Carolina Raptor Center Rehab Blog

As you can see above, one of our manned, resident birds, Lakota, underwent a short procedure yesterday. 

She is a typical red-shouldered hawk in that she’s highly vocal.  But, over the past 6 months or so, she has become less vocal. There are multiple things that could possibly affect the syrinx and lead to a change in voice, fromforeign bodies to masses or granulomas.  In this case, we were most concerned with Aspergillosis.  Asper is a fungal infection that presents itself in one of two forms, chronic or acute.  The acute form is normally cause by a massive inhalation of the Aspergillus spores and can result in a granuloma in the syrinx/trachea and/or multiple nodules in the lungs and on the air sacs.  The chronic form is the most common and is usually secondary to immunosuppression. Emaciation and depression are the most common clinical signs. Prognosis is generally poor, as symptoms (respiratory signs) are not normally seen until very late in the disease.  In either case, the prognosis is always guarded.

In Lakota’s case, we decided to scope her trachea and try to get a quick look at her syrinx to make sure there were no obstructions. Her entire trachea was clean and healthy.  We got a very quick look at syrinx and it appeared normal. 

So, Aspergillosis is one disease that is much better to avoid than to treat.  Treatment can be complicated and expensive and often unsuccessful.

To address the risk factors:

- Birds should be housed in well-ventilated enclosures with non-organic bedding or floor covering, such as smooth pea gravel.

- Birds should be kept in good health and on a good diet.

- Birds should be removed from the enclosure whenever possible while being cleaned to limit the risk of inhaling the spores.

- Stress should be kept to a minimum. 

- Birds at high risk (young red-tailed hawks, forexample) should be treated prophylactically on admission with itraconazole.  This also includes any captive birds that are undergoing relocation of any major change in their daily life.

And, for some reason, the last post with pictures of the bald eagle, patient #15036 (find link here), did not include the text that was written with it.

As you may or may not remember, this bird came to us with eye trauma that required one eye to be removed.  Because of this, the bird was non-releasable. 

Well, the good news is that he has a permanent home!  This bird was shipped to  John Karger of Last Chance Forever in San Antonio, TX on Monday.  The bird will be trained for education and will be in great hands.  Here is a link to their website: http://www.lastchanceforever.org/index.asp.

We would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to two of our rehab volunteers, Sarah and Adam May.  They spent almost their entire Sunday reorganizing our mop closet and prep area.  It looks amazing.  I wish I had before photos.

And, in the process, Adam discovered we had a broken sink and bought parts to repair it.  And he helps us with our network problems.  He truly is a multi-talented man.

Thanks guys!

This bird came in with a partially fused eyelid and he is doing amazingly well!  There is a small area of scarring, but other than that, you cannot tell there is a problem with the eye.  Click here to see the past blog about this bird, as well as pictures from intake and post-surgery.

From the weight chart below, you can see that he is eating well!

A hungry red-tailed hawk

Eastern screech owl

A group of highly intimidating Eastern screech owls

Some of the current inhabitants of our largest flight cage…a nice mixture.   In a 100 foot cage, they are all on the same perch?  Seriously?

Physical therapy is an essential part of the healing process for wing fractures, whether or not the fracture was surgically repaired. Because fractures need to be immobilized in order to heal, some stiffness and loss of flexiblity at the joints will occur.  Physical therapy (PT) hopefully will help allow the wing to maintain full range of motion.  Additionally, PT should be performed under anesthesia. 

It is started on day 3 or 4 after surgery and continues 3 times a week for a couple of weeks.  The frequency can be tapered or increased based on the starting and ending angles of the elbow and carpus.  Ideally, the elbow extension should be 140+ degrees and the wrist extension should be 180 degrees. The angles are measured before and after PT with a goniometer. If it is relatively easy to get to full extenstion, then PT should not be required as often. 

The chart below shows a patient’s physical therapy measurements displayed by RaptorMed medical records software.  The orange bars indicate the start (bottom) and ending (top) angles for the elbow and wrist.  The horizontal blue band indicates the desired measurements.  When the orange bars are completely in the blue line, then PT is complete.  You can see how the sessions start to gradually improve.

New orphaned osprey in the hack tower.  Now there are three.  This one came from the Outer Banks (Hubert, NC).

Diagnosis: Emaciation

Blood work was normal.  Most likely an inexperienced juvenile.  Found walking on the beach in Nags Head.

Patient #15327, orphaned Cooper’s hawk, found in Mecklenburg County

This bird’s right eyelid was fused over 2/3 of the entire length. The lid margins appeared to be somewhat well-formed and the lids were connected with a thin membrane of skin.

Today, we surgically separated the lids. Eventually, we may have to separate them further.  Wish him luck!

Before

It’s been 2 weeks since this bird’s surgery, and we now consider it a success.  Notice, there is proof in the mutes on the cage wall behind him!

Here are the two babies (and mother, Faye) that recently hatched in our barn owl display cage.  Welcome to the world!