Raptors out the wazoo

LWR is now housing 20—yes, TWENTY—raptors of various species. My earlier joking comment about stackin’ ‘em like cordwood ain’t lookin’ so funny now, as they’re everywhere I look and the songbirds are tucked into corners where there’s not a raptor box. And just last week alone, another 17 birds came in… The inn is rather full at the moment, but we’re not hanging the “no vacancies” sign just yet.

I’m not even sure where to begin…

We did have one release last week, the big juvie female great horned. She was happy to go, and it freed up the raptor flight for the barred owl who’s been at LWR since January.

Don't worry; she flew off immediately when I started toward her and headed deeper into the woods.

I honestly didn’t hold out much hope the barred would really fly again, given the severity of his wing fracture; even though it had healed, it still looked like an awkward mess on x-rays. To my delight, he’s actually flying well and will be released pretty soon here, to make room for some of the other raptors waiting in the wings…oohh, no pun intended…

And who’s waiting in the wings? Three adult screeches, two juvie screeches, an adult great horned, two juvie great horneds, two juvie barreds, four red shoulders and two juvie black vultures. Three adult barred owls are recovering from injuries that require cage rest at the moment, so they’re on the back burner for the raptor flight.  Still, I need a flow chart or something just to figure out priorities here…

At least the songbirds pay well together and can all be placed in the flight together. These are the four mockers and brown thrasher from last Sunday’s update.

I guess the logical approach for the update is by day of intake last week.

Monday an adult barred owl came in with her shoulder slit open. She’d been found in the road, so she probably whacked someone’s side-view mirror just right to rip the skin. Luckily for her, she had no fractures, but there was pure muscle exposed. Vets Jim and Peggy Hobby and I debated, as there was no way to suture or Dermabond the wound closed—bird skin is thin, anyway, and right there on the shoulder, she’d be constantly ripping it open again every time she moved. We opted for heavy meds, topical sprays and lots of prayer. Thus far she’s actually doing better than I expected.

Tuesday a fledgling cardinal came in; he was reported as lethargic by his finder but was fairly alert on intake. His eyes, however, looked weak. He ate really well for one feeding, then had to be force-fed the remainder of the afternoon.  Something just wasn’t quite right, and he died overnight.

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Also Tuesday, a nest of five Carolina wren hatchlings came in. The finders had watched the nest all day without seeing either parent, and after a day of no food the hatchlings weren’t in good shape. Once they were warm, they eagerly took food and seemed to be digesting it properly, but all died within 24 hours of intake: two overnight and the remaining three by the next afternoon.

Wednesday another young great horned owl came in, this one from a colleague who specializes in squirrels. She saw him sitting in an open field on her way somewhere else, and when she came back he was still sitting there. When she got out to check on him, he didn’t attempt to fly; he ran, and not very fast. After she described his situation to me, I felt it was best to remove him from the field for his own safety.

I thought it was neat that his third eyelids showed!

Thursday a cat-attacked nestling grackle who’d been kept for 24 hours and fed cheap cat food, judging by the crap all over his face, came in. As a reminder, cat saliva contains bacteria that’re fatal to wildlife if antibiotics aren’t administered promptly. Twenty-four hours is the outside window for treatment, and in this poor bird’s case it was too late. He died within an hour of intake.

A cat-attacked mocker also came in Thursday, with what appears to be a broken shoulder. Smalley’s was closed Friday for a long weekend, so the mocker gets a reprieve till we get x-rays.

Friday an Eastern bluebird fledgling, also cat-attacked, came in with a broken leg. I honestly don’t think the leg is fixable, but we’ll wait for x-rays to be sure.

Are you seeing a pattern here, people? KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS. An indoor-only cat cannot maim or kill wildlife. If you care at all about the safety of the wildlife in your area, you will keep cats inside. I have two indoor-only cats. They’re perfectly happy to use the nearest window as their TV.

Saturday was a bumper-crop day, with 6 intakes in under 8 hours.

A barred owl was pulled from a barbed wire fence. The flesh is pretty ripped up and the right wing, which wasn’t drooping on intake yesterday, is drooping today. He’s another candidate for x-rays.

The people who brought the nestling robin deserve a medal for going above and beyond. The entire nest fell a week ago. Unable to replace it near where it fell, they sat it on a windowsill and placed the babies back inside. Within minutes the parents were feeding their babies in the relocated nest. For the next week, however, the runt of the litter kept getting pushed out by his larger sibs. And every day, multiple times a day, they placed him back in the nest. After a week of this, and seeing that he was behind his sibs developmentally, they gave up and called LWR. He’s a perfectly healthy, happy little fellow who probably hatched 24-48 hours later than his sibs, putting him at a developmental disadvantage. His rescuers said his sibs were ready to fledge; he is not. His wings aren’t even fully feathered out yet. But now that he’s not fighting older sibs for food and constantly getting kicked out of the nest, he should be fine!

Sadly, the nest of hatchling barn swallows who also came in Saturday were true orphans. Their finders said the parents were feeding the previous evening but the mud nest was shattered and the babies scattered on their porch the next morning, with no parents in sight. One baby had died on impact; another had obvious bruising and internal injuries. He died within hours of intake. Another died overnight. The sole survivor is struggling but I’m hopeful.

And rounding out Saturday, another mocker fledgling with a broken leg came in. His leg looks pretty trashed but I’m waiting for x-rays on him, too.

Today a mallard duckling came in with a totally missing leg. It was a fresh wound; probably a snapping turtle got him, poor baby. He was alert and trying to move around on that one leg, but realistically speaking, a duck cannot survive with only one leg. And federal regs also require the euthanasia of any bird with only one leg. He was humanely euthanized.

The black vulture babies continue to grow and eat everything in sight. I’m (only half jokingly) threatening to start collecting road kill for them.

The screech twins are starting to test their wings.

The red shoulder quartet is as mouthy as ever, and so melodramatic about their food—to hear them tell it, they’re starving to death. The 30-40 small mice or 15-20 medium mice they inhale daily tell a different tale, though!

The adult barred with the leg fracture is doing great; the wound has completely scabbed over and he continues to put weight on that leg.

The older of the juvie great horneds still under care is insistent that he wants out of his box, and he really does need to be in the raptor flight. I’ll probably put both juvies and the adult out there next. Maybe. There’re too many raptors vying for that same space at the moment; maybe I should do a raptor lottery to see who gets their turn next!

And I think that sums it up for the past week…Maybe I didn’t leave anybody out…