The first two intakes of 2016 were—surprise, surprise—owls.
This barred owl was in the middle of the road eating a squirrel. Unfortunately, the driver saw him too late to completely avoid hitting him—or, more accurately, having the owl hit his truck. He stopped inches from the owl, who got spooked and flew into his front bumper, breaking his wing.
Since the rescuer saw no blood, I was hopeful we had a fracture we could work with, but when I opened the box I could smell fresh blood—never a good sign. And an examination revealed an open fracture under the left wing. With a good inch of jagged bone exposed and, based on the unnatural angle of the wing at the shoulder, further internal fractures higher up, there was no option but euthanasia. The photo of the open fracture was taken post-euthanasia.
This barred owl was in the middle of the road eating a squirrel. Unfortunately, the driver saw him too late to completely avoid hitting him—or, more accurately, having the owl hit his truck. He stopped inches from the owl, who got spooked and flew into his front bumper, breaking his wing.
Since the rescuer saw no blood, I was hopeful we had a fracture we could work with, but when I opened the box I could smell fresh blood—never a good sign. And an examination revealed an open fracture under the left wing. With a good inch of jagged bone exposed and, based on the unnatural angle of the wing at the shoulder, further internal fractures higher up, there was no option but euthanasia. The photo of the open fracture was taken post-euthanasia.
Two days later, a caller said a screech owl had hit her car just above the tire late the previous night. His eye had been bleeding when she scooped him up and placed him into a box. A quick trip to Smalley’s immediately after intake revealed that aside from a concussion and the avian equivalent of a black eye, there appeared to be no serious damage to this aggressive little male. The blood was from some scraping of the eyelid. The poor fellow definitely had a headache, though, as evidenced by his posture when we opened the box in the exam room.
With some meds for the inflammation and a good meal, the little guy was looking much more alert the next day. His dilated pupil indicated that he wasn’t quite over the concussion yet, and oddly enough, he has mismatched eyes—one green and one yellow. Whether this is related to the concussion and will resolve itself or whether it’s just his natural eye color remains to be seen. He continues to improve but needs a few more days. His rescuer knows exactly where his territory is and has agreed to pick him up and return him there once he’s good to go.
The red female screech continues to adjust to limited vision in one eye but is still not the aggressive little bird she should be, so we still have lingering issues from the brain injury.
And while they’re not actually guests at LWR, chipping sparrows are beginning to show up in large flocks this month. They’re year-round residents for most of Georgia but we also see a large influx of winter guests who remain through early spring. These are obviously not in breeding plumage, as they lack the reddish “cap”, but I enjoy watching dozens upon dozens of the cute little rascals flock to my walkway (otherwise known as my large ground feeder) this time of year. You can’t hear their characteristic chipping in the video because I was standing on the porch and filming through an open window. They’re pretty skittish little birds!
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