The Week in Review
We enjoyed a slow week at BMW, in part because Tricia installed an air conditioner in the cage room of the clinic. Temperatures were in the high 90’s most of the week. The AC unit kept the inside temperature below 80! Today, Sunday, it is a balmy 82 degrees outside. My weather ap tells me we will be back in the high 90’s by Tuesday. Thank you Tricia!
Great Horned Owl 22-285
Intern Jordan holds an adult Great Horned Owl who was found hanging in a barbed-wire fence by his right upper eyelid. Most of the eyelid and third eyelid were damaged too badly to salvage (or even find!). The remaining tissue was not sufficient to keep the eyeball seated in the eye socket. The only option (other than euthanasia) was to remove the eye. The owl seemed a reasonable candidate for the surgery since he was admitted as an adult in good condition, indicating he was a proficient hunter. Dr. Yackley at Pendleton Veterinary Clinic successfully performed the eye removal. We will do some research to determine what types of post-release monitoring are available. There is minimal research on the success of one-eyed Great Horned Owls.
Northern Harrier 22-291
A pair of Northern Harriers, ground nesting hawks, decided to nest between a farm field and a construction zone. A construction worker found one of their offspring and thought it was injured because it couldn’t fly. Volunteers Burt and Denise picked up the hawk and transported it to Pendleton. The young hawk is in good shape and just a few days shy of being able to fly. Tricia tried to return him to his family, but there was so much construction and plowing going on around the nest site she couldn’t find any evidence of other harriers or a safe place to hide him on the ground. She brought him back to the Pendleton center and we placed him in a make-shift harrier hack site. He will be fed there for several days so he associates the location with food. We will then open the gate so he can leave when the time is right. We will continue to provide food until he is hunting on his own. Harriers seem to be pretty quick learners, so he should be self-sufficient before too long.
California Ground Squirrel Release
Tricia released a fourth California Ground Squirrel at the same location three other squirrels were released three weeks ago. This has been our car for mammals. We still have an American Red Squirrel to release.
