Victim

This is BLACKJACK, an adult American Crow who came in from Greybull. He was spotted walking alongside the road, after dark, by volunteer Sara Sprung. She knew that wasn't normal so turned around and headed back to see why the bird was on the ground. When she got to the bird there was a cat trying to catch him too.

Luckily Sara prevailed and brought the bird to me. Xrays revealed not a broken wing but an air rifle pellet lodged in his chest but not known if it was in his digestive tract or in the muscle. A follow up xray proved it to be in his chest muscle and therefore ruled out his getting lead poisoning from it leaching into his body.

The other thing noticed in the xray was some inflammation to his left wing muscle between his shoulder and elbow. That will take time to repair itself. In the meantime he's doing well and will be released when ready to resume his life.

Oh yes, he's wearing a hawk hood to keep him from eating our fingers as he's being examined. Turns out they work for corvids too.