Nice day to give an owl a bath…
This great horned owl (patient #16055) came to us from Rowan county after being caught in a sewage treatment plant holding tank. She was barely conscious, cold, and completely soaked with mud. She was gurgling fluid. One of her eyes was collapsed. We quickly placed an intraosseous catheter and rehydrated her. Since Tuesday, she has drastically recovered. We gave her a bath today, but she will definitely need another next week.
Today we moved our two orphaned bald eagles from rehab into the hack tower.
Oh my goodness, it’s a turkey vulture baby!
Patient #16012, orphaned red-shouldered hawk, found in Wake County NC
Diagnosis: fractured left tibiotarsus, orphaned
Today’s surgery to repair the fracture went really well. Surgery time was only 19 minutes and the recovery was quick. The bird was up and eating within an hour of waking up.
New Bald Eagle Orphan, Patient #16011
Found walking on a road near Falls Lake in Apex, NC
Diagnosis: emaciation, orphaned
This is one of seven new patients that we have received today. Four red-shouldered hawks, a barred owl, a black vulture, and a bald eagle. One of the red-shouldered hawks has a tibiotarsus fracture (a leg bone) that will be surgically repaired tomorrow.
The barred owls are starting to grow up too! The photo above shows the first group of orphaned barred owls that moved to a larger outdoor enclosure. Don’t mind the little guy with the funny beak that’s second from the left…he had a beak fracture that we stabilized and are trying to straighten with epoxy. More on his story later.
So, today I used RaptorMed (our amazing medical records system) to compare how many orphans we have so far this year to how many we had last year at this time, and guess what? It was the exact same number: 81. There were some differences in species counts, such as not yet receiving an orphaned turkey vulture this year. Also, we started getting Eastern screech owls earlier this year than in the past, so those numbers are higher (we are attributing it to the warmer weather/milder winter). It’s pretty cool what the search tool on RaptorMed will do. It will even produce a graph of the results. It’s so simple. It literally took less than 30 seconds to make this graph:
Because we are lucky enough to work with little guys like this, patient #16002.
This orphan was found on the ground under his nest. Most likely, he fell during the storms we have had over the past 24 hours. The parents were trying to feed him a snake. He arrived completely unconscious and limp, suffering from hypothermia. He was cold, wet, and dirty. His heart rate was around 70 bpm (average would be above 200). We’ve had him on heat for about an hour now and he is starting to swallow and move around a little. He is resting and his eyes aren’t yet open. Hopefully we got him in time and will be able to save him.
Today’s Surgery
Patient #15987, orphaned barred owl, found in Salisbury NC
Diagnosis: fracture of the right coracoid and right tibiotarsus bones
Early this afternoon we repaired the tibiotarsus fracture. It was a relatively short surgery, only 23 minutes once the area was prepped. We got good alignment and juntion of the bone ends was very tight. The orphan recovered quickly and was standing less than an hour after surgery. It’s remarkable how tough these little guys can be.
Patient #15989, orphaned bald eagle
Found floating in the Cape Fear River near Raven Ridge State Park. The nest was destroyed during a storm yesterday. Many thanks to the American Wildlife Refuge for getting this bird to us so quickly.
