Beginning with what’s always big news, another bald eagle came in late in the week. Additionally, LWR had three releases and a euthanasia, we did some rearranging of birds after the releases, and another screech came in this morning.
Starting with the eagle, of course, he was a 7lb., 3oz. adult bird who came from Emmanuel County. He’d been down a while, as his tail feathers were stained about halfway up and the edges were ragged. He arrived in respiratory distress, so I quickly called Auburn before even notifying my vets at Smalley’s that I was en route with an eagle. The folks at Auburn said get him on oxygen as soon as I got to my vet clinic, so the next call was to Smalley’s as I headed out the door.
Starting with the eagle, of course, he was a 7lb., 3oz. adult bird who came from Emmanuel County. He’d been down a while, as his tail feathers were stained about halfway up and the edges were ragged. He arrived in respiratory distress, so I quickly called Auburn before even notifying my vets at Smalley’s that I was en route with an eagle. The folks at Auburn said get him on oxygen as soon as I got to my vet clinic, so the next call was to Smalley’s as I headed out the door.
Upon arrival there, the bird was quickly placed on oxygen and over the course of about 4 hours we used 2 tanks on him. During this time vet Jim Hobby was in touch with a vet at Auburn for treatment advice, as we’d never had an eagle—or any other raptor, for that matter—come in with such difficulty breathing. The Auburn vet recommended a specific medication, so we had to weigh the bird to determine the dosage. This, of course, meant taking him off the oxygen for a few minutes, so while we had him out of the box we also snapped a quick x-ray—very quick, as the bird was starting to crash from the stress of being handled.
Back into the box and on oxygen he went until he stabilized. Jim and I agreed the right lung looked cloudy on the x-ray, although the Auburn vet said he could tell little from it, as we snapped only the one, very quickly, before getting the bird back on oxygen.
Back into the box and on oxygen he went until he stabilized. Jim and I agreed the right lung looked cloudy on the x-ray, although the Auburn vet said he could tell little from it, as we snapped only the one, very quickly, before getting the bird back on oxygen.
As soon as he calmed down a bit, I headed home with him and another dose of the meds for the next morning. We were hoping by then he’d’ve stabilized enough for transport to Auburn, as Jim, the Auburn vet and I all agreed transporting the bird in his current condition would kill him outright.
His breathing was quieter and seemed less labored the next morning, although he wasn’t standing as he had been on the previous day. I placed him in a donut to ease his breathing even more, since he wasn’t standing. He remained alert and readily snatched food from the forceps. I again consulted Auburn, and they recommended against transport, given that he’d gone from standing to needing a donut overnight. They also approved my plan to provide small feedings every two hours.
At some point between his 3PM and 5PM feedings he died. As I’d also been in constant contact with Bob Sargent, head of Georgia DNR’s eagle program, I alerted him to the bird’s death and he asked that the carcass be kept cool until he could send a game tech to retrieve it the next morning.
As of Friday morning, the carcass was en route to Athens for a necropsy, as we all want to know what killed the eagle.
In better news, we did have three releases: the great horned owl, the barred owl and the sharpie. I only managed to get video of the great horned’s release.
His breathing was quieter and seemed less labored the next morning, although he wasn’t standing as he had been on the previous day. I placed him in a donut to ease his breathing even more, since he wasn’t standing. He remained alert and readily snatched food from the forceps. I again consulted Auburn, and they recommended against transport, given that he’d gone from standing to needing a donut overnight. They also approved my plan to provide small feedings every two hours.
At some point between his 3PM and 5PM feedings he died. As I’d also been in constant contact with Bob Sargent, head of Georgia DNR’s eagle program, I alerted him to the bird’s death and he asked that the carcass be kept cool until he could send a game tech to retrieve it the next morning.
As of Friday morning, the carcass was en route to Athens for a necropsy, as we all want to know what killed the eagle.
In better news, we did have three releases: the great horned owl, the barred owl and the sharpie. I only managed to get video of the great horned’s release.
The red tail who came in with the massively swollen eye and had been placed in the raptor flight required euthanasia. If you recall, after the swelling went down, he still had a blood clot right at the pupil. Well, as that dissolved, the eyeball began collapsing. Over the course of last week it shriveled like a raisin. He wasn’t releasable with his eye in that shape, and it would have caused great discomfort throughout his life, so he wasn’t a good candidate for an ed bird.
With that bird’s euthanasia, the red tail with the broken hand went into the raptor flight.
His movement to the raptor flight freed the mini-pen for the red shoulder.
The red tail with the elbow fracture is, of course, still confined inside while we wait for it to heal.
The screech with the dislocated shoulder also remains inside. The shoulder seems to be more level most of the time; if he gets stressed it will sometimes droop, so he’s not quite healed. (And yes, he likes to shred the paper lining his box...)
This morning a gray-phase screech came in after flying into a man’s car last night. Literally. He said he had his windows down, heard a thud behind him, and turned to see a stunned screech sitting on the back of his seat. The screech is alert and typically screech pissy today and nothing is broken, but one pupil looks a little dilated so he’ll stay at LWR for a few days.
And on that note, let me point out that Google is NOT your friend, nor are its search results remotely accurate on most things. Upon arriving home with the stunned screech last night, the man googled what to feed what he thought was a baby great horned...and found information on Google that recommended feeding the bird shredded celery and other vegetables. Folks, raptors are MEAT EATERS. Any site that suggests feeding them veggies is run by idiots of the worst kind—probably the same fools who tell the gullible public to feed songbirds bread soaked in milk, which is a crap diet for songbirds. In short, don’t EVER trust care and feeding advice for wildlife that you find online. If you MUST keep wildlife overnight before getting it to a rehabber, ASK THE REHABBER what, if anything, it needs to be fed short-term.
With a solid week of clear skies and mostly mild temps, the vultures have been making themselves scarce, so no photos of them this week.
With a solid week of clear skies and mostly mild temps, the vultures have been making themselves scarce, so no photos of them this week.
RSS Feed
