Families visited the BMW “Owlery” this past week as part of the City of Pendleton Library Hogwarts 2024-2025 school year. The snow you see in the photo below has melted and it feels like spring is well on its way!

Great Horned Owl 25-022 was found along a county road near Milton-Freewater. The owl had fractures in its right wing and was presumed to have been struck by a vehicle. The finder transported the owl to Pendleton where it was examined. An x-ray showed that the proximal humerus (the part of the bone closest to the shoulder) was shattered. The shoulder and elbow joints were also damaged. Humane euthanasia was the only option. The owl showed no signs of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, but because they are a high risk species for the disease we will test. The results should be available from the OSU Veterinary Diagnostic Lab by mid-week.

Thank you to all who sent words of encouragement and financial support this past week. You are an important part of the BMW Team and we are very grateful for your support!

There were five new admissions in the past week. Black-headed Grosbeak 25-016 struck a window fracturing his beak and rupturing both eyes. The damage was too severe to repair. American Kestrel 25-017 is in the clinic recovering from a left scapula fracture.  He is eating well. We will have to wait until the injury has healed to know how well he will fly. Both the normal and fractured scapulas can be seen in the x-ray below.

Western Screech Owl 25-018 was found in a road. Although the owl did not appear to have any fractures, it died of its injuries during the night.

Immature Bald Eagle 25-019 was found along Interstate-84 near North Powder. The eagle had electrocution burns on her feet and was unable to stand. X-rays showed the lower part of her pelvis was crushed. Its hard to know exactly what happened, but she may have made contact with the power lines with her feet and then fell from the air hitting the ground tail first. Again, the damage was too extensive to repair. In the x-rays below the eagle is on the left and a hawk is on the right. There are fractures in the hawk’s ischia, but the bones are in relatively good alignment. The fractures in the eagle’s pelvis are comminuted which means there are three or more pieces at the fracture site.

A sketch of Golden Eagle LB by Tricia Marquez…

The past week was both slow and wintery. Winnie and Tricia did an awesome job of snow removal. Winnie worked from the outside….

Tricia removed snow from the inside…

Thank you to all who were able to attend the Annual Membership meeting on Saturday. I know we aren’t actually visiting “in person,” but Zoom is the next best thing and much safer than trying to navigate snowy, winter roads.

Please enjoy this sketch of American Kestrel Yoda by our resident artist Tricia Marquez:

An American Robin and a Great Horned Owl were the only admissions this past week. Both had injuries too severe to treat.

Thank you to volunteer Inna who has been spending several hours every Wednesday helping in the clinic. BMW was asked to help in an animal abuse case resulting in lots of cages that needed to be cleaned. Thank You Inna for all your hard work!

The Annual Membership Meeting will be Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. Click on the Zoom Link to attend virtually. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

Meet Ferruginous Hawk Gus who will soon join the BMW Education Team…

This week we will look back on some accomplishments and challenges of 2024…