It's been another opossum-full week here, with happy news about Miss Fox, a bat release, and some interesting phone calls
I know you want to hear about the joeys but let me share some phone calls I received
Oh no, Ospreys
A caller from a Flowery Branch athletic department had an interesting problem that I didn’t know how to solve. While the school was on Spring Break, a pair of Ospreys decided to build their nest on a light pole 80 ft. in the air. The athletic director was puzzled by the continued appearance of sticks on the field and was alerted to a large nest waaaaay up high. The birds would fly in with sticks, drop them on the nest, and hope they landed. Ospreys are a protected species and it would be hard to get up there to remove the nest, but it was going to be raining sticks and debris on spectators the next night at a game. I directed him to my friends at Chattahoochee Nature Center, who know all things raptors.
Do you sit on eggs?
Can I incubate eggs? The caller found a kildeer nest- typically just a shallow indentation- right behind her truck’s tires in the gravel parking lot at her place of employment. She moved the eggs, she had to, or they’d be crushed. Bird’s nests are protected, and it’s illegal to interfere, but she had a good reason. She found what seemed a suitable placement not far away, at the edge of the parking lot, which would have gotten any bird rehabilitator’s blessing. The parents, however, didn’t share this sentiment and ignored it and their eggs. The caller wanted to know if I, or she, could incubate and hatch them. Well, I don’t raise eggs and it would be a rare case that it was done. She opted to just leave them in the new nest and hope the parents changed their minds.
More bird calls
Two more bird calls: a heron with a broken leg was seen on a tennis court right before a match was about to start. Herons have, as I like to put it, “sharp stabby bits” and are not a species anyone should try to handle without protective gear and a game plan. I told her to call the DNR Ranger Hotline as I wasn’t able to be of assistance.
Another call was about an owlet who had fallen from the nest and was being menaced by a housecat. I explained to the caller how to build a substitute nest and to keep the baby contained away from the cat in the meantime. The nest was extremely high up so re-nesting wasn’t an option. I directed the caller to Chattahoochee Nature Center for more information.
Francine the Perfectly Fine Red bat
She came in when her tree roost was taken down during a logging operation. The finder brought her home to his family, who followed my instructions for releasing her- but I didn’t realize she was not at home, she was in a strange area. After one night outside and not leaving, I understood why. The finders brought her to me where she had nice long drinks of water and some tasty mealworms. You can see some mealworm gooeyness on her face in the first photo. When the rain cleared, I took her back to her original location and she flew off. Isn’t she beautiful?
Miss Fox’s new chapter
Miss Fox was officially deemed nonreleasable, meaning she could not be put back in the wild. While we won’t ever know, it’s assumed she was raised as a pet, kept caged, and then dumped in the neighborhood where she was found. Thanks to so many good people, I raised funds to cover extensive blood work and veterinary examinations, and feed her a good, quality fox diet of 4 mice a day and kibble. She never did like the blueberries it was suggested to offer her!
Miss Fox spent 2 weeks with rehabilitator Lori Morgan in Gray, Georgia, where she got to run, jump, and hide (and eat some nice rats), while we waited for the final say in placing her.
Here she is in her new forever home at Hand Me Down Zoo in Winder, GA. I appreciate everything that Kerry Ervin and her family have done for her, taking her in.
That’s her on the ground in this photo but up above on the platform are her two new friends! She will have ample space to play, and playmates.
Thank you everyone who made this all possible.
As promised, some opossum joey photos!
Are you friend or foe, large mammal staring at me?
Sandy Creek Mama
A wonderful and caring couple found Mama weak and injured, with 7 healthy babies. They nursed her back to health while she nursed her babies. When she wasn’t healing like they hoped, they got in touch with me. She’s a young Mom, and we don’t know how she sustained the injuries to her feet. They look like terrible blisters. Maybe from carrying 7 big, fat bouncing joeys on her back? She’s on antibiotics now and in a big cage where she can get away from her kids for some peaceful time.
Wonderfully wiggly babies jockey for space in the drawstring nest. I need more, so if any of you can sew, let me know! It’s a simple design. The babies and I would be so happy! Can you believe these tiny little kids grow up to be so big?
