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Spring ain’t sprung yet, despite the balmy temps

2/10/2019

2 Comments

 
In my family we’ve always said spring doesn’t actually arrive till after Easter, which is VERY late this year, so no matter what the thermometer tells you right now, there’s more cold weather in store. Hopefully we won’t have any late freezes after songbirds have eggs and/or babies in the nest.

This was a fairly slow week, with only one intake. The long-shot barred will go back in for x-rays in the next couple of weeks, and the red tail still refuses to fly—he keeps that wing tucked tightly to his body, which makes me think it’s soft tissue damage rather than nerve damage, like a tendon that healed too tightly and now he can’t extend the wing. I was hopeful being in the raptor flight would encourage him to stretch the wing and thereby flex the tendon but he may require fairly intensive PT to see if there’s a chance of his regaining flight capability. We’ll see…
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The sole new intake was a feisty black vulture whose wing fracture had healed in the wild. Black vultures are smaller than turkey vultures, and their sense of smell isn’t as well-developed—you can see that by their smaller nares, or nostrils. So they usually follow turkey vultures and are aggressive enough that they can often run off the larger vultures to feed. Smart rascals, huh? I keep tellin’ y’all vultures are highly intelligent!
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Given his very apparent good health—he was rambunctious and well-fleshed, and his feathers were glossy—and the fact that there was new feather growth on the wing, I opted to see what he’d do in the old deer pen. I’d initially planned to just hard-release him, but should he have proven unable to fly, lemme tell ya right now, vultures can run REALLY fast…and I wasn’t about to try and chase him down. So I opted for the old deer pen instead. I’ve used it before to test vultures when the raptor flight was occupied, the theory being that if they can fly out of the deer pen, they’re good to go. It took him less than five minutes to take his leave—I walked into the house for the camera and he was gone when I went back out. I have no doubt he’ll be just fine.
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And just a reminder—next weekend, Feb. 15-18, is the Great Backyard Bird Count.  You don’t need any special equipment or to be in a group or a specific location—even a city park will do. You don’t even have to list all the birds you see or hear, if you don’t recognize the species.  As I’ve said repeatedly, it’s the easiest bird count out there to participate in, and it’s fun, besides. I encourage y’all to give it a try.
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2 Comments
Ann Feldman
2/13/2019 09:31:28 pm

How does one do physical therapy on a Red-tail? Boggles the mind! By the way, Eastern Orthodox Easter is April 28th! We celebrated both in our house; they were usually not the same date. So my mom dyed varicolored eggs for western Easter and red eggs for Greek Orthodox.Only problem was two Good Fridays. Mom was quite strict. You couldn't even wash your hair on Good Friday.

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Laurens Wildlife Rescue
2/13/2019 10:48:05 pm

Normally, the PT would involve gently stretching and flexing the wing. It's an act of desperation, honestly, to avoid euthanizing an otherwise healthy bird in the hopes that he'll start using the wing. More than likely the tendon was severely damaged and healed tightened to the point the wing was frozen. I've tried it before with no luck on a pileated. Most rehabbers will admit it's a last-ditch effort before euthanasia...

Easter is April 21, which is late enough, and Orthodox Easter is a week later?? I can't recall Easter ever being in late April!

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