This week's general update

The biggest news (to me, at least) is that my baby has become a good enough flier to graduate to another cage. After all, a mom with a bum wing isn't very good at teaching a kid how to fly. However, thanks to me, that kid was sent over to his new mom with a healthy Great Horned Owl attitude (if he took the "Which Raptor Are You?" quiz, he would definitely get "Great Horned Owl"). Still, I sneaked into his new cage to see how he's doing, and it's clear to me that while he may be able to fly with his new mom, he obviously liked me more:

In other news, the Undead Red-Tail likes to perch with his foot outstretched like a total goofball. He's still under the weather and fighting off an illness/infection, but he's improving daily.

He spends most of his time like this

The Swainson's Hawk that survived a run-in with a methane burner last year is molting out his feathers, and the Humans are hopeful that his new set will be high-quality so he can be kicked out of here this year. Here's a pic of what a feather molted from a hawk that caught on fire looks like:

Amazing that he's okay, isn't it?

There are still four Bald Eagles in house, all plodding their high-maintenance way through the rehabilitation process. And we also have three accipiters (two Cooper's Hawks and a Sharp-Shinned Hawk) at the center, which is a pretty high number for them, too. All three were admitted with impact injuries, probably from hitting windows. This includes the Cooper's Hawk shown below, the one that actually shattered the house window she ran into.

After demolishing a button quail for lunch

The Turkey Vulture that was going to be released now-ish is instead molting in a new set of flight feathers. I think he's doing on purpose so he can keep room service as long as possible. But when he's done growing in new feathers (a couple of weeks), he'll be out of here, too.

And, finally, the Great Horned Owl with the luxated elbow flies great despite the wing droop, and started on Rat School yesterday. Rat School (or Mouse School, depending on the size of the bird) is when the Humans put the about-to-be-released bird in a large flight cage, and give the bird live prey for a few days. Instead of simply flying down to a perch to eat pre-killed rabbit, the bird has to catch and kill the prey itself. Happily, the Great Horned Owl killed his rat. Killed it dead. Full marks for the Great Horned Owl!

That's all for now!

General Update

Still not a whole lot going on at the RMRP, but certainly some interesting cases coming through the cages.  Here's the quick-and-dirty:

--First off, I can't remember if I told everyone that the Humans released the grill-head Red-Tailed Hawk! Remember him? He was found with his head stuck in the grill of a truck, and came in looking like this:

Very sick Red-Tailed Hawk after colliding with car

Well, he was released last week! Despite a fractured skull and awful head trauma, he's out there striking fear into the hearts of small rodents again. Congratulations to the RMRP for a job well done!

--Onto more current cases, a few days ago the Humans admitted a Cooper's Hawk that hit a house window...and shattered it. Can someone who's better at physics than an Owl please explain how a soft, feathery bird that weighs about half a pound can shatter a house window? Unfortunately, the outlook for this bird isn't hopeful, but it is a good reminder to keep your bird feeders away from windows, and apply decals to your windows if you have lots of birds zooming around.

--Admitted two baby Great-Horned Owls last week! Same nest, different days!  The first kid to come in was still very young. He was found at the base of the tree in fine health, but pretty vulnerable.  The Humans were able to put him back in the nest with his younger sibling.  Then, the very next day, the Humans had to rescue another young Owl from that same nest.  This one had gone out on his maiden flight and ended up standing in the middle of the road.  The Humans couldn't put that bird back in the nest because he was more flighted than his younger sibling. If they tried, the Humans would place him in the tree near the nest, he'd instantly fly away again because of the Human in his face, he'd end up on the ground, and the cycle would begin again.  Therefore, when the RMRP gets in mostly-flighted babies, they have to keep the baby until it's fully-flighted. So the mostly-flighted baby is here at the RMRP, finishing growing in feathers and learning how to be a fearsome creature.  Hm, I wonder where they put him?

Poor wing position, but excellent flight! Can't judge a book by it's cover...

--The Great Horned Owl with the luxated (dislocated) elbow is doing surprisingly well.  Despite the fact that he holds his wing out at an awkward angle, he's doing laps around his cage like nobody's business.  Soon he'll graduate to a cage with fewer perches to depend on.  Then he'll attend mouse school, and if he passes that he'll be released!

--The Red-Tailed Hawk with the broken foot is out of his splint and beginning to use the foot to grab the perch. That's excellent news because while wings need to be perfect for release, feet only need to be functional enough to grab perches and food, and this guy is well on the way to two functional feet.

--There are still FOUR Bald Eagles in house. Enough said.

SWHA's nest-building skills at work

--As for Educational Ambassadors, the female Common Barn Owl is busy rolling and tending her fake eggs, and the female Swainson's Hawk is contentedly arranging sticks in her cage.

And that's all the news for this week!  Time for me to get back to my baby.

Quick bird update

• The adult Bald Eagle with the spinal trauma and confidence problems was put out in a large flight with the immature eagle for a week to help the immature calm down. It worked well, so now the adult is back in a smaller cage where she can continue working on attaining higher perches. See how tall she's getting?

• The American Kestrel that came in with a fractured ulna is flying perfectly and should be released as soon as the wind dies down!

• The Red Tailed Hawk that was found with its head stuck in the grill of a truck is doing really well. His skull fracture is healed and he's flying around his cage really well, despite having reduced vision in one eye. Next step: rat school, where the hawk is moved to a large flight and given live rats to kill. If his vision and flight are good enough to hunt and kill, he can be released! 

All the other birds at the RMRP are doing well, too. The case load is slowly climbing as we approach summer. I'll let you know when more interesting cases come through the door!

As promised

Here are photos of some of the birds I wrote about the other day:

One week later, doing much better!

The Red-Tailed Hawk who was found with its head stuck in the grill of a truck:

In the O2 cage after admission

The Great Horned Owl with the healing fracture, the one who is very angry and fierce:

The female American Kestrel with the healing fracture (she likes to hang out in the highest corners of her cage):

Sorry, I didn't have time to snap a pic of the Bald Eagles, but I'll try to get one soon!  I'll keep you posted on everyone's progress! 

Rehab gossip

I just got back from eavesdropping on this week's Rounds meeting. Once a week, all the Humans who work and volunteer at the RMRP gather together in the warehouse to ensure there are enough minions on every shift to take care of all of us Raptors, to make announcements, hand out awards and certificates, and go over the ever-changing status of all the rehab cases in the facility. Tonight's updates had me making notes in my iPhone because, for the first time in a couple of months, there are enough birds in-house to cause information-overload while listening in. Here's the quick and dirty of some of the more interesting cases:

• Remember the Bald Eagles I mentioned a few posts ago? The slow-but-steady spinal trauma adult, and the reckless youngin' determined to knock himself senseless by forgetting to put on the brakes? Well, the  youngin' had to take a breather from the large flight cage when his lead poisoning flared up again, but he's back in a large flight cage again...and guess who's there with him? The slow-and-steady adult! Her progress has been really positive recently, so she was moved into the large flight cage with the reckless kid in the hope that she'll help him chill out a little. They're also helping each other with physical therapy: he always wants to be next to her, and she always wants to be left alone. So when she moves to a perch and he follows her there, she moves to another perch in an effort to get away...and so they're always moving and always giving themselves physical therapy. Don't worry: even though she doesn't want to be buddy-buddy shoulder-to-shoulder with him, they're actually getting along just fine. 

• A Great Horned Owl came in a couple of weeks ago with a fractured humerus. That can be a very bad thing, but this was the kind of break that made the Humans happy: a clean, simple, middle of the bone fracture. He has a fixator on it for support, and he's confined to a critical care cage until the bone heals. Since the fracture was an easy one to deal with, this Owl is making up for it in other ways. One, he's a chewer, and the Humans are spending a lot of energy creating chew-tabs out of tape for him to gnaw on instead of the fixator. Two, he's a handful. Now, all Great Horned Owls are angry, disagreeable handfuls (and we're very proud of this), but apparently this guy is angry above and beyond the norms. I can't wait until he moves to the outside cages and I get a chance to chat with him! 

• A Red-Tailed Hawk, hit by a car, came in a week ago in really bad shape. Of course you expect a hawk hit by a car to be in bad shape, but this hawk was stuck in the grill of a truck. By his head. And did he give up an die in the grill of that truck? Heck no. He's a Red-Tailed Hawk. They fight. This guy has massive head trauma (no surprise there) and a fractured skull. Recently he's regained enough coordination to eat on his own (I remember how hard that was for me back when I was admitted for head trauma, and I didn't have a fractured skull!) and the vision in his left eye is slowly improving. The outlook on this hawk is still guarded, but I'm really pulling for him. What a fighter!

• A few weeks ago a female American Kestrel was admitted with a fractured ulna. Again, this was a break that was cheerfully received by the Humans because it appeared to be fixable. When the ulna breaks, it can often be stabilized by the radius alongside it, which is exactly what happened in this case. She moved out to a small outside cage this week, and will be moving to a larger flight cage soon. The resident educational Kestrel with the Twitter account will be bummed to see her move--he's pretty smitten with his new neighbor! 

Well, that's it for now. I'll try my best to sneak some pictures soon so you can see these birds I'm writing about! Of course, stay tuned for more updates, and I'll be sure to let you know when any of these brave birds get released.