“Now is the summer of our extreme content…”

​(With abject apologies to the Bard)
 
Extreme content? What do I mean? I mean *sob* every. damn. bird. currently in the songbird flight refuses to leave.  All 14 of them just…sit there.
 
Well, to be fair, three of them did leave, one—one of the great crested flycatchers—long enough for me to snap a great release photo and get a lovely video…

​But then he, like the other two (Carolina wrens), came back… Apparently the offer of free unlimited crickets and mealworms was just irresistible. To be clear, these birds are self-feeding. I just toss the live insects and watch ‘em have at it.
 
So this week, it looks like the landlord’s gonna have to evict some freeloading tenants.
 
We did have a couple of actual releases this week: the crow and the hummer. The hummer dilly-dallied till I was sure it wasn’t gonna happen and shut off the camera and reached to close the cage door—and THEN, of course, he zoomed right past my hand and up into the trees. No sign of him since.

​The crow, however, typical corvid, is hanging around like a feathered puppy at the moment. This phase will ease as he becomes more convinced of his ability to fend for himself and as the local crows begin to tolerate and then accept him. Right now, though, it’s exasperatingly funny.

​The barred owls are flying well and giving lovely threat displays when I walk into the raptor flight to feed them.

​Three additional swifts came in; the runt of this litter was already checking out on arrival, however, and didn’t survive the night. You can see him at the far right of the photo below. The remaining 5 are beginning to test their wings, which is always fun to watch.

Callers who found a barn swallow on the ground were worried even though the parents appeared to still be feeding. An attempt to renest ended with the little darling on the ground again, with good reason—his left wing is broken. It’s near the shoulder—not a good place for a fracture on any bird but especially a barn swallow, with their long migration. We’re basically doing cage rest and waiting to see what happens.
 
The swallow was joined a day later by a fledgling house finch who was found near the dog runs of another county’s Animal Control. No parents or sibs in sight, so off to LWR for Sir Finch.
 
The two had no problems nesting together—rehab makes for unusual bedfellows sometimes!

​Both these catbirds of different ages were cat-attacked. The older seems uninjured but is on meds because, as you should well know by now, cat saliva is toxic to birds. The younger has an issue with his right leg/foot. It doesn’t appear broken, so there’s apparently nerve damage. Of course, he also is on meds. 

​And you knew this was coming: PEOPLE, KEEP YOUR DAMN CATS INSIDE AND AWAY FROM OUR WILDLIFE!!!
 
The people who found this mallard duckling after a storm said he was floating along, exhausted and about to drown. Fortunately, they did hear his frantic peeps and scooped him up. Mallards aren’t nearly as stressy as wood ducks, and this little fellow inhaled the food he was offered this afternoon, so that’s a good sign.

How can you tell a mallard duckling from a wood duckling? Easier than you’d think. See the dark stripe behind this guy’s eye? It extends past his eye to his bill. Mallard. In wood ducklings, the stripe stops behind the eye.

​And the mallard makes 192 intakes for the year thus far. We’re going through 15,000 mealworms a week, plus an additional 1000 or so crickets. That doesn’t include the songbird formula that supplements all this to ensure all nutritional needs are met. Then we have the special formulas needed for doves and hummers…And we have one full bag of mice left in the freezer; gotta order more mice for the raptors this week.
 
Why am I telling you all this? To give you a heads-up: fundraiser on the horizon! I hope to have it organized by the weekend, if not before.