New week, new raptors

Yep, they just keep coming in—and songbirds, too, of course. And the fundraiser is progressing slowly but it’s early in the month yet.

For you red tail fans (and who among us isn’t a red tail fan?), LWR had two red tails come in: a brancher and a first-year bird. Neither bird is happy to be at LWR but they’re both eating well.
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The brancher was found by a car; the first-year was running along the ground with a cat in hot pursuit. Neither has any injuries, although the first-year is a bit on the thin side.

​And late in the week, a man called with a duckling he’d found in his pool—a duckling that turned out to be a days-old wood duckling.  As many of you may remember from past episodes with wood ducks, they can be stressy little things, and a singleton, on top of everything else? Thus far, the wee fellow is doing well, although he runs straight back to his feather duster “mama” every time I walk near his little pen.

​The juvie black vultures enjoyed their first rain last week—and I do mean enjoyed! It’s now anybody’s guess as to where they’ll be: in the carport, on the carport roof, on the fence, on the walkway…

​The great horned owls fly to the ground and put on threat displays whenever I walk in the raptor flight to lay out their food for the night.

​The red shoulder trio is ready for the raptor flight, but the great horneds have to be released first, then the barreds and screeches get their turns, respectively. No new photos of the barreds or screech twins, but I did remember to snap one of the red shoulders.

The poor ratty-looking trailer hitch bluebirds didn’t make it, and one of the nest-injury blue jays required euthanasia. The other is doing well and will be in the songbird flight next week.
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Monday night a nestling robin came in, breathing heavily and favoring one side of his body. While I suspected damage from his fall from the nest, I was hopeful he’d survive, especially since the next morning he was weakly calling for food at sunrise. Sadly, it was false hope; he ate a little and then basically lapsed into a coma, dying less than two hours later.

​And the next night a lady called about a nest that had been destroyed when a fern on her porch fell. There were apparently only two eggs; one was shattered beyond hope, but she said she still could see movement in the other. I thought she’d candled the egg and could see the embryo moving, but when she arrived, she handed me an egg that, despite the severe damage to the shell, contained a baby trying to hatch. The membrane and all the fluids in the egg had leaked out when it was damaged in the fall, but the poor little hatchling, a house finch, was still weakly fighting to hatch.

As I have one songbird colleague I can count on to’ve seen the same weird stuff I see—and who keeps the same weird hours I do—I called Maureen Eiger in Virginia, who confirmed she’d actually just had a similar situation. After a quick exchange of ideas and photos, we agreed dampening the shell and carefully pulling it off was about the only chance to save this baby, so he did manage to hatch with a little assistance. After some emergency measures and a couple of tiny feedings, I put him to bed shortly after 1 AM and hoped for the best.

The next morning he was lethargic and refused to gape—not good signs—but he did swallow the tiny bits of food I fed him. A few hours after sunrise he just couldn’t fight anymore, though, poor little fellow…

And in a tale of two cardinals, neither with photos, we had one hit by car who didn’t survive the night and another pulled from a glue trap whose major injury was loss of tail feathers, which will grow back. Given his propensity to escape every time I freshen his food and water and lead me on a merry chase, he’ll be released in a few days, as soon as he’s had a chance to re-waterproof his feathers by preening oil from the gland above his (absent) tail feathers.

And let me rant about glue traps for a moment here: if you absolutely MUST use them, use them INDOORS only. They do NOT belong outdoors or in your garage or carport. INDOORS ONLY.
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Last night folks returned home from a vacation to find an injured red shoulder on their porch. The wife brought the bird to LWR, saying she could smell something when she boxed the bird for transport. What she smelled was a maggot-infested wing; they had already stripped the wing of any flesh at all. The bird would have required euthanasia but he died within minutes of intake.

​And finally, just a reminder that LWR is holding a fundraiser throughout the month of June. Less than five percent of the people who bring us birds donate toward their care and raptors, especially, are expensive to feed and usually longer-term “guests” than songbirds. We’re currently at $480 of the $2500 goal. Don’t wait for “someone else” to donate—YOU are that “someone else!”