Slow week, for a change

Does this signal the beginning of the end of baby season? Probably not; there should still be mourning doves, goldfinches and late babies of other species. This year’s been weird and hard to predict, though, so who knows?

Last week’s chipping sparrow is still stubbornly refusing to attempt self-feeding, the lazy little rascal. I suspect he knows cuteness will get him a lot of leeway with me…

The screech owl gave me fits all week, with that left eye swelling almost shut and his refusal to eat, meaning force-feedings, which aren’t pleasant for either of us. His eye still looks weak but is much improved; now if we can just work on the eating issues…

This finch was the sole survivor of a nest of babies who died after their parents apparently disappeared. His eyes worry me; it looks as if he might be developing the “finch eye” I discussed last week. That might explain his parents’ disappearance, if they had finch eye. On the other hand, I am also having to force-feed him, so it could just be stress-related, from my having to pry his beak open. The slight pressure from that could be enough to irritate his eyes.

This adorable robin—and yes, I’m inordinately fond of all thrushes, and the American robin is the largest of our thrushes—was a victim of a cat attack. He was lucky; he escaped with only a minor puncture wound to his wing. He’s on antibiotics and is doing great. Robins, like most thrushes, have the best little personalities in rehab…

When this juvenile hawk came in late last night, my first thought was that it was a Cooper’s hawk; today I’m more inclined to think juvie red shoulder. Juvie red shoulders and juvie Coops can be difficult to tell apart! He was found by the roadside, but nothing appears broken. It will be Monday before we can get x-rays to be sure. The back of his throat looked as if he had frounce, so I’ve started treatment for that. He’d been down a while, evidenced by the edges of his tail feathers, which are frayed and nasty. He also had resorted to eating bugs, as can be seen in his attempt to cast a pellet this morning. He’s alert but weak, and the frounce makes eating difficult for him, so we’re proceeding with caution and crossed fingers.

And last but by no means least, Igor has been thoroughly enjoying himself this week. He’s staked out a favorite feeding spot, which he flies down to and impatiently calls to me from. It’s imperative that I respond with the same nasal “aannnnhh” he uses to call me; otherwise he starts getting antsy.

Igor is a fish crow, not an American crow, a fact I don’t think I’ve mentioned before. Fish crows are slightly smaller than American crows and used to be confined to the coast, but I’ve been seeing more and more of them around here in the past few years.

When he’s not demanding a handout from me, Igor likes to explore his world and chase butterflies…and I just happened to have the camcorder trained on him for one of his chases. It makes me laugh every time I watch it, so here ya go—share in my amusement at Igor’s antics!