Same ol’ same ol’

As in more intakes, one release, and them what’s still hangin’ ‘round…
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Starting last week with a bang, as it were, a window-strike Cooper’s hawk came in on Monday. As y’all are by now aware, Coops are psychotic, high-strung birds. It took a couple of days for this gal’s swollen eye to go down, then the threat of rain delayed her release, and when we finally tried to “git ‘er gone” earlier today, she flew straight into a tree and bounced onto the ground on her back. Needless to say, she’s back at LWR…

​Hot on her heels, on Tuesday a late nestling brown thrasher came in from a vet clinic in a neighboring county. He was brought in by one of their clients after being found covered with ants. One of their vet techs brought him to LWR after she got off work.  He’s on antibiotics for the ant bites and is up and down.

​Later that day, FIVE wood ducklings came in after being found in someone’s yard with no mother in sight. These babies still had egg teeth on their beaks. One of them had been roughed up by the finder’s dogs and died shortly after intake, and one died a couple of days after arriving at LWR. Wood ducklings are high-stress little birds, so honestly, some attrition is always expected with them. It’s never pleasant but it’s expected. The remaining three have adopted the older wood duck already at LWR as a surrogate mother, much to that poor bird’s consternation. S/he walks around with one or more in tow, looking at me like, “What’s goin’ on here?”

​On the Fourth, a sopping wet young barred owl came in after being found in a pool. Once he dried out, rain threats also delayed his release until today.

The next day, a fledgling blue jay came in, already agonal breathing and stone cold. He’d wandered up to his finders on the evening of the third and his finders assumed his parents would come back for him the next morning—which is a valid assumption; fledglings aren’t abandoned by their parents. The fact that a supposedly wild fledgling just wandered up to these folks sends up all kinds of red flags for a rehabber, though—it honestly sounds like someone tried to raise the bird illegally and then dumped him, for him to wander to the nearest humans he saw for help.
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At any rate, the folks he wandered up to placed him back outside on the Fourth and monitored the situation; by that evening, he was still alone, so they took him back in and offered him an emergency diet of blueberries—not a horrible option for an older bird. They called LWR and left a message but Verizon didn’t deliver their voicemail until early on the fifth—gotta love the non-service we all too often get from these cell phone providers, considering the ungodly fees they charge.  By the next morning when I actually got their message, he wasn’t in good shape, and he didn’t last too long after arrival.

And yesterday, this baby was delivered to LWR after a storm in a neighboring county knocked his nest from the tree. His finder said all his sibs were killed either on impact or by ants and yellow jackets. He’s still a bit iffy, but fingers are crossed. Can you guess the species? Here’s a hint: “nekkid as a…” (For you non-Southerners and for those Southerners who’ve been too corrupted by a steady diet of TV and/or who’re in denial of their rich Southern heritage, I’ll provide the answer at the end of the update.)

See that tiny blister-looking knot at the base of his tail? That's the preen gland, which produces the oils that waterproof his feathers. All birds have them.

​The red tails were briefly roomies, but I worried that the slightly older of the two was hogging all the food, so I separated them again.

The screech twins should be ready for release by mid-week, freeing the raptor flight for the red shoulder trio.

​The vultures are still hanging around, usually up to shenanigans due to their natural intelligence and inquisitiveness. I have to say they’ve been the highlight of the 2019 baby season thus far!

​(The mystery baby above is a blue jay; the expression is “nekkid as a jaybird.” Now you know why!)