehabber for further instructions. DO NOT FEED.
For gray or flying squirrels, DO NOT FEED. Place them in a cardboard box—a shoebox lined with an old T-shirt will be fine. For eyes-closed babies, place a heating pad on the lowest setting under one end of the box. If it’s an auto-off heating pad, check it frequently to make sure it’s on. No heating pad? Use Hot Hands or a similar product, wrapped in a paper towel and placed beneath the T-shirt in the box. No hand warmers? Fill a sock with rice and microwave it for a minute or so, then place it under the T-shirt in the box. Then call a rehabber for further instructions.
Keep in mind that, depending on the severity of Irma’s trek through Georgia, rehabbers may be without power as well, and roads may be impassable. Cell phones should still be functional, so you should be able to contact one of us, and if there will be a considerable delay in your getting the critters to us, we will provide you with emergency feeding instructions at that point. Please, please, puh-leez DO NOT FEED any injured/orphaned wildlife you find UNTIL YOU’VE SPOKEN WITH A REHABBER.
And for those of you in Florida already getting slammed and here in Georgia about to be slammed, batten down the hatches. It’s looking to be a rough few days.
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