Winter at the Hospital

Winter is a tough season for many.   In a frigid Long Island winter, wildlife can have an equally hard time.  Our bays and ponds are now frozen over with ice, which thins and thickens with the daily temperature changes.   Open water is scant and food is tougher to find for many birds that rely on this water. 

Keeping with the trend of the last few seasons, this winter has not been a slow one.   Injured ducks, hit-by-car gulls and emaciated loons now keep us very busy, in addition to the occasional dove, squirrel and owl among other patients.    In contrast to many of our spring and summer patients that are healthier young animals that have been orphaned, all of these patients have critical injuries and for the ones that survive their injuries, their rehabilitation is often difficult and lengthy. 

The two Red-throated Loons that are now residing in our hospital's tub and isolation room are our most intensive of patients currently in the hospital.   The first loon admitted from the middle of Park Avenue in Huntington, likely came down towards a pond near the road in search of open water, in the middle of our bitterly cold spell a week and a half ago.  While loons on Long Island generally prefer the more open Long Island Sound and neighboring harbors, this emaciated loon was likely very hungry and looking for open water anywhere he could find.  Unfortunately, his travels on Park Avenue also led him to the danger of vehicles.  Hit by a car and suffering from head trauma, this loon was brought to our hospital for rehabilitation early last week.  Now, with his neurological symptoms resolved, we are focusing on allowing the loon to gain weight slowly through hand feedings of Spearing three times daily.  In addition to his low body weight, we have the added complication of helping this animal to restore his necessary feather waterproofing prior to release.  The preen gland located at the base of the bird's tail allows the bird to spread oils all over the feathers which prevent him from getting cold and "water-logged" in the water.  Many compromised animals will stop preening when ill or injured and these birds will often get hypothermic in the water.   Twice daily baths encourage this loon to preen and we hope soon that his weight and his waterproofing may be suitable for release. 

A second Red-throated Loon of a heftier size (although still thin) was admitted this morning to our hospital from a veterinarian in Massapequa.   This loon was also found in the road, however, seems to be in better overall condition than our first loon.  His feathers are still waterproof and we hope that some hearty fish meals will get this male ready for release in a couple of days.