So most of y’all are familiar with American kestrels (Falco sparverius) aka sparrow hawks, small falcons native to North America. What I bet a lot—probably most—of y’all don’t know is there’s a subspecies found primarily in Florida, Louisiana, eastern Texas and in the southern parts of Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia—the Southeastern American kestrel (Falco sparverius paulus). See range map below, which may be outdated now; the most current info I could find no longer lists Texas or Mississippi in their range—at least, their breeding range.
The Southeastern American kestrel (hereafter SEAK, to use an unofficial subspecies abbreviation, although the “official” one is AMKE for the entire species) has the distinction of being North America’s smallest falcon, topping out at a weight of around 95g (about 3.3oz)—smaller than a mourning dove, to put it in perspective for you, and the second-smallest falcon in the world. Their population has declined by some 90% in the past 50 years or so due to habitat destruction (“loss of longleaf pine habitat and degradation of the remaining longleaf habitat due to fire suppression, and removal of old-growth trees and snags,” per Pamela Lynn Maney, Survey of Reproduction of the Southeastern American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius Paulus) in Electrical Transmission Towers in South-Central Georgia, 2006, pp. 12-13), leading them to be listed as threatened in Florida and as rare and a species of concern by the Georgia DNR. Couldn’t find anything definitive on their status in the other states, but the USFWS also considers them a species of concern. The Georgia DNR has a program to place kestrel nest boxes on utility poles along utility companies’ wooded rights-of-way but I’ve not seen any current info on its success.
My personal opinion is that God was having a most excellent day when He created the kestrel. They’re little works of art—little masterpieces, plain and simple.
So why all the info overload on SEAKs?
LWR received a male SEAK Tuesday of last week, and he’s a beauty! He came in with a left wrist fracture; I was pretty sure it was right in the joint. X-rays on Wednesday confirmed my suspicions and also showed lead fragments. Given that dove season started in Georgia on Sept. 7, he was probably collateral damage from the “spray and pray” hunters over some dove field. Nevertheless, it IS a GSW (gunshot wound) and so it was reported to the state and feds as potential illegal activity, although everyone seems to agree with my assessment of collateral damage, i.e., non-intended consequences of sloppy hunting habits. (Although honestly and to be fair, as small as doves are, “spray and pray” is about the only hunting method available, I guess…)
My personal opinion is that God was having a most excellent day when He created the kestrel. They’re little works of art—little masterpieces, plain and simple.
So why all the info overload on SEAKs?
LWR received a male SEAK Tuesday of last week, and he’s a beauty! He came in with a left wrist fracture; I was pretty sure it was right in the joint. X-rays on Wednesday confirmed my suspicions and also showed lead fragments. Given that dove season started in Georgia on Sept. 7, he was probably collateral damage from the “spray and pray” hunters over some dove field. Nevertheless, it IS a GSW (gunshot wound) and so it was reported to the state and feds as potential illegal activity, although everyone seems to agree with my assessment of collateral damage, i.e., non-intended consequences of sloppy hunting habits. (Although honestly and to be fair, as small as doves are, “spray and pray” is about the only hunting method available, I guess…)
The joint will freeze as it heals, meaning this gorgeous fellow will have limited to no flight capability—in other words, vet Jim Hobby of Smalley’s and I knew from the get-go that he’d be nonreleasable, but given their rare-to-threatened status, we were gonna do whatever possible to ensure this little beauty’s survival. So our goal was to minimize wing droop so that he was “aesthetically pleasing” and could be placed as an ed bird once his wing fully heals. He’s eating quite well—he’s what colleague Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends calls a “light eater”: as long as it’s light outside, he’s eating. And it shows: from Sept. 10, day of intake, to yesterday, Sept. 14, his weight jumped from a thin but healthy 71.3g (2.5oz) to 89.8g (3.2oz). Yeah, he ain’t hurtin’ for food!
And after some initial fussing and pulling wraps off, he’s decided the fourth version is “tol’able” and mostly leaves it alone now, which is good—the less I have to handle that wing while it’s healing, the better for him. However, he does have to sit in a cage all day using a knitted nest as a soft perch, so he alleviates his boredom by shredding the paper towels lining the cage. He’s quite good at it; I’ve debated giving him a job as a sensitive document shredder, as he’d work cheap. (JOKING, people—JOKING!)
And after some initial fussing and pulling wraps off, he’s decided the fourth version is “tol’able” and mostly leaves it alone now, which is good—the less I have to handle that wing while it’s healing, the better for him. However, he does have to sit in a cage all day using a knitted nest as a soft perch, so he alleviates his boredom by shredding the paper towels lining the cage. He’s quite good at it; I’ve debated giving him a job as a sensitive document shredder, as he’d work cheap. (JOKING, people—JOKING!)
He’s a typical small raptor, full of piss and vinegar, and convinced he’s T. Rex-size. Every morning when I freshen his paper and feed and medicate him, he flips over and foots me, and I laugh at him. “Yeah, you skeer me, little buddy!”
As you can plainly see, I’m quite enamored of this feisty fellow and am hoping he continues to thrive and heal so we can see about his placement as an ed bird—but the most important thing right now is for that wing to heal; his future depends on that. First things first.
As you can plainly see, I’m quite enamored of this feisty fellow and am hoping he continues to thrive and heal so we can see about his placement as an ed bird—but the most important thing right now is for that wing to heal; his future depends on that. First things first.
The SEAK was by no means the only bird LWR got in last week, just the most interesting.
Monday a common nighthawk came in with a totally trashed wing; there was nothing to do but euthanize immediately.
Monday a common nighthawk came in with a totally trashed wing; there was nothing to do but euthanize immediately.
Photo taken post-euthanasia.
Wednesday an adult male house finch arrived at LWR with some neurological issues. He’s self-feeding but still a bit wobbly. He’s in the songbird flight with the mourning dove from last Sunday’s update, where both will likely remain till the end of the month and the end of the first dove season. (Georgia has three separate dove seasons.)
Thursday a gorgeous first year female red tail came in with only a swollen right elbow that I could find. Friday I took her to Smalley’s for x-rays to be sure the swelling didn’t mask a fracture. Nothing showed on the x-ray aside from the swelling originating near the elbow and going up toward the wrist but en route to Smalley's she’d plucked the feathers from her wrist, which felt cold and dampish. Vet Peggy Hobby and I examined both the wrist and elbow in detail and could find only bruising on the elbow—no explanation for the wrist plucking. We agreed a round of antibiotics would be a good idea in case there was something systemic that we were missing.
Yesterday, however, she quite literally ripped her wrist off. I had medicated her that morning and checked on her periodically throughout the day to make sure she was eating, and about time for her evening meds, I walked over to see a mass of feathers in the bottom of the box. A closer look revealed it was part of her wrist. There was no option but euthanasia at that point—and still no explanation as to WHY she mutilated herself so badly. There was no pus, no infected smell…the best we can figure is she had some sort of severe nerve issue going on in that wrist—severe enough that self-amputation seemed to her to be the only solution.
As I mentioned earlier, in the SEAK lect—ummm, discussion, it’s dove season, and we had hunters a bit closer than we liked to our property line so yesterday my nephew and I rode around the area of the property where they were hunting—a corn field just over the fence from our land. While making sure they stayed on their land, we found one dead mourning dove and an injured one on our side. The injured one surprised me by surviving the night. Both wings were shot, through and through on both, and although I don’t think so, there may be pellets in the body. While both wings are broken, neither is near a joint so the poor bird might yet survive this dove season and be able to fly again. We’ll see…
And late yesterday, an adult male Eastern screech owl, gray phase, came in. The finder said he heard a thump while driving Thursday night but didn’t see anything in the road behind his vehicle, so he didn’t think about it again until he got back home yesterday and his dog went crazy around the front of his car. When he looked to see what had the dog so riled up, he found the screech hung either in the grille or the bumper; I honestly don’t remember which he said. He has a fracture in or near his right shoulder; we’ll get x-rays next week to determine the extent of the damage. Meanwhile, he’s giving me full-on threat displays and stinkeye when I check on him and seems to have a good appetite.
The barred owl in the mini-pen is ready to go and still here only because I just haven’t had time to release it; the barred that came in last weekend and needed x-rays did have a fractured ulna but it’s not right in the joint so we’re gonna give him a month to heal and see what happens.
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