Strange week

It was a slow but weird week. No releases to report but a couple of new intakes—and we lost the screech.
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Let’s start with the screech, bless her heart. She remained feisty despite not eating, and I consulted my vets and colleague Kathryn Dudeck of Chattahoochee Nature Center as to further options. Because her weight wasn’t dropping rapidly, we set a baseline weight which, if she reached, would signal serious trouble. Since the weather was moderate for the middle of the week, she spent several days in the flight pen, still not eating and—not a good sign as far as vision—not moving from her low perch. 

​When the weather turned cooler again, I brought her back inside, still feisty and having dropped very little weight. She was getting fluids to keep her hydrated, so I started mixing a special formula for debilitated raptors into that, and while feeding her I noticed a dark ring around the tracheal opening in her tongue. I couldn’t remember ever seeing this on a screech before, and Kathryn indicated she’d never seen this on her screeches before either.  

Within 24 hours of being moved back in, she began losing body temperature rapidly and became unresponsive to my touch—rather than bowing up and clicking in threat, she just sat there, head bowed.

When a wild animal—any animal, to be honest—has no fight left, it’s time to call it. I euthanized her and upon examining her afterward saw that she’d trickled dark black blood from her beak, and it appeared to have come from the trachea. I’d already thrown out the possibility of cancer to Kathryn and of course, without a necropsy, we’ll never know for sure, but I’m leaning strongly toward cancer as the cause of her decline.
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The male squirrel acquired a “sister” after this little girl’s nest was destroyed. She’s about a week to 10 days older than he is, as evidenced by her greater fur growth…such as it is right now!

​Here’s a close-up of the male:

​Both are doing well and continuing to develop as they should.

​In one of those “only a mocker” situations, this guy flew into an OPEN car door. Yep, you read that right. His rescuer was in a church parking lot with her door open when he flew over her shoulder into the door, bounced off her dash and landed in her floorboard. Because he seemed just stunned, she sat him in a safe place for him to snap out of it, only when she checked a bit later, he was belly-up and she thought he’d died. When she and a friend were loading her car after their church event, the friend checked one more time and told her the bird was still alive, so she contacted LWR.

​He didn’t look so hot on intake, and I honestly wasn’t sure he’d survive the night, but this morning he was more alert, albeit still with that angled tail that suggests spinal compression and/or a pinched nerve. The good news is his wings function and he’s pooping fine; the bad news is that angled tail and inability to properly use his legs and feet. So…meds for inflammation and then wait and see…

​And adding to the weirdness, this small (even for a male) barred owl was taken to mammal rehabbers in another county when his rescuer hit a larger owl, apparently also a barred, and found this fellow grounded in the brush nearby. Perhaps the larger owl, who died during the night, before the mammal rehabbers contacted LWR, was a female and these two had a mating flight interrupted by the vehicle. Then again, barred owls aren’t real picky about eating their own species, so maybe the owl that died was after this fellow for supper—who knows?

​He was aggressive but not coordinated on intake. Nothing felt broken but a general weakness on his left side made me think a vet trip was in order to see what my physical exam might have missed. Vet Richie Hatcher at Smalley’s Animal Hospital snapped a couple of x-rays, one to check the wings and one to check the spine, and both were clear—no signs of any fractures I’d missed. That’s always good.

​No fractures, though, meant we had soft tissue or neurological issues, and honestly, only time will heal those, if they heal at all. As of this weekend, he’s alert and eating well inside, so he’ll go into the flight pen this week to see how he fares. If all goes well in the raptor flight, maybe he can be released fairly quickly.

And just to remind you once again, next weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count, and I encourage y’all, wherever you live, to participate. It’s one of the most flexible bird counts there is: you can just count for 15 minutes or up to all day—or all weekend, if you have that kind of time—and you don’t even have to list birds you’re not sure you can identify correctly. I enjoy participating because there’s nearly always a bird or two I hear but don’t see whose call I’m not familiar with, since early spring migration has already started here, and then I get the fun of researching what that bird might be!