The cranes who came to stay…and other tales from a busy week

Yes, the sandhill cranes are still making LWR and the family farm their very own private cranedom, which means more photos and videos to share with you. And these are just my favorites of over 1000 photos. Obsessed? Me? Naaah…

I did speak with Anne from International Crane Foundation early last week, and after we stopped laughing at my predicament, she said LWR’s stilt-legged guests would leave when they got ready so to just enjoy them while they’re here and not worry too much unless they’re still hanging around come May or June.

With that said, here are more sandhill pix and vids for your viewing pleasure!

The couple who brought me this cat-attacked dove Monday were distraught. Their cats are actually indoors but one slipped out and did this damage before they could catch it. The photos were taken after euthanasia; the dove was suffering too much to attempt photos while it was still living. 

On Tuesday, LWR received a call and a text within minutes of each other about a “baby” hawk downtown in a city about 50 miles away. It’s too early for downy hawks and it seemed unlikely that it was a downy owl, so I guessed it was probably a small adult hawk—a Cooper’s hawk or a sharp-shinned hawk—that had hit a window. When LWR volunteers Amy and Laurie coordinated with each other to get the bird to LWR, we discovered we had a very out-of-it whippoorwill.  My area of Middle Georgia has chuck-will’s widows; 50 miles to the north, where this bird was found, has both species of nightjars.

Unfortunately, this poor fellow never opened his eyes. He couldn’t swallow and was severely emaciated, so rather than a window strike, I really suspect he was migrating and simply crashed from sheer exhaustion and starvation. Migration, as gorgeous as it can be when large flocks of birds fly over or land to eat or roost, is a very dangerous time for birds. Not all survive the trip, and this poor bird didn’t.

No photos of the barred owl, red-tailed hawk or cedar waxwing this week; all are doing well and continuing to improve, albeit more slowly than I’d like for the cedar waxwing.

The gray squirrel’s eyes opened this week and he’s started nibbling a bit at solid food, but he still mostly sleeps. That will be the case for another week or so, and then his activity level will pick up considerably.

And while I normally don’t do “fur” aside from flying squirrels, when vet Shelley Baumann of Happy Tails Mobile Vet Clinic called me about four eyes-closed Eastern cottontails someone had dumped on her—literally following her clinic van to give her the babies—I couldn’t  say no, even though we both acknowledged that their chances are slim. Whether in the wild or in a rehab setting, the average survival rate for baby rabbits is 10%. Yep, you read that right—10%. That’s why rabbits breed—well, like rabbits!  However, rabbits mature fairly quickly, if they survive at all, so these babies will be outta here before baby birds begin coming in.

When people at a regional lake found this osprey by the roadside, they called DNR, who referred them to LWR. The finders were concerned and hopeful his obviously broken wing could be repaired, but I wasn’t real optimistic upon seeing the damage, which included an open fracture. Upon examining his wing, vet Peggy Hobby of Smalley’s Animal Hospital agreed, stating that basically every bone in his wrist was trashed.  There was no need to x-ray this one; the damage could be felt and seen.  We guessed that he’d flown into a power line at just the right angle to shatter his wrist and nearly shear it off. The photos were taken in the exam room before Peggy came in to check him out, and we opted for euthanasia based on the severity of the wounds.

The people who found this adult male belted kingfisher tangled in fishing line were app. 50 miles from two federally licensed rehabbers and drove the bird to a vet clinic 100 miles away, from whence he had to make the trip back to LWR, courtesy of volunteers Amy, Laurie and Marshall. Aside from stress after his two days of riding, he’s a very lucky bird in that the injuries to his wing are minor. Peggy confirmed he had no fractures but likely some soft tissue trauma.

This is the first kingfisher who’s been a guest at LWR, so I called colleague Grace Krick in Connecticut for advice. Grace specializes in waterfowl, and I wanted to make sure my treatment plan was in line with what she’d recommend. After laughing with me about kingfishers’ HUGE attitudes, totally out of proportion to their small size (about the size of a blue jay), she confirmed that my intended treatment was pretty much what she’d do, so now it’s just a matter of hoping the soft tissue trauma resolves as it should, with no lingering issues for the little spitfire!

No updated photos of the flight pens this week, ‘cause it rained practically all week—messy, misty, drizzly nastiness that prevented any fill dirt being placed in. Plus I spent every spare moment that it wasn’t raining doing the crane paparazzi thing. Better weather predicted for next week, though, so I should be able to indulge my crane addiction while also getting the finishing touches on the flights.