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.
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.