Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: JW_Halverson on June 03, 2017, 05:20:19 pm
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(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Bird%20stuff/18902397_1617123624988963_866608405_n%202_zps0rf2mgsi.jpg) (http://s365.photobucket.com/user/JW_Halverson/media/Bird%20stuff/18902397_1617123624988963_866608405_n%202_zps0rf2mgsi.jpg.html)
Nine pounds seven ounces, this little fellow. Found on a nearby federal wildlife refuge where he was unable to fly. We had done the initial examination and could not find a broken bone in his thickly muscled and well fed body. No pellet wounds under the feathers, and no fish hooks in the mouth. Just a bird that was so unable to fly that puny mostly hairless ground apes could catch him.
Notice his talons and feet are wrapped in a protective layer of cheap masking tape. With those death hooks wrapped in a ball and secured like this, those grabbers are out of the fight. Also notice how I have my arms extended fully, both pinning the wings and keeping the head down lower on my chest. Yup, doing everything right and according to the book. Well, until Mr Freedom and Liberty twists, pops a wing out and I try to adjust my hold.
And there's where the dang nab wheels came off my short bus. He lunged with his legs to get another two inches of elevation, stretched his 14 avian neckbones up to full extension and started feeding on my face. He only got one bite, but I am now missing most of my left nostril.
The other vet, not shown in the pic, grabbed a towel, stepped behind me and pressed it to the side of my face to staunch the shiny red hydraulic fluid leak (and possibly to cover my mouth to muffle the shrieks and curses). The vet in the picture put the large dog crate on the table and I popped Hannibal the Cannibal Animal into his own private high security cell.
Vets are the only folks less likely to get worked up about booboos and ouchies than battlefield trauma doctors, and they got to work stopping the flow ofr blood and slapping a couple butterfly bandages on the wound. We finished the paperwork with a few jokes at my expense and I drove off to secure the bird until he could later be transported to the waiting licensed rehabilitators. I finished a few more errands and popped into the next Urgent Care I ran across.
There were a few folks in the waiting room and by the time I had explained I wanted someone more familiar with doctoring humans than the prior horse docs, they were all pressed up to the admissions desk to see. There was some talk of HIPAA violations, patient privacy, and how people needed to take their seats until they were called upon. But they ushered me in to a room pretty quick, despite how there wasn't even a drop of blood on my tshirt, much less spurting across the room.
The nurse visited. The supervising nurse visited. Then two attending nurses were ushered in by the supervising nurse again. This was followed by a Physician's Assistant, a Doctor, a pair of really cute nursing students that stood jaws slack and gaping, the janitor, a plumber that had been called in to fix the ladies crapper, and the Girl Scout Troop on a field trip to visit a real medical facility. I was asked to relate the story to each and every party in turn, including showing photos on my phone of the image above, plus any pics we had of the owls, because, I mean, who doesn't love owls, right? Am I right?
Long story short (which of French for an apology for taking up all your time), I got one internal stitch that will dissolve eventually, and three externals. One little dangly bit of skin was apparently on the inside of the nostril and was trimmed off since it didn't appear to really fit back into the puzzle as they were putting it together. And I will never have symmetry with my beak, barring another eagle and the other side, but knowing my luck, it's be the left all over again.
Later that night, to add insult to injury, Hannah called to ask to do my best to guess exactly how much the piece bitten off might have weighed. She had called the vet's office as soon as she heard of the accident and asked they search the floor for the missing piece. You know, just in case the doc could sew it back on. It could not be found, and our best guess is the damned bird ate it! I told her that it could not have been more than one or two grams, then asked why she needed to know this.
With the droll delivery of a sweet country girl all grown up and soon to start her senior year at a prestigious ivy league college, she said, "Oh, I need to record it in the bird's Feeding Log".
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Ouch! (-P
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Heck thinking what Dr's in Hollywood would have charged you to bob your nose you got off cheap
I was looking at that pic thinking the bird was gonna take that pointing finger off until I read your story hope your ok
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Well, that ought to be cause for an appropriate name ceremony >:D! Cut Nose? Bit Beak? Eagle Bite? Bit by Eagle? That don't happen too often! The Feds might have to investigate!👹😂.
Hawkdancer
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Very clever sir. If you wanted a piercing you needn't have involved workers comp. I believe a leather punch would have done the same thing.
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Well, that ought to be cause for an appropriate name ceremony >:D! Cut Nose? Bit Beak? Eagle Bite? Bit by Eagle? That don't happen too often! The Feds might have to investigate!👹😂.
Hawkdancer
Feeds His Nose to Eagles
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Your not gonna' look like Michael Jackson are you, hopefully it is not that radical a nose job.
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Well, that ought to be cause for an appropriate name ceremony >:D! Cut Nose? Bit Beak? Eagle Bite? Bit by Eagle? That don't happen too often! The Feds might have to investigate!👹😂.
Hawkdancer
Well, we already have a no nose, sooo that ones taken.
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It's a badge of honor JW, someones got to care for them :D :D
Did you find out why it can't fly?
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Dang JW that makes me think completely different about a peck on the cheek.
Bjrogg
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Yikes! Glad you and the bird are okay. ;)
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Now that is sticking your nose in somebody else's business! Glad you are ok and can find the humor in it.
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I like owls.
Seriously though, glad you're on the mend.
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C'mon Eagle Bait, we need a picture of the damage.
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I agree pics or it didn't happen >:D
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Wow - Tough Crowd around here O:) :laugh:. Heal fast there Brother - Bob.
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That's a story I won't hear again for the next 20 years. OUCH
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JW good thing he didn't get you in the eye.
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LOL, now you have an opening for meeting girls at the Singles Bar. I'd also bet that breast tastes like a big Dove. 8)
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Now that's FUNNY :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: ! Bob
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Best comment so far: "Many have tasted Freedom. But has Freedom tasted YOU?"
Did you find out why it can't fly?
Best guess is that he had smacked into something, xrays show no breaks whatsoever, no metal in the body, and manual examination of the left wing shows some swelling in two joints. He is hog fat (I didn't scrimp on feed) and should be loose again soon.
C'mon Eagle Bait, we need a picture of the damage.
Right now there is nothing to see but a bloody scab. The inside of my left nostril is fully blocked by a huge bloody scab bonded to the stitches and will stay until the stitches come out. I asked the P.A. doing the stitching if I will be pretty after the stitches come out, she said yes. I replied, that's odd because I sure as heck wasn't before this incideent. The attending nurse added the drum roll and cymbal crash. I will get a pic after the stitches are out, don't wanna traumatize the kiddos.
LOL, now you have an opening for meeting girls at the Singles Bar. I'd also bet that breast tastes like a big Dove. 8)
Actually, not at all. Because they eat fish and roadkill and other carrion, they are much richer, stronger even to some people's palattes. Elements of limburger, pigfarm, and lutefisk with a pong of skunk. I usually recommend a March 2017 bottle of MD 20/20 with it.
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Ouch Jon, ouch!
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Dang.. Never fun go to the ER missing a piece.. Don't ask.. Scar's are like tattoo's only they have a story.. It's funnier coupla months later..
You can always tell the girls.. I nose a eagle personally..
Take care bro
Thanks Leroy
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Man that is one unappreciative eagle...
Hope you heal up soon. Maybe you might want to invest in a fencer's helmet to wear the next time..? ;)
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Those beaks are made to tear meat up and they do the job very well, but I hate to hear that he picked your nose to tear up. I hope you heal up quickly.
Neal
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Seriously, JW, these things are only funny long after the happening, as in"If it wasn't for bad luck, he wouldn't have any!" Your nose may well become a verse in my song "Paddy McKinney".
Hawkdancer
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In democratic republic america, freedom taste you!
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In democratic republic america, freedom taste you!
Da! Komrade!
Stitches are out and some of the scabs are falling off. One huge booger scab from the inside of the nose finally came out. Now I am dealing with a juvenile golden eagle that is all feet and beak. He is eating 3/4 - 1 lb of meat daily and he weighs only 4.4 lbs.
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Please keep all appendages out of his reach! :OK
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In democratic republic america, freedom taste you!
Da! Komrade!
Stitches are out and some of the scabs are falling off. One huge booger scab from the inside of the nose finally came out. Now I am dealing with a juvenile golden eagle that is all feet and beak. He is eating 3/4 - 1 lb of meat daily and he weighs only 4.4 lbs.
That is one emaciated bird! Be careful....
Neal
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Actually, he was not all that thin. He started dehydrated, but several times we ran a tube down his throat and filled him up with Pedialyte. Yeah, the same stuff you use on your little sick kiddies....electrolytes, a few very simple digestible calories, and hydration. Works wonders!
By the time we got him shipped off to the rehabber, he was up on his feet when we opened the crate door and he was giving a threatening hiss. I started feeding him by my fingers and ended by feeding him at the end of 14" tongs! Nasty blighter even started trying to grab with his death-dealing-dagger-laden footsies!Glad to be rid of Norbert*.
*For you Harry Potter fans and Hagrid-ophiles.