Believe it or not, LWR had NO new intakes this week! Maybe that much-anticipated fall slowdown has finally arrived. (Yeah, that strange sound you heard was Murphy cackling with sadistic glee…)
The fundraiser is stalled at $865, just over the halfway mark, with no new donations in five days. Meanwhile, the barnies are now into the third bag of mice from the recent small mouse order, which, if you’ll recall, used $300 of that $865 already. At this rate, I’ll be placing another order in about a week, which will further reduce that figure—see why the goal is set at $1500? The barnies say send them some mouse money; growing owls need lots to eat!
The fundraiser is stalled at $865, just over the halfway mark, with no new donations in five days. Meanwhile, the barnies are now into the third bag of mice from the recent small mouse order, which, if you’ll recall, used $300 of that $865 already. At this rate, I’ll be placing another order in about a week, which will further reduce that figure—see why the goal is set at $1500? The barnies say send them some mouse money; growing owls need lots to eat!
And those hungry, growing barnies also outgrew the box I’d just moved them to last week, requiring a move to larger digs this week. I took advantage of the move to snap some photos of each barnie individually. Are they not utterly adorable?!
To give you an idea of pre-feeding and post-feeding, watch these two videos. Every feeding is like this—they’re like teenagers who’re always starving, no matter how much they eat!
We’re also starting to get feathers in, although it’s hard to isolate a wing or tail for a photo, since the rascals tend to cluster together in one big clump of down, eyes and beaks!
You know how there’s always that ooone person who blinks in an otherwise great family photo? Yeah, well…
Fortunately, we did manage some good shots of the gorgeous babies this week.
Sadly, the second of the runt female flyers died this week. She was a game little girl, fighting to survive, but she’d stopped growing and was getting noticeably weaker. But she was still active, albeit slower than her sibs, and eating right up till her death. I was hoping she’d manage to pull through, although she probably wouldn’t have been releasable, as she was only half the size of her sibs of the same age…
The remaining eight flyers are gorgeous, healthy, active rascals. I’ve given up trying to capture all eight in one photo; that ain’t happenin’ too often these days!
The remaining eight flyers are gorgeous, healthy, active rascals. I’ve given up trying to capture all eight in one photo; that ain’t happenin’ too often these days!
This little fellow decided the few drops of water remaining in this cup were better than the entire cupful I’d just poured in their dish. When I picked him up to put him back in the cage, he refused to let go of it and sprawled on my arm!
And they do love their fresh greens, too.
If you’ll recall, LWR had two barred owls that were slated for release this week. Yeah, well, “the best laid plans o’ mice and men…”
We DID try for release; both seemed to flying well in the raptor flight—I mean, they were on different perches daily—and both were eating well—no matter where I put the mice, they were finding them, so eyesight’s good—and both were very restless. So they should’ve been prime candidates for release, right? Not exactly…
We DID try for release; both seemed to flying well in the raptor flight—I mean, they were on different perches daily—and both were eating well—no matter where I put the mice, they were finding them, so eyesight’s good—and both were very restless. So they should’ve been prime candidates for release, right? Not exactly…
Soooo…back to the raptor flight for further evaluation and conditioning. All I can figure is there’s soft tissue damage that allows for flight within a confined space but not free flight yet. We’ll try again in another week or so. I did manage a couple of nice fall photos of the second failed release when he hopped into a sweetgum sapling, so I guess there’s that, huh?
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