Monday, March 21, 2011

Iris Checks Out


Iris gets ready to go to the vet.

Last week one of the cam viewers on the Cornell website made a note that Iris had thrown up two pellets in the morning, and she had burped and there were other loud noises. Red flags went up in my mind and I quickly found the section of video in question.

Iris was at the nest and chowed down on a gopher. But within minutes her head stretched up and her neck looked funny. Then she threw up. Not a good sign. But she ate the gopher again, then threw it up again! Her guts gurgled in protest.

I was concerned and knew I needed to keep an eye on her. It could have been a problem with that piece of gopher, it could be stress, or she could be sick. Later that day I reviewed videos from during the Festival of Owls (I didn't have time to review them during the Festival), and found Iris throwing up on one of those videos also, a week before this vomiting episode. That ruled out the food, and prompted me to call a vet.

I called Alice's former vet. She was willing to see Iris, but she is only in the office one day a week. If it would turn out to be anything serious, she'd send Iris to The Raptor Center in St. Paul. So I decided to make an appointment for Iris at The Raptor Center.

Really the first thing that needed to happen was to catch Iris and feel her keel (breastbone) to see if she was in good condition. But I didn't want to catch her more than necessary, so I decided to wait to catch her and check her out myself until the day of the appointment.

The appointment was scheduled for 10:30 AM, and it's a 2.5 hour drive to St. Paul from here. So we got up early, not knowing how long it would take to catch Iris. It turned out to be a piece of cake...she flew right into the net I held up to catch her!

I got control of her feet and felt her keel...she was in no way thin! I tried to get a weight on her while she was wrapped in a towel, but she and the towel together were too heavy for my triple beam balance. At that point I figured she was probably OK, but for my peace of mind, I wanted to take her in anyway.

The roads were icy that morning, and we passed five cars in the ditch. We even fishtailed ourselves, which did nothing to help my nerves. But we arrived safe and sound, and right on time.

The doctor took a history and then checked Iris out. She weighed a whopping 2080g (4.6 lbs)!!!! She certainly wasn't in poor condition. Her feet were quite dry and showed signs that she had hung on the chain link in November and December, so thankfully that issue is resolved. If let go it could have caused permanent damage to her feet. She had one feather louse, but didn't have any sign of a brood patch or readiness to lay an egg. Bummer.

They also ran blood tests which were all normal. They also did a fecal exam for internal parasites. None there either. So basically, our lady seems fine and dandy. Her feet were salved, she was treated for lice, and she was sent home.

When we got home it was Rusty's turn. If Iris had lice, he likely did too. We caught him with no troubles, gooped his feet (Hein got poked a couple of times), and treated him topically for lice. He did NOT enjoy it one bit.

Before we let the owls go I had Hein take down the far high perch...the one behind the IR illuminator on the ceiling. The poop trajectory from that perch hits the bath pan, which isn't acceptable now that it's warm and they can use it again.

Once that was done we released Rusty and Iris back to their home and they've been perching together on the high perch by the nest most days.

So what was Iris' problem? It may have just been stress from being harassed so much by Scarlett. Will she lay eggs this year? It's not looking promising. But perhaps they'll wind up as foster parents if there's an owlet in need.

14 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update! Good to know that our little lady is doing well. -GildedFox

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  2. Thanks for the update Karla. It would be nice if Iris & Rusty could be foster parents this year.

    maxi23

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  3. Hello. Ustream nest is frozen.

    maxi23

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  4. i am sure happy that they are both doing well. they are lucky to have a caring person looking after them!

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  5. I was watching 1 time when she was eating, don't know if then,but thought she was choking & scared me & then she stretched her neck kind of funny & then ate again, so thought well she must be ok, also, not use to seeing her eat so was'nt sure, will post pic's last week's when she did look so stressed, not sure if same as date with throwing up but will post that too, that night there was some strange noise & sounded like some 1 walking around cage, seemed almost too heavy for Scarlett, not sure, bothowl's were very quiet & then came to perch looking very upset. hope we get cam back so we can monitor them, so happy she checked out. You are awesome Karla for taking her in. now wont have to worry. Thank You for all you do. Jackie Theisen PS, was going to post b4 but been too sick & 2 sick Grandkid's. next time i nwill just in case.

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  6. Karla, There's a bird singing out side owl cage is very beautiful . Have you heard it ? & would you know what kind. cam sound on cornell keep's going out too, so is hard to fully listen, but I can not make out what it is. Any help. Thank You Jackie

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  7. What time of day is it singing and can you describe it at all?

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  8. Karla,just minute's before posting last message, time of post 5:38. & was so unusual to hear such singing. sure was Beautiful tho & did hear other's, 1, i know was a Robin. 1st time hearing this other bird. I was quite amazed to hear it. hope you will get to see it soon. Jackie TY

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  9. I doubt The R B woodpecker sound's like this. It is too Beautiful. & then between singing there would be these note's unlike any i've ever heard, all that came to mind was liquid note's, if that make's sence. If i could of heard more ,but, of all time's the cam kept freezing up so was hard to hear. forgot to u r 1hr behind me, time then would of been 4:30. was not able with 2 Grandkid's today to be on, sometime's i have it on day n night but too hard on cornell site, so, did'nt tonight. will keep trying tho as i would love to hear it again.. TY. Jackie Theisen

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  10. Last night ( April 2) about 11:15 EST, Iris tiptoed suspiciously across the edge of the nest box and picked up the dead animal in the corner. I think she was checking to be sure it was dead or if it was to her taste. Apparently deciding something wasn't right, she dropped it and backed away. Pretty funny. You might want to look it up on the tapes to give yourself a smile. Haven't seen them mate for a while but perhaps I just missed it. MapleOwl.

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  11. Actually, she had been eating on that chunk of gopher a few minutes before. I think she was just getting it all set to leave it properly. :D

    Yes, the copulations have really cooled off...only about once a day now.

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  12. You might like to check your tape for tonight, April 7, at about 11:45 EST. One owl flew to the other on the side perch. Either one of them was doing an imitation of a screech owl ( maybe Iris voicing her displeasure) or there was a screech owl outside. Cool sound. Maple Owl

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  13. Rusty flew up to Iris and it looks like he landed to close to her. Iris was preening during part of it, so it must have been Rusty doing the whiny chitters. It's nice to see the sit close to each other so much these days.

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