Two of three barreds got early Christmas presents this evening when they regained their freedom.
The barred who came in a couple of weeks ago with a blood-filled eye was the first to be released, followed by the barred who came in last week with such severe head trauma he couldn’t even lift his head up. Within 72 hours he was alert and inhaling food, and this evening he flew off without hesitation.
The barred who came in a couple of weeks ago with a blood-filled eye was the first to be released, followed by the barred who came in last week with such severe head trauma he couldn’t even lift his head up. Within 72 hours he was alert and inhaling food, and this evening he flew off without hesitation.
A third barred came in yesterday after being rescued from fishing line. Nothing is broken but he has some soft tissue damage, maybe some bruising, preventing flight. Hopefully in a week or two he’ll be good for release, too.
Today a second-year Coop arrived after raiding the chicken pen at a state park about two hours south of LWR. He’s perfectly capable of flight, just starvation thin. He’s alert, vocal and greedily devoured the food he was offered in small increments throughout the day. Basically, he just needs to gain some weight before he’s released.
The gray phase screech continues to pretend I can’t see him with his eyes closed. His wing is showing no real improvement. I suspect he’s going to be nonreleasable.
The red phase screech is nearly done molting and looks great. Given that he has no snag or other roost for the winter, though, he’ll overwinter at LWR—safer for him and will give him a better chance at survival when he’s released in the early spring, when not having a snag or other roost site won’t be as life-threatening an issue.
And just a reminder on the Christmas season schedule for updates:
- Dec. 18 update will be postponed till Monday the 19th
- Dec. 25—no update
- Jan. 1 update will be postponed till Jan. 2
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