June of 2016 could use a do-over…at least the rehabilitation part…and maybe a few other events too, come to think of it.
Since my last post, there has been some turnover in patients, but fortunately, not a lot of bonafide orphans. Most of my calls were of window bumps, which flew off after a brief time, or babies picked up unnecessarily. Most babies were successfully returned. Some are likely still in the hands or died in the hands of folks who believed the little thing they had would make a good pet. Argggh….
But I’d better give you an update on the critters in care. Sadly, the transfer station eagle had to be euthanized. Its main wing muscle had been severed and although the wound had healed, there was no way to reconnect the tendons and muscles. There would never be flight and it would not be able to keep its wing from dragging on the ground.
Even sadder, was the fact that as I rushed to take the eagle to the vets, I hastily put up the hawk netting to protect the two goslings. Too hastily, as when I returned, one gosling had tangled in the loose net and had strangled. The second gosling was distraught for days, barely eating. Dummy mummy helped some as did mirrors, but he didn’t come around until I dug out my motion sensor ‘garden frog’ which has a recorder in it. I recorded his calls and left it by his mirror. When he walked by his mirror, he would hear gosling calls. Amazingly, this got him eating again and much less morose. It didn’t make me any less morose though and I am still kicking myself for not being more diligent.
The kit raccoon never thrived, and having blood in its urine from the time I received it, I believe maybe mom raccoon knew there was something amiss and that is why she abandoned it. Its kidneys failed and it died.
On a happier note, the young great horned owl has feathered out nicely, and seems to have good flight. He is practicing his pounces on the poor little garter snakes who like to warm up on the floor of his flight cage.
The kestral’s wing has healed and it too will be released soon.
A newcomer to the list is a beautiful adult red-tailed hawk. MNR staff from Sioux Lookout picked it up after finding it too weak to fly. There were no noticeable injuries, but it was extremely thin. It has been eating well and has filled out beautifully. I am hoping to release it shortly as well.
What other excitement you ask? Well, lets see…it appears that the wolves have successfully removed all the fawns from the area. Even this morning, the wolves were making soft contact calls not far from me. It is heartbreaking to hear the doe calling and calling and calling…for days now.
The bears have behaved so far, but yesterday was interesting. We were walking the dogs and Neva got excited and ran into the bush ahead of me…then came out just as fast…with a bear on her heels. It stopped about 40 feet from me and huffed and popped. Neva came to me, but of course Dory decided she should attack it. Fortunately, the bear got nervous from my frantic calls to Dory and turned away. Dory came back pretty proud of herself. Neva’s eyes stayed round for hours after and now she growls at black objects around the house…plant pots, potting soil bags, her shadow….
And, oh yeah, there was a major storm which left us with about 7 inches of rain and a direct lightening strike to the house. Knocked out the breaker, but not before blowing up our telephone lines, our internet modem, outside light fixtures and our refrigerator… my hearing is starting to come back now, but it was a major scare. And of course it had to happen when we had Bruce’s family for a weekend reunion. And so I welcome July…it just has to be better.
iggy's wildlife revisited 