Screeches ‘r’ us

Y’all, LWR now has three red phase screeches. Additionally, we had a fairly common but not commonly seen songbird this week, and some interesting developments with one of the two barred owls.

Let’s start with the uncommon-common songbird, a yellow-rumped warbler, aka “butterbutt.”  Based on color, this was either a female or an immature bird. We’re going with female. She was found in the road with one eye closed, very lethargic. Upon arrival at LWR, she was still pretty lethargic, although she let me know in no uncertain terms she did NOT appreciate being handled during her intake exam. Her little lungs and vocal cords worked just fine!

Within a few days her eye was clear and she was eating well and antsy, so it was time for release. I tried the slow-motion function on my phone camera because I knew she’d move fast—and it worked nicely!

The first of the screeches to arrive also had an eye swollen shut and was a bit loopy. He was found in the road in Effingham County but the finders drove him the two hours to LWR the night they found him. His eye is still a little swollen but he’s eating well.

The second screech arrived yesterday after being removed from the premises of a Home Depot in Colquitt County.  Nothing seems broken, although his left pupil is a little dilated, so perhaps just a mild concussion. He’s the talker of the screech trio, trilling away randomly. No videos of that yet but I’m trying.

The Christmas week screech, although he’s been at LWR the longest, remains the pissiest of the three. He hates everything and everybody! By late this month or early February he should be ready to test his wing and see if the fracture has healed for flight or frozen the joint.

The barred owl who came in last Sunday with the wing fracture turned out to also be blind in both eyes, so the wing wasn’t even an issue; he required euthanasia due to the blindness.

The barred owl who came in a couple of weeks ago, though, is perching well now, his eye is beautifully clear, and he’s eating quite well. But he’s...unusual...

When I walk in to feed him, he makes noises ranging from puppyish whines to squeaky toy squeaks (that one just started today). I’ve heard barreds make a LOT of weird vocalizations but never anything like these. He very politely takes the mice from the forceps with his beak rather than lunging for them with his feet. He will not take mice off the glove, though. He allows me to run my hand from the crown of his head down his back and wing. He makes no attempt to fly past me or away from me. He won’t perch on a glove; tried that, too. I had my niece’s boyfriend walk into the mini-pen to see if he got antsy at a stranger being near him. Nope. Some of this could possibly be lingering head trauma, but he also has rather overgrown talons and tends to grind his beak a lot—but he’s not once clicked it at me in threat.  At the moment I’m really, really hoping it’s lingering head trauma but suspecting he’s imprinted or at the least habituated. We’ll see how he reacts to more space to avoid me when he’s moved from the mini-pen to the raptor flight this week. 

At the moment, I’m rather enjoying him; he’s the best-behaved young adult/adult barred I can ever remember having.