And soggy it is—it rained so much a few days ago that my deer pen was briefly a deer pond. I’ve got to get some edging/flashing up to divert these incessant deluges…

The red tailed hawk from the 1-21 update took a decided turn for the worse the very afternoon I worked on the website, beginning to have seizures and rip at her wing, so after a phone discussion with Steve Hicks of Bubba & Friends raptor rehab, we opted for that final vet trip. There were obviously issues we couldn’t see and I hated to euthanize, but I hated more watching her suffer.

The same week that she came in, LWR received yet another red screech owl, a male this time, and a barred owl. The screech was in fairly good shape aside from a concussion and an eye injury, so he’s with Steve now; the barred owl had severe head trauma that resulted in massive seizures, complete with piteous moans. Again, after consulting Steve, I had the barred owl euthanized.

As I said in the last update, this is not a pleasant time of year. Steve swears, only half-jokingly, there will be no orphaned raptors this year because he has all the adults in rehab—and there are days I think he’s right. The cold, wet weather has made it difficult for raptors and songbirds alike to find food, and the raptors are getting so desperate that they’re taking chances they wouldn’t normally take. It’s that or starve. Unfortunately, those chances frequently end in disaster, with the bird brought to rehabbers so severely injured that euthanasia is the only option.

 
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An exception to this rule is the first intake for February, an adult great horned owl (GHO). He was found hung in a barbed wire fence and brought to me by DNR, after hanging from the fence all night in a cold rain. At first glance, his injuries looked pretty serious, but once we got him dried off and vet Peggy Hobby examined him, we discovered that his injuries weren’t as severe as we’d thought.
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This was one more lucky bird—instead of having his wing broken or horribly slashed by the barbed wire, he escaped with massive feather loss and lots of raw, irritated skin. This is not the norm: usually GHOs who hit barbed wire fences are not savable.  This guy is on his way to Steve, where he’ll finish out a round of antibiotics and be tested for flight-readiness. Once he’s deemed capable of flight, he’ll come back to me for DNR to release where he was found.

Why put him back in an area where he might not be so lucky the next time? He’s an adult, which means he has an established territory that he needs to be returned to; also, he more than likely has a mate who may be on the nest now and will soon be needing his help with babies.

 
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While this has been a harsh winter for wildlife, spring is on the way. For those who doubt it, look at the buds on the red maple in these photos of an Eastern bluebird, taken yesterday.  Bluebirds are year-round residents in Georgia, as are robins, the fabled harbingers of spring.
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Finally, a reminder that the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is next weekend, Feb. 12-15. This is a fun, easy way to become a “citizen-scientist” while spending as little or as much time as you like counting the birds in your area. It gives researchers a real-time snapshot of where birds are, and you don’t have to be an expert birder to participate: you can list only the birds you recognize. For more information, click on the GBBC button at right or visit www.birdcount.org .
 


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