Yeah, hard to believe, right? Used to be, LWR would see one eagle maybe every 4-5 years; now it seems to be multiples every year. I guess that speaks well of Georgia’s conservation efforts.
This guy—and we’re sure he’s male, given his overall smaller size and weight—was found in Jefferson County, about 2 hours away, on Wednesday afternoon and taken by DNR to an Augusta vet clinic until they could transport to LWR. DNR had statewide meetings all day Thursday, leaving no one to transport, and I had appointments I couldn’t cancel, so the transport was set up for Friday morning.
Meanwhile, I called the Augusta clinic and spoke with them concerning feeding, etc., while they had him. Upon my recommendation, they offered him both fish and roadkill squirrel, and he ate both for them Wednesday evening and Thursday. They had also weighed him at just over 7 lbs., on the low end of the scale for a male.
I also called Auburn to give them a heads-up they’d have an eagle arriving sometime Friday, and alerted Smalley’s I’d be bringing one in Friday morning, as well.
Upon his arrival at LWR Friday, he was loaded up immediately for x-rays at Smalley’s Animal Hospital. Vet Jim Hobby confirmed my initial quick intake exam with the x-rays: Nothing was broken. Further, the trunk x-rays showed NO LEAD in his body. Sadly, this is something we always check for with raptors. He was only missing most of his flight feathers on his right wing, which would have impaired his ability to fly. His keel (breastbone) was fairly well-fleshed—the breastbone itself was palpable but not badly so. In other words, he was at a pretty healthy weight but could stand to gain a few ounces.
This guy—and we’re sure he’s male, given his overall smaller size and weight—was found in Jefferson County, about 2 hours away, on Wednesday afternoon and taken by DNR to an Augusta vet clinic until they could transport to LWR. DNR had statewide meetings all day Thursday, leaving no one to transport, and I had appointments I couldn’t cancel, so the transport was set up for Friday morning.
Meanwhile, I called the Augusta clinic and spoke with them concerning feeding, etc., while they had him. Upon my recommendation, they offered him both fish and roadkill squirrel, and he ate both for them Wednesday evening and Thursday. They had also weighed him at just over 7 lbs., on the low end of the scale for a male.
I also called Auburn to give them a heads-up they’d have an eagle arriving sometime Friday, and alerted Smalley’s I’d be bringing one in Friday morning, as well.
Upon his arrival at LWR Friday, he was loaded up immediately for x-rays at Smalley’s Animal Hospital. Vet Jim Hobby confirmed my initial quick intake exam with the x-rays: Nothing was broken. Further, the trunk x-rays showed NO LEAD in his body. Sadly, this is something we always check for with raptors. He was only missing most of his flight feathers on his right wing, which would have impaired his ability to fly. His keel (breastbone) was fairly well-fleshed—the breastbone itself was palpable but not badly so. In other words, he was at a pretty healthy weight but could stand to gain a few ounces.
Vet Jim Hobby with me and the eagle post-X-rays
With a clean bill of health, he left Smalley’s for LWR again, to await our stalwart volunteer transporter Joy Daniels, who arrived shortly after we got back home. We had a little back-and-forth with an ill-informed front desk staff person at Auburn, who informed me they couldn’t take the bird because their primary raptor vet was out of town—which no one mentioned on Wednesday. I then insisted they provide me a written statement to that effect to send to GA DNR and USFWS to explain why I would be holding the bird for over 48 hours. She refused, whereupon I hung up and called Bob Sargent of GA DNR, who monitors Georgia’s eagles, and explained the situation to him.
In less than 10 minutes, Bob had called his contact at Auburn, who overrode the front desk and said to send the bird. By 5:30 Friday, Joy notified me the eagle was safely at Auburn.
In less than 10 minutes, Bob had called his contact at Auburn, who overrode the front desk and said to send the bird. By 5:30 Friday, Joy notified me the eagle was safely at Auburn.
Everything else seems kinda mundane after an eagle intake, I know, but hey, we did also have a release! The barred owl regained his freedom late last Sunday, a couple of hours before dusk. He flew to a low limb and when I walked over to get a post-release photo, he took off into the pines behind him.
The HBC red shoulder was moved out into the mini-pen, where he seems to be moving nicely. In a few days I’ll test him in the main flight and see how he fares there; if he’s flying well, he’ll be released, as well.
And, of course, the recently released black vultures are still hanging around being doofuses. How such intelligent birds can be such clowns is beyond me, but they excel at it!
RSS Feed
