Turkeys in Marathon?!

I just received a call from a lady asking if I'd heard about the turkeys on 83rd Street. You know the kind, the ones we eat for Thanksgiving. I told her that I had not heard about them but that we would take a drive down the street to check out the report. She even said they had the red skin "like turkeys." I sent a volunteer over to see what he could see. If anything they might be a few turkey vultures. Turkey vultures usually head north for the summer but we've noticed quite a few have decided to hang out in the Keys for more sun and fun. The turkey vulture did, in fact, get its name because it has a head free of feathers and red skin. Well, the volunteer just got back and said he saw nothing. Either the big ole turkeys are hiding in the "woods" or they were turkey vultures who did their job (ate up some tasty roadkill) and went on their merry way!

And now for an update about the cormorant that arrived last week with the swollen ankle. His progress over the weekend continually improved so he was moved to outside to our the PT habitat. PT is short for physical therapy. This particular habitat was constructed last summer right outside the hospital so that we could keep an eye on particular patients. Some stay in it during both the day and night, while other weaker birds might enjoy some fun in the sun and then be brought inside for the night. The habitat does wonders for a bird's mental health because, let's face it, it's not normal for a wild bird to be inside where it can't feel the sun shine. We're lucky that our ICU (intensive care unit) for the birds is an old carport that is screened in. They don't get sun in the ICU but our patients can still hear the sounds of nature all around them. The PT is about 20 feet by 12 feet in size. In addition to the native thatch palms that we left undisturbed when we built it (they provide a feeling of security for the birds who sometimes hide behind them) is the 500 gallon saltwater pool. This pool allows the birds to bath -- again, a mental health perk -- to just hang out around it or to exercise injured feet and legs. Most of the birds that utilize the PT are cormies and pelicans...also known as waterbirds.

As for the cormie with the swollen foot, he is doing well. The swelling has not gone down at all, but that might take another week on the antibiotics. He's using the foot so there's no need x-ray it. If the antibiotics don't have much effect after another week we may decide to lance the swelling to try to drain out some fluid. This isn't an option now because we don't want to provide an opening for new bacteria to get into the trouble spot if we don't have to. The procedures we follow here at the Marathon Wild Bird Center come from our hands-on experience after seeing the same types of injuries over and over and over again for the last fifteen years. During that time we've tended to over 10,000 birds of over 80 different species. So, what we can do we are doing and what we don't know yet will reveal itself soon...!