A Week of Trauma
There were just eight birds admitted this past week, most were vehicle strikes. Tara transported two birds. On Wednesday, Tricia and I released two chipmunks near Jubilee Lake. Can you find them?
Neither could we! They disappeared quickly into the forest.
After the Chipmunk release, we traveled to La Grande and met Tara. She had picked up a fledgling Swainson’s Hawk in Vale. The radiograph below shows a badly damaged left humerus. The proximal (closest to the shoulder) humerus is shattered. Sadly, the damage could not be repaired.
A high point of the week was another fledgling Swainson’s Hawk that was hit by a car. It had a significant head injury and does not seem able to see out of its right eye, but after three days of fluids and anti-inflammatories, it has a healthy appetite. We will schedule an appointment at Pendleton Veterinary Clinic in the coming week to have the eye evaluated.
ODFW delivered a Red-tailed Hawk from Heppner that the finder suspected had been shot. A radiograph determined that it was more likely struck by a vehicle, but again, the damage was too extensive to repair.
On Friday, Tricia met Tara in La Grande again to get an injured Great Horned Owl that Tara had picked up. It had been struck by a vehicle, sustaining multiple injuries: the left humerus and right radius were fractured, the left hip was either dislocated or fractured and there was no feeling in the left foot. Because Great Horned Owls are high risk species for avian influenza (although the owl displayed no signs of influenza) its examination took place in the Intake Center where we do not have x-ray equipment. Red-tailed Hawks are also high risk species for avian influenza. We followed strict protocol while x-raying the hawk after it had been euthanized to determine that it had not been shot.
The Goldfinches admitted last week haven’t figured out how to eat on their own yet, but they are starting to fly!
