The best-laid plans, part the I-lost-count

All those plans for release and rearrangement I bandied about last Sunday? Yeah, they were based on Sunday’s week-long forecast showing no rain chances. HAH! It rained or there was a substantial chance of rain nearly every day last week, so needless to say nobody got released and there was minimal rearranging of LWR’s guests. And this week’s forecast is showing high chances of rain nearly every day. I need three days of low or no rain chances to release any birds, and I can’t do much rearranging without some releasing, so we’re spinning our wheels here.

LWR had just one new intake last week, a gorgeous juvenile red tail from Upson County who was observed having difficulty flying—according to witnesses, he could fly only a short distance and not over three feet above ground. Sounded like a classic coracoid fracture to me, and those frequently can’t be seen on x-rays. The good news is that coracoid fractures usually heal with no issues, so this vocal and quite gorgeous fellow just needs time.

The female brancher is totally self-feeding now and is sporting a bit of a Mohawk as her head feathers continue to come in.

And the older red tail still shows no signs of flight but there is a facility interested in him as a program or display bird. We’re still working out the details.

Meanwhile, to ease space constraints, the two older red tails are currently being housed together in the main flight. Given that they’re all passage birds, the plan is to move the female outside soon, too—gives the poor first-year fellow time to adjust. The juvie already continuously screams for food from the nonreleasable red tail, who glares at ME when I’m in the flight, as if to say, “What in tarnation have you saddled me with here?”

Sadly, the preemie red shoulder didn’t make it. He seemed to be doing so well, aside from those weak eyes I mentioned last week, and then, out of nowhere, he began vomiting blood and was dead within two hours. Given that it was old blood, not fresh, I suspect there was a small internal injury when the egg fell and was forced into premature hatching, and as he began to grow, the bleeding increased correspondingly.

The baby turkey vultures, on the other hand, are doing quite well and their stubby wings are starting to pin out.  They’re less clownish and more aggressive than black vultures at the same age.

The concussed adult red shoulder from last week, bless his poor heart, is still at LWR since the rain precluded any releases. He’s not happy but he is eating well.

The fledgling red shoulders –which is what they’d be by now in the wild—are ready for a flight pen but both flights are full. They’re antsy and vocal.

And the barreds are actually ready for release. As much as I’d prefer they have some flight experience in the main flight, space constraints may mean they’ll be released from the mini-pen. We shall see. As I said last week, it’s that time of year when space is at a premium—and the weather leaves birds cooling their heels and me wanting to pull my hair out!