No, that’s not a mistake; sometimes headlines are just not forthcoming from my tired brain. Today I just think instead of spring fever I have early-onset summer malaise.
ANYway...on to the birds...
LWR had two new intakes last week: a nestling that I’m pretty sure is a mocker and a brown thrasher.
The nestling was found on someone’s front porch—no injuries but also no nest in sight and the homeowners either had outdoor cats themselves or had free-roaming cats in their neighborhood. The bird was started on antibiotics on intake, just in case we had a cat-attacked baby. Thus far he’s doing well but such young birds do have a tendency to appear to be thriving and then just crash, so we’ll see...
ANYway...on to the birds...
LWR had two new intakes last week: a nestling that I’m pretty sure is a mocker and a brown thrasher.
The nestling was found on someone’s front porch—no injuries but also no nest in sight and the homeowners either had outdoor cats themselves or had free-roaming cats in their neighborhood. The bird was started on antibiotics on intake, just in case we had a cat-attacked baby. Thus far he’s doing well but such young birds do have a tendency to appear to be thriving and then just crash, so we’ll see...
The brown thrasher is a fledgling and under normal circumstances the rule of thumb is to leave fledglings alone for their parents to finish their jobs. However...the callers indicated this bird had a broken leg—was dragging it behind him and couldn’t perch. Obviously, this called for intervention.
On intake, a quick exam revealed the leg was, in fact, NOT broken. The poor bird’s body was a series of massive ruptured air sacs, and one right at his hip had forced his leg straight out behind his body. As a reminder, birds have air sacs throughout their bodies; those and their hollow bones contribute to their ability to fly. When trauma—a cat attack or a fall from a nest—occurs, these air sacs can rupture and the escaped air migrates to the skin surface, forming what look like air-filled blisters called subcutaneous emphysema. If the “blisters” aren’t in locations likely to cause the bird problems, they can just be left alone and will eventually deflate on their own. This poor fellow needed intervention, though, so I manually deflated his “blisters” and within an hour he was able to perch again, as his leg was no longer pushed out into an awkward position.
Typical sweet brown thrasher, he’s adjusted well to his new digs.
On intake, a quick exam revealed the leg was, in fact, NOT broken. The poor bird’s body was a series of massive ruptured air sacs, and one right at his hip had forced his leg straight out behind his body. As a reminder, birds have air sacs throughout their bodies; those and their hollow bones contribute to their ability to fly. When trauma—a cat attack or a fall from a nest—occurs, these air sacs can rupture and the escaped air migrates to the skin surface, forming what look like air-filled blisters called subcutaneous emphysema. If the “blisters” aren’t in locations likely to cause the bird problems, they can just be left alone and will eventually deflate on their own. This poor fellow needed intervention, though, so I manually deflated his “blisters” and within an hour he was able to perch again, as his leg was no longer pushed out into an awkward position.
Typical sweet brown thrasher, he’s adjusted well to his new digs.
He was joined by the phoebe, who’s now perching and fluttering those wings as hard as she can, but she hasn’t attempted flight yet. Bless her little heart, she's not the most photogenic phoebe I've ever had--every photo of her seems to be at an awkward or unflattering angle.
The great horneds are slated for release early this week; no photos of them from last week, as they’ve been completely uncooperative. Hopefully we’ll have good release videos next week.
The barreds will move into the large raptor flight once the great horneds are out; they really need the extra space to build up their flight muscles before their release in a few weeks.
The barreds will move into the large raptor flight once the great horneds are out; they really need the extra space to build up their flight muscles before their release in a few weeks.
Once the mini-pen is empty of barreds, the vultures will go in it. They’re starting to pin out on their wings and tails!
The red shoulder is proving to be a high-strung, picky eater so he’ll stay inside until he’s self-feeding consistently.
The adult screeches are showing more signs of life now that they can hear the nestling screech calling, and sometimes it sounds like one of them is attempting soothing sounds toward him; he’s not self-feeding yet, though, so I’m reluctant to place him in with them. Below is his typical pose when not demanding food. Again, for those who may not remember, young owls just sorta fall forward face-first to sleep. The progression below is: a) Eyes open as he senses his box open; b) Looks up at me like “WHAT?” c) “Go away; I’m sleepy.”
And a final note: In an ongoing effort to “convince” me to pay for features I don’t need and will never utilize, Weebly keeps “relocating” blog comments awaiting approval. I’ve found their latest hiding spot and approved all pending comments, and tried to at least briefly respond to each one.
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