Y’all ain’t gon’ believe this!

For the uninitiated, that’s how we Southerners start a really good tale, be it true or tall. In this case, it’s true, and it’s amazing!

Thursday night an area game warden called with a downed red tail. I asked all the pertinent questions about what injuries he could reasonably detect with the naked eye, and he said the bird had some sort of “muscle” exposed on its chest. Not good. I suspected then it was a ruptured crop and told him as much.

When he arrived with the bird, sure enough, it was a ruptured crop. Friday morning I contacted vet Richie Hatcher at Magnolia Grove Veterinary Clinic and asked if he could see the red tail. He said of course.
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When Richie examined the bird we both agreed that, given the alternative was euthanasia, it was worth a try to fix the crop. The rupture was fresh; the edges were still pink, moist and healthy. After he injected lidocaine around the wound, opting for local anesthesia (safer for such a short procedure) rather than gassing the bird down, Richie proceeded to suture the crop shut while I restrained the bird and vet tech Samantha Wells used my phone to take photos of the procedure. 

Taken the morning after his crop was sutured.

We agreed afterward that in addition to antibiotics, small, frequent meals were in order while the crop healed. Our hope was that there was no nerve damage in the ruptured area that might prevent the crop from functioning properly.
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Saturday morning I awoke to find a small, well-formed, fresh pellet in the bird’s box. I texted a photo of it to Richie, letting him know his efforts had paid off—the bird’s crop was functioning as it should! He was as excited as I was. 

​And this morning, the bird cast another small, well-formed pellet.  He still needs to be fed small, frequent meals to avoid stressing the crop but his prognosis is lookin’ good right now!

​Continuing on a positive note, the red tail who was recovering from the broken hand was released this morning. I tried a different approach with his release, just opening the raptor flight door and walking to the middle of the flight to see what he’d do. And what he did was scope out the open door, look at me to make sure it wasn’t a trick, and skedaddle before I could change my mind.

​The red tail recovering from the broken elbow is, obviously, still inside and the wing is looking nice and level.

​A mature red tail came in this morning with head trauma but no other apparent injury, so he just needs a little time to adjust his horizontal and vertical hold.

Of course, it’s almost never all good news in wildlife rehab: The red shoulder who’d been moved to the mini-pen required euthanasia; his wing fracture didn’t heal for flight. He couldn’t even get enough lift to reach the low perch. And a barred owl that came in last Sunday night with no apparent injuries must have had internal injuries, as he died overnight.
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The screeches have both been moved into the mini-pen. The red phase with the shoulder dislocation is looking pretty good but not capable of flight yet.  The gray phase is actually ready for release within the next couple of days.

​And I’m still excited about those pellets from the red tail, lemme tell ya...