dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) (09/22/90)
What frustration! We retrieved a downed Osprey in Northfield, VT this afternoon. Immature female, by the looks of it: spots, and a necklace. She was, as the man said, "Walking down the middle of the street" and was easily picked up. The first thing I noticed when she was placed into a cage was the disturbing tendency to flop down on her tummy and close her eyes -- quite surprising to see her spring suddenly to life from that position when touched. The bird is neither lean nor dehydrated, and an exam turned up no apparent physical damage. The bird, then, is likely one of the following: 1) completely shagged out after a prolonged squawk. 2) shot (pellet-holes are almost impossible to spot w/o an X-ray). 3) poisoned. The third one bothers me. I can't help thinking of the lamprey problem in Lake Champlain, and the biocides that have recently been dumped into the water in order to control them. Just my thoughts after an afternoon of trying to figure out why this apparently uninjured, well-muscled bird wants to keep playing dead. She's gone for an X-ray; we'll know tomorrow if there's something amiss on the inside. -- Sam Conway * What shape do you usually have? dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu * Mickey Mouse shape? Smarties Chemistry Dept., Dartmouth College, NH * shape? Amphibious landing craft Vermont Raptor Center (VINS) * shape? Poke in the eye shape?
dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) (09/23/90)
The osprey saw the vet late yesterday, and the X-rays came in to us early this morning. They show a large opaque mass in the bird's stomach that looks like it might be a fishing sinker. In any case, it's metallic, so we are dealing with a case of heavy metal poisoning, probably lead. I suppose these things happen. -- Sam Conway * What shape do you usually have? dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu * Mickey Mouse shape? Smarties Chemistry Dept., Dartmouth College, NH * shape? Amphibious landing craft Vermont Raptor Center (VINS) * shape? Poke in the eye shape?
mm@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (Mike Mahler) (09/25/90)
I know exactly how you feel. During high school I worked in an exotic bird store (mostly parrots). One of the other workers purchased a hyacinth from the store (at a nice discount). Her husband came home from fishing once and left the tackle box open. The bird found a 4 oz. sinker and shaved off and ate a few shavings of the lead. It died a very slow death that was heart wrenching to watch. Sorry I didn't have a nicer story to tell just that it's a shame that fishermen (who claim to partake in a sport that isn't "as cruel as hunting") do so much secondary and unitentional damage.
ooblick@intercon.com (Mikki Barry) (09/25/90)
Please let us know if the vet can save the bird, and if so, how s/he did it. Lead poisoning is a too common occurrance with birds, both wild AND pet. Mikki Barry