Starting November with a release

The barred owl who’d been in the main flight for a couple of weeks finally gained his release back into the wild. He was so eager to “git” that I barely had time to focus the camera before he took off. And as you can see in the second video, he wasn’t letting me get close enough for any post-release photos, either!

Sadly, the second barred—the one whose eating was inconsistent—didn’t make it; she died mid-week.

The falcon continues to heal; that toe already looks considerably less swollen than it did on intake, and she’s inhaling food like there’s no tomorrow. She does hold her right wing at an odd angle at times, but her x-rays were clear—no current wing fractures, no signs of healed fractures. We’re watching that closely, though.

And the very first intake of November was a red-phase screech, found by the roadside in a neighboring county. Y’all know I love my screeches, and red phases are my favorites. As a refresher, screeches come in two color phases or morphs: red and gray (which actually looks brown).

His right eye looks iffy, and the left remains swollen shut nearly 72 hours after intake. But he can see well enough to locate and devour the mice placed in his box, so I’m hopeful he’ll be releasable. Time will tell…If so, his finder knows exactly where he came from and is willing to take him back there for release.

And that’s it for this week—short and sweet! (I’d say kinda like the screech, but y’all know they may be “short” but “sweet” ain’t in the screech vocabulary…which is one of the reasons I love ‘em so!)