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Resting from my labors…sorta…

9/4/2016

6 Comments

 
Apparently the wildlife gods decided to give LWR an early Labor Day break, as we had no new intakes last week—a rare occurrence indeed! Oh, there were calls, but none resulted in intakes. HOWever…I already know that there are three birds headed this way as soon as transportation can be arranged, and there may be one other; we’re not sure on it yet.

In the meantime, here’s a short update on the ongoing LWR guests.
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The mourning doves are almost totally self-feeding now, so they should be headed for the flight pen this week. They’ve been engaging in an awful lot of wing flapping over the past week. Tried for video of that but they always stopped at the sight of the camera. 
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​The screech is a couple of weeks away from release and is looking ever so much better now that all those molted head feathers have been replaced with shiny new ones!
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​While it’s not the clearest shot in the world, this photo of the house finch is at least better than last week’s “tail feathers barely in the frame” shot. She’s good to go but stubbornly refuses to do so, taking advantage of the gravy train for as long as possible.
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​The brown thrasher’s flight feathers are slowly showing growth, but looking at him, I’m worried he may simply be too fat to fly. Honestly! Thrashers are usually fairly slim birds; this guy ain’t slim by any stretch of the imagination, so he may need to be put on a diet so he can actually use those wings when they’ve fully come back in!
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​Oddly enough, the female bluebird’s flight feathers are showing uneven growth, with one wing fully replaced and the other slower to regrow. This means, bless her sweet little heart, that she’s still grounded. Hopefully another week or so and she’ll be flitting around the flight like the male.
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​Speaking of the male, now that he’s got wings again, as it were, he’s everywhere in the flight but still gets winded easily—gotta build up his endurance a bit before he’s good for release. I’m actually thinking I’ll hold him until the female’s good to go so they can be released together. They’re not from the same clutch, so they might remain paired until breeding season next spring—who knows?
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​Like I said, short update for an eerily quiet week. I expect more intakes next week as people continue cleaning up from the winds and rain from the remnants of Hermine that swept through Georgia Friday, but since it’s not baby season—for birds, anyway; it is for squirrels—it won’t result in a flood of unnested baby birds at least. More likely a few migrating adults--now let’s hope I didn’t just invite Murphy to the party!
6 Comments
maureen
9/4/2016 05:34:50 pm

SHhh..... you will jinx yourself. Screech looks so good!

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
9/4/2016 05:42:50 pm

LOL Maureen, I think I did--the three I mentioned at the beginning are en route now, the fourth probably won't ever see LWR, and an almost-fifth turned out to be stunned and the finder was able to release. Love those happy endings when people follow my advice!

Yeah, Sir Screech is nearly done with his molt, so he's looking much less tattered and scalped now!

Reply
Pipette
9/4/2016 11:47:21 pm

Enjoy the respite, such as it is!

That thrasher looks quite uh, "prosperous" shall we say? Reminds me of Mr. Moneybags in the board game "Monopoly."

How unusual is it for a bird's wing feathers to grow back at different rates, as with the female bluebird? Is her situation a function of more damage on one side than the other, or is it just weird & inexplicable?

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
9/5/2016 12:49:11 am

Thanks Pipette! The three "awaiting transport" birds arrived late this evening, though, so respite over...

Yeah, I've never seen a fat thrasher till now. I've been watching him for a few days, thinking maybe I was just seeing fluffed feathers, but nope, he's a chubster!

Normally flight feathers molt symmetrically, the same feather at the same time on each side. Since the blues had all theirs broken by those pesky mockers, I expected 'em to molt the stubs and regrow all the primaries as if they were coming in for the first time--and that's what the male did. I really don't know, unless the female didn't preen out the broken shafts properly on that left wing. But there is feather growth, thank goodness--just much slower than on the right wing.

Reply
Ann Feldman
9/9/2016 07:43:47 pm

So, will Weight Watchers be opening a Laurens branch? The Thrasher is very cute, but I've never seen a fat one either. We took the train to Montreal and the southern, marshy end of Lake Champlain is a wonderland of big birds..herons, egrets, bald eagle juvies, hawks, ducks of several descriptions, osprey. I spotted four oprey nests, mostly on old wooden power poles, and two actual ospreys.

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
9/9/2016 08:41:33 pm

LOL Ann,apparently we need an avian WW around here. Sounds like you had a great birding trip!

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