Slightly slower week

Only four new intakes this week—never a complaint when things are on the slow side, as this late in baby season, any small lull is a godsend.

Monday a fledgling brown thrasher came in; Wednesday a mockingbird nestling came in; Thursday a pre-fledgling barn swallow; Friday a juvenile cardinal.
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The thrasher is doing well and headed for the songbird flight shortly. 

The mockingbird died overnight, to my surprise—he was alert, vocal, eating well…and died in his sleep during the night.
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The barn swallow wandered into a commercial garage and seemed unable to fly. After observation of his behavior, I believe he fledged too early, as he seems quite content to just sit in the nest—not something a fledgling will normally do.

Friday’s juvie cardie was a window strike victim who made it through her first night when her finder placed her in a box in a quiet, dark room overnight—perfect for window strike victims, to give them time to get their bearings again. When she couldn’t fly and still acted wonky the next morning,  she came to LWR, where I suspected severe head trauma and some neurological issues. She died that night.
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The mini-flight is completed and has its first occupants, the two juvenile red tails, who are quite happy to be outside.

Why yes, my legs DO go all the way up!

​The screech twins have been released, but I have no videos or photos; I simply opened the raptor flight door near dusk one evening and gave them the option of freedom. They were out of there before dark. The next morning, I placed the red shoulder trio in the raptor flight.

They’ll be ready for release within another week or so, freeing the raptor flight for the red tails and the mini-flight for the MIKI.
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The wood ducklings have graduated to the actual tub for their swims and are having a blast.

Two of the Carolina wrens survived and are ready for the songbird flight. I tried all week for photos of them but not one of them turned out worth using. Maybe once they’re in the songbird flight…
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The MIKI is growing like a weed—just look at the feather development in the past week! To give you an idea of just how much keratin they preen off their feathers daily, the photo of what looks to be a pile of salt and pepper is actually half a day’s worth of keratin preened from his feathers and in the bottom of his nest when I changed his paper.

​And, of course, the juvie black vultures supervised the final stages of construction on the mini-flight. I told AJ I didn’t know how we would’ve managed without their expert supervision. Enjoy these photos of the silly rascals; as soon as their expertise was no longer needed, they stopped coming around. I’ve seen them twice since then, and one of those times they were with three other vultures, who flew away as “my” two flew down to me. “They’s all growed up now!”

​This week’s update is short—pulled a muscle in my lower back somehow and sitting at the computer for too long causes it to spasm. It was late this afternoon before I could tolerate sitting here at all, so…enjoy this little bit while I grab the bottle of ibuprofen!