…And it’s business as usual at LWR. The barred owl who was in the raptor flight was released and barely gave me time to focus the camera for a release video, much less a decent perched shot post-release. In fact, the one crappy perched shot I got was at full optical zoom (30x) and I could STILL, at that distance, hear him beak-clicking before he took flight again to get farther away from me!
The plan was to then move the great horned owl recovering from capillaria into the raptor flight briefly, before releasing him and getting the barnies in. Unfortunately, he died between the morning box-check and that afternoon’s planned move—just pitched forward like a baby GHO would to sleep. No clue why—he was responding to treatment, alert, eating well…Given his general antsy attitude, maybe it was sheer stress—who knows? It was NOT the outcome I’d expected for this bird, though…
Yet another barred owl came in mid-week, this one with both a small open fracture and bones at the wrist so badly shattered I could hear and feel the “crunching” of the fragments. No x-ray needed for this poor bird; both fractures were unfixable. He was euthanized within minutes of intake.
Yet another barred owl came in mid-week, this one with both a small open fracture and bones at the wrist so badly shattered I could hear and feel the “crunching” of the fragments. No x-ray needed for this poor bird; both fractures were unfixable. He was euthanized within minutes of intake.
The red-tailed hawk recovering from a wing fracture continues to do well and the goal is to get him in for x-rays this week to see how well the wing is healing. This is his “where’s the food?” look!
I managed quite a few photos of the flyers this past week when I gave them their first millet spray as a treat—and what a treat it was, for them and me, and now for you!
The barnies are now in the raptor flight—moved ‘em Saturday, and oh, the hue and cry over that move…The screaming was so loud and prolonged that my father’s dog came running full-tilt to see who was being murdered! Not to worry, I had regained my hearing within an hour or so…
For the first several hours, they hunkered on the ground, head-shaking vigorously—it’s actually called toe dusting and is a defensive/threat display, the idea being to intimidate their “foe.” By dark, the two oldest barnies were perching; by this morning, the two youngest had decided to perch, as well. They were all too stressed by their new digs to eat last night; I haven’t checked yet to see if they ate their breakfast.
For the first several hours, they hunkered on the ground, head-shaking vigorously—it’s actually called toe dusting and is a defensive/threat display, the idea being to intimidate their “foe.” By dark, the two oldest barnies were perching; by this morning, the two youngest had decided to perch, as well. They were all too stressed by their new digs to eat last night; I haven’t checked yet to see if they ate their breakfast.
And a reminder—next week’s update will be on Monday, Dec. 26.
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