Laurens Wildlife Rescue
  • Home
  • I found a wild baby - what do I do?
  • How can I help?
  • Contact us
  • FAQ
  • This week in wildlife

Still baby season, yep…

7/19/2015

2 Comments

 
And the babies, juvies and adults keep rollin’ in. Now, however, we’re getting to the “ugly” part of the season, where intakes are severely dehydrated from the heat or are already badly compromised from injury or illness when they come in. Late baby season is never pretty…

The red shoulder is about ready for release and is pouncing on his food very aggressively—always a good sign.
The hatchling blue jay didn’t make it, poor baby. His little eyes began to open and he began to decline. Antibiotics didn’t help; he died overnight.

All red bellies have been released but about half are still mooching. No pix of that yet; it’s kind hard to photograph six sibilant red bellies while feeding ‘em and keeping ‘em from attacking the other moochers too! Still have two blue jays and two mockers as regular moochers, as well. The jays, of course, are hysterical, swooping down with strangled cries around beaksful of food that they carefully reposition in their beaks so they can beg for a handout from me…

The great crested flycatcher and house finch flew the coop when offered the option and didn’t look back.
Picture
The lighting and focus are off on this shot, but the expression on the finch's face is priceless!
Picture
Still in the flight pen, we have two robins, a brown thrasher and a mocker.  Robins remain big babies for the longest time, but their personalities make their prolonged dependence tolerable. And the thrasher bonded with the robins when they were housed together pre-flight pen, so she’s not goin’ anywhere till her buddies do! The mocker tends to shadow the thrasher for some reason.
Picture
Picture
Picture
The adult brown thrasher who’d been kept as a pet for a year wilded up nicely with limited human contact and is now flitting around outside the flight pen. Sometimes she’ll hop back in for an hour or two or a day or two and then demand to be let out again. Because of her circumstances this form of very soft release is working well to re-introduce her to the wild.
Picture
The swifts were released and nearly immediately “replaced” by four others, a clutch of three transferred from Chattahoochee Nature Center near Atlanta and a singleton from a nearby county. Sadly, the singleton was in pretty bad shape on intake and struggled for 24 hours before giving up the fight. The trio from CNC is doing well, though.
Picture
Picture
Their finders took them to CNC in the remnants of their nest, which was sent on to LWR in the transfer, so you get to see what a chimney swift nest looks like! The parents “glue” the twigs together using their saliva, so their nests are quite literally held together by spit and a prayer.
Picture
Picture
Picture
The kite continues to grow like a weed; we tried self-feeding today to see how it went and he was not happy, so he’s since been hand-fed his morning mice.
Picture
Trying the same for the youngest screech, hoping this will resolve her reluctance to be hand-fed. She seems to be a little more willing to at least scatter her mouse nuggets, so…we’ll see…
Picture
The older screech is fine—an aggressive, self-feeding little snot that I totally forgot to snap any pix of this past week…

Early last week an adult kite came in with a shattered shoulder and was euthanized. Below is a photo of one of his wings, taken after euthanasia, to show the gorgeous coloration of the adult birds.
Picture
This adult great blue heron didn’t appear to have any fractures but couldn’t stand. He was otherwise alert and attempting self-feeding but given the difficulty of healing what was probably a pelvic or hip fracture in a bird this size, we opted for humane euthanasia.
Picture
Picture
This fledgling cardinal wandered into the rescuer’s chicken yard and was set upon by the chickens. Aside from a few scrapes and a badly damaged eye, he seemed alert and ate well, but died overnight.
Picture
When a young man called about an injured hawk, he was afraid the bird might have a broken wing. Happily, the juvy red tail, who still makes baby ki-ki-ki cries when upset, had only sustained a concussion. He’s still a bit woozy and reluctant to eat, but that’s normal for up to 48 hours after a concussion.
Picture
Picture
Picture
And this sweet fledgling brown thrasher was observed the previous day being fed by her parents but was on her side on the ground the next morning.  On intake she reeled drunkenly, was unable to perch and tossed her neck back in the most  godawful position to swallow her food… She has a healthy appetite but remains sorta klutzy. She’s less wobbly than at intake but she still has room for improvement.
Picture
And the green heron was released! Given his emaciated state on intake, I’m quite pleased that he rebounded so quickly. I went back a few days later to check on him, as I’d released him in a very isolated area in keeping with the shy nature of his species. I really didn’t expect to see him, but the release site is rich in minnows—a veritable heron buffet—so he was still there and alarm-called and disappeared into the surrounding brush immediately upon seeing me.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Digital zoom, so not the greatest photo in the world, but still...
And finally, as most of you know, wildlife rehabbers operate using their own funds, small grants and donations from the public and from people who bring wildlife to us. Only about 10% of the people who bring us wildlife make a donation, and it’s usually nowhere near enough to cover care for that critter.

Thus far this year LWR has received 178 critters, the vast majority birds. Last year our total intakes for the ENTIRE YEAR were 191. There are still 5 ½ months left in this year, and yes, baby season is about to wind down but then we start getting in the injured migrants, so I expect LWR to top 200 intakes for this year.

This takes funds, and our coffers are running low, so this is a heads-up that later this week I’ll be organizing an online fundraiser in hopes of garnering enough funds to see us through the remainder of the year. Start hoarding those pennies (although dollars buy more rodents) with this in mind, please, and look for the fundraiser announcement later in the week.
2 Comments
Pipette
7/19/2015 10:10:17 am

Wow, what a round-up of activity - I really hope you're getting some sleep somewhere along the line.

That screech STILL looks like a dust-bunny.

Let the fund-raising begin! Am always happy to support your work; donating toward the purchase of mice-icles is certainly one of the most unusual things I do all year.

Reply
Laurens Wildlife Rescue
7/19/2015 01:37:24 pm

Hey Pipette, I understand "sleep" in the abstract, but as for actual practice--well, not a lot of that these days. I find myself nodding off at odd times..."This too shall pass"--as soon as baby season slacks off a bit.

Yeah, she's a disheveled looking baby, that's for sure, poor girl. Owls don't feather out gracefully at all, bless their hearts.

The raptors you help feed send their thanks for their meeces, and I thank you for your ongoing support!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008

    Categories

    All
    Baby Birds
    Baby Deer
    Baby Opossums
    Baby Possums
    Baby Rabbits
    Bluegray Gnatcatchers
    Carolina Wren
    Common Loons
    Epd
    Fawns
    House Finch
    Mbta
    Migratory Bird Treaty Act
    Mockers
    Mockingbirds
    Orphaned Birds
    Orphaned Deer
    Orphaned Fawns
    Orphaned Opossums
    Orphaned Possums
    Orphaned Rabbits
    Orphaned Wildlife
    Squirrels
    Wildlife
    Wood Ducks

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.