From Georgia Wildlife Network

We see and hear new things all the time. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I still think, there isn't much that could surprise us anymore.

And then we get a call about a hawk with the lower jaw of a skull stuck in its mouth.

The finder is also a friend of Blue Ridge Raptors Educational Programs, who graciously guided the finder on how to safely check to see if the skull could easily be removed. The finder handled it like a champ but unfortunately, it was lodged. The hawk was safely contained and taken to VCA Appalachian Animal Hospital for immediate triage. (Edited to add local vet name but PLEASE do not show up at this facility with wildlife without prior approval. They do not always have available staff to intake wildlife and we were protecting their identity for that reason. We are so thankful for everything they did!!)

The bird was sedated, the obstruction was carefully removed, and then one of our volunteers picked him up and gave him a ride to Bells Ferry Veterinary Hospital for continued care.

We saved you from seeing the photo of the skull that was removed. You're welcome.

A HUGE thank you to EVERYONE involved in helping this bird from the finder and Blue Ridge Raptors to the BF veterinary team and our volunteer who transported him.

And we're officially chalking this one up to: "I've never seen THAT before."

Any guess what he swallowed? It was a bit of a surprise, even to me.

The vet responded in the comments to correct everyone, and now that I know, it's much more obvious.

After you take your guess, I'll explain in the spoiler tag.

::: spoiler Mystery Meal Reveal

So, this is not the view of this fuzzy creature we usually see.

You probably guessed a bird, thinking that curved bit was a beak. I know I did. But there are 2 problems with that. I guess that's why we're not radiographers! 😉

Problem one, our image is a little confusing because we're missing the lower jawbone, so we don't have a complete picture of our John Doe.

Problem two, we're not really used to looking at my anatomy which is kinda familiar, just on a much smaller scale. Let's do some CSI zoom and enhance, and see what we really have here.

We've isolated our partial guest. Circled in yellow, we have some rather large incisors, not a beak. Bye, bye, birdie hypothesis.

In green, for sure on the left, and I believe also the right green circle, again, not a radiologist, we've got itty bitty molars!

Big, sharp incisors and some molars, fits in a hawk's mouth...sorta... Have you figured it out?

Let's add our missing pieces, and I know you will get it. Well, maybe not if you're Australian...

Ignore that circled bit and the next picture mark, that's not relevant to us here.

With that lower jaw added back, and the full set of teeth, now we clearly see this is nowhere close to being a bird. Our mystery guest is...a squirrel! It's so obvious now that we know what a squirrel skull really looks like! Much creepier than a fuzzy, living one, eh? No wonder it hurts much more than it looks like it would when they bite me! This guy was born to bite, but that didn't help him out the day he met this hawk. He almost got his revenge though. Unlucky for Mr Nutter Butter, but very lucky for the hawk, someone saw him in distress and got him proper help. Soon he'll be back looking for his next squirrel thanks to some really great people!

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