…because we’re 11 days into March with no intakes, and I know all too well that means I’m about to get slammed soon…Meanwhile, it’s business as usual with the current residents of the LWR B&B.
The barred owls are still not impressing me with their flight ability, which is not boding well for their future. We’ll see how this plays out.
The barred owls are still not impressing me with their flight ability, which is not boding well for their future. We’ll see how this plays out.
The oriole cannot fly. Most coracoid fractures heal for perfect flight; I can’t even remember the last time I had a bird with a coracoid fracture that wasn’t releasable. But this poor fellow isn’t. I’m giving him till the end of the week to prove me wrong, even though I know he can’t.
The red shoulder needs to be in the raptor flight now but can’t go in until the owls are out. He’s about stir-crazy, poor bird.
The red shoulder needs to be in the raptor flight now but can’t go in until the owls are out. He’s about stir-crazy, poor bird.
The red tail should have been released by now but I wasn’t releasing a bird who didn’t seem to recognize food outside a crate, so she’ll need to go back in the raptor flight after the barreds and red shoulder have their turns.
And the flyers got spooked by something last night and all six were out of their box, even though the light was still on, when I went in to freshen their food and water for the night. I took advantage of what will probably be the last time we’ll see all six at once to get some photos and video. (And yes, that’s duct tape over the AC vent in the photos and video—I learned the hard way years back to cover the vents during the winter when I have the flyer cage sitting in front of the AC; otherwise, I get all sorts of crud blown out when it’s first turned on for the summer—see all the stuff on the rest of the unit?)
Songbirds are nesting now; one of our bluebird boxes has a nest with, as of today, three eggs in it—there will be more; bluebirds lay an egg a day for five or six days, rarely more. Another of the bluebird boxes has been commandeered by a chickadee—at least it looks like a chickadee nest. No eggs in it yet, though.
Above, bluebird eggs; below, two shots of chickadee nest. Bottom shot is looking down into nest--tight squeeze even for a flat phone camera!
And why am I telling you this? To make you aware that nesting season has begun for songbirds so you can check around your own yards and know the locations of various nests. If you know where the nests are and what’s using them, you can often re-nest unnested babies, and as any rehabber will tell you, no matter how skilled we are or how much we love wild babies, it’s always best if the parents can continue to raise their young whenever possible.
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