The HBC screech from last week didn’t make it. If you’ll recall, he was alert and able to snap his beak at me and even eat, but still acted a bit concussed and had a bloody eye. Since he came in late Saturday, the plan was to take him to Smalley’s Animal Hospital for a thorough eye exam on Monday—in fact, I’d already discussed him with Richie Hatcher Sunday evening.
However…Monday morning I discovered that he’d died during the night—AFTER eating another small mouse. When I texted Richie that I wouldn’t be bringing him in after all and described what had happened, he said it sounded like the screech had a brain bleed, so in effect he was dying from the moment of intake—and it wouldn’t have shown on an x-ray, so there was really nothing we could have done about that. At least he died in a warm, safe environment, with his belly full.
Meanwhile, our screech trio is still in residence. The predicted good weather last week didn’t pan out, as we experienced rain every other day. I’m really beginning to suspect those little feathered hooligans are in cahoots with Mother Nature to keep the weather juuuust nasty enough to preclude their release!
Once again, the weather forecast for this coming week looks good for a release—as of today—so we’ll keep our fingers crossed that the forecast is correct for this week. These rascals need to be released ASAP.
Hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving Thursday!