Despite the rain, which usually leads to an uptick in intakes, LWR had just two intakes last week, a barred owl with an open wing fracture and a mature red tail with possible spinal trauma. And the screeches are still here, of course.
The barred owl’s open fracture meant that he required euthanasia, and I honestly forgot to take any photos of him. It was a nasty fracture and my main concern was ending his suffering.
The red tail came unable to stand and with little neural response in his feet. He wouldn’t or couldn’t spread his wings or flare his tail. We opted for a steroid injection to see if possibly the issue was a pinched nerve or some sort of inflammation, as there was no sign of spinal fracture. The next morning he was half-standing, which is where he’s remained thus far, but he’s eating well and when I take him out to change his paper, he’s flexing his feet and spreading his wings. He’s not out of the woods yet, but his prognosis is considerably better than it was on intake.
The barred owl’s open fracture meant that he required euthanasia, and I honestly forgot to take any photos of him. It was a nasty fracture and my main concern was ending his suffering.
The red tail came unable to stand and with little neural response in his feet. He wouldn’t or couldn’t spread his wings or flare his tail. We opted for a steroid injection to see if possibly the issue was a pinched nerve or some sort of inflammation, as there was no sign of spinal fracture. The next morning he was half-standing, which is where he’s remained thus far, but he’s eating well and when I take him out to change his paper, he’s flexing his feet and spreading his wings. He’s not out of the woods yet, but his prognosis is considerably better than it was on intake.
All three screeches were placed in the mini-pen, where the female immediately let me know she could fly quite well, thank you, and wanted to go NOW. However...we had rain predicted within the three-day period, so she remains an unhappy camper at LWR for another day or so.
The Christmas week fellow is still iffy. He spent the first couple of days on the ground but has since been perching when I go to check on them and feed them. He’s spreading his left wing fully but still has no real lift, leading me to think he’s been laddering up to the perch. Time will tell...
The third screech, whose trilling I still haven’t been able to record, appears to have lingering head trauma. He seems a bit dizzy when he perches, struggling and often failing to maintain his balance, and he’ll perch on my finger. Given his apparent dizziness I brought him back inside for fear he’d fall off a perch and break his neck. He does quite well on a very low perch in his box, so I think he just needs to get his brain unscrambled a bit more.
And, of course, that time of year is approaching—the Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb. 12-15. Weather permitting, I encourage y’all to spend at least an hour or two over that weekend tallying the birds you see. Those of you with cameras and patience, snap a few shots and submit ‘em to the GBBC website. They often share good photos from participants.
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