Yep, two more nestling barred owls came in early in the week. The tree their nest was in fell and there was initially some concern that they might be injured, but they’re just fine. Thanks to volunteer transporter Joy Daniels for picking them up late at night and her husband Doug for getting to me the next day. They make a good team!
The adult barred who came in Monday wasn’t as lucky; his wing was trashed beyond repair and he was euthanized humanely.
It wasn’t a good week for songbird nestlings, either: Of the five that came in, only two are still with us. A late-nestling house finch was DOA, as was a small warbler of indeterminate species, a fledgling titmouse and a grackle. The poor grackle had a serious pelvic fracture and I debated whether, since he was young and his bones were still growing, it might be fixable but he died within hours of intake, rendering my internal debate moot.
The two survivors are still iffy, as they’re hatchlings—and I do mean hatchlings; they’d probably just hatched when some jackass homeowner trimmed his trees and dumped the branches at a trash collection center in a neighboring county. Because he even made a mess of that, the woman working the center went to clean up the limbs he left on the ground and found these two babies with remnants of their eggshells. She spent the day trying to locate a rehabber and then had a friend bring them to LWR. Based on the eggshells found with them, I’m fairly certain they’re cardinals. Thus far they’re doing well but hatchlings are very fragile and prone to do well for a day or two and then crash. So...we’ll see...And just let me add, on a very personal note, there’s a special place in hell for anyone who’d deliberately dump helpless babies like that, after destroying their home.
The original barred quartet are now in the mini-pen; the screeches had to come back in for a while so the barreds could have room to spread their wings.
These are photos of the screeches before I moved them back inside.
The woodpeckers are growing like weeds.
The house finch is perching now but refusing to self-feed just yet.
The great horneds are still not quite ready for live-prey testing, but we’re getting there.
And the black vulture babies remain utterly adorable. And greedy. I believe they give the great horneds a run for the money in the “bottomless pit” department!
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