While intakes remain slow so far this season, there’s a steady enough trickle to keep me busy. According to reports from rehabbers around the state, slow but steady seems to be everybody’s current situation…which none of us are complaining about after our “banner year” in 2010!

Let’s see…this update is a mixed bag…

The barnie was released and from all reports is quite happy to be back home. It’s always nice when we get to release adult wildlife back into the wild; too often the adults come in too badly injured to be saved.

This was, in fact, the case with this gorgeous male red tailed hawk, who had numerous issues. He’d been hit by a car and had head and beak damage, in addition to a broken wing. This paled, however, beside his major problem: he’d apparently eaten a rodent that had eaten rat poison. This probably explained why he’d been hit by the car; he was already dying slowly and painfully as the rodenticide caused him to begin bleeding to death internally. As you can see from the bloody spots around him, he’d begun pooping blood by the time I got him to the vet. The small wound on his wing also refused to clot—a sure sign that rat poison was the culprit.

Soapbox time here, people: I realize no one wants rats and mice in their homes, garages, barns—whatever. But there are better ways to deal with them than rat poison, okay? Use rat/mouse traps— humane or snap traps, not glue traps; those are lethal to wildlife, too. Put up an owl nesting box and see if you can encourage a screech owl to move in. According to some people, Bounce dryer sheets will deter rodents. I haven’t tried this so I can’t vouch for it. There are companies that sell a repellant that smells like fox/bobcat urine; this is also one I haven’t tried, but those who have say that it also deters squirrels if you have problems with them. Encourage rat snakes, black snakes and king snakes to take up residence around your property. They’re nonpoisonous and non-aggressive toward anything other than their prey, which includes rattlesnakes, so you get double-duty protection from them. Bottom line: when you use rat poison it moves up the food chain into the predators that eat rodents. The predators that most concern us would be hawks and owls. They die, slowly and painfully, because they ate the very pests you didn’t want around to begin with, and you lose their help in controlling the rodent population. Rat poison is a self-defeating method, in my opinion, for that very reason.  Don’t use the nasty stuff!

Okay, off the soapbox…for a while, at least.

In other raptor news, LWR received its first osprey. Ospreys primarily eat fish, so they’re found near rivers, lakes, etc. This guy was found near a lake and had a broken wing. He was lucky; his break was mid-bone and not too badly displaced, so he has a chance at release. He’ll be going to Bubba & Friends (www.bubba-and-friends.org) soon, where as his wing heals, he’ll get daily PT and flight conditioning.

We had another barred owl come right after the last update. He was found by the side of the road by a group of birders, who brought him to me. His left eye was damaged pretty badly but he could see out of the right eye, so we were hopeful all would be well. About two weeks later the damaged eye began to atrophy, which the vets at Smalley’s Animal Hospital had said was a possibility. He had to be euthanized.

The youngest squirrel from the last update also had to be euthanized. Once his eyes opened, he turned out to be blind, the poor baby.

And this female pine warbler was downed in a hailstorm. Nothing was broken; she just refused to eat or fly. She was force-fed and we began antibiotics, as this seemed to be the next logical alternative. The pretty little thing actually seemed to perk up and began flitting about her pen and pecking at things—including me—after the meds kicked in, so I was confident she’d be a success story. The next morning she was dead.

This is one of the frustrating aspects of wildlife rehab, as I’ve mentioned before. The really ill or seriously injured animals, you expect not to make it. It always comes as a shock when the ones who respond to treatment and seem to be on the mend keel over overnight.

The squirrel whose progress you’ve been following for a couple of months now is doing quite well and attempting to break records for most weight on a squirrel his size. Such a greedy little rascal!

He has a companion, too, another little male. They’re about the same age, so they’re housed together. This little guy was one of two found when someone cut down a tree. Both were taken home, where the people attempted to raise them as pets, feeding them all the wrong foods in the process—for the record, squirrels DO NOT eat bread; cow’s milk will kill them; and pecans are the nutritional equivalent of a candy bar and are used only as treats here at LWR.  His brother died of starvation/malnutrition before the people decided to get this little one the professional help he needed. When he came in, he was rail-thin. It took a good week before he began noticeably gaining weight, but he’s making up for lost time now. I can no longer feel every rib on his little body, and he and his “brother” are active, playful little rascals who’re in the process of being weaned now.

And finally, only two of the white bluebird eggs I mentioned in the last update hatched. I do, however, finally have “blues” nesting in a box they’ve ignored for the three years it’s been up; there are four pretty little eggs in it. And a weekend neighbor has a nesting mama, as well, who also has four eggs. I’m checking all nests daily, as there are so many predators out there and so few bluebirds…and in my admittedly biased opinion, there’s very little prettier than a bluebird!