Category: Rehabilitation

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Another Post About The Diet Of Corvids

One of topics commonly discussed in corvid fora and question frequently asked is what to feed crows, usually referring to birds in the wild, but also to birds cared for in captivity or during rehabilitation. One of the most frequent answers given is that the name carrion crow is a giveaway, and that crows would eat, who would have guessed, almost exclusively any type of carrion.

However, when looking through findings of scientific studies about feeding habits of corvids, confirmed and enriched by individual experiences of corvid rescues and rehabbers, it becomes evident that this answer is not exactly true and would in fact suggest an unhealthy and unbalanced diet.

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Rook Aeneas – An Obituary

Rook Aeneas

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the loss of our rook Aeneas.

Aeneas was an adult rook, who came to us in August 2017. At admission we found a severely bleeding compound fracture of his right wing caused by a gun shot injury, which we treated conservatively. Aeneas did also show neurological signs consistent with a concussion featuring a weakness of his right wing and leg. These injuries were likely to be caused by being shot mid air and a subsequent severe impact trauma.

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Rook Blacky – A Heartbreaking Story

Rook Blacky

Many years ago we tragically lost our beautiful rook fledgling Blacky. He came to us after a nest fall following a storm. Blacky also suffered of splay legs, muscle atrophy and suboptimal plumage development, presumably due to a nutritional deficiency. At arrival Blacky was not able to stand on his feet, nor was he able to perch properly. We designed and applied a custom made brace to correct the malposition and to counteract the subluxation tendency. At the same time the brace did allow Blacky to exercise sufficiently to built up his muscle strength. We did combine this treatment approach with regular physiotherapy and an optimised diet.

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Some Thoughts About Animal Learning And Imprinting

Imprinting of rescue bird is an often hotly debated topic amongst bird lovers, wildlife rehabilitators and rescuers, where voiced opinions range considerably. One extreme approach to this topic suggests that imprinted birds are principally unreleasable, and that once a bird is imprinted that this situation cannot be reversed. The other extreme opinion considers all imprinted birds as releasable and implies that these birds have similar survival chances in the wild compared to birds who have not been imprinted. However, own experiences and those of fellow rehabbers have shown that, and this should actually not be unexpected, the truth lies neither in the middle nor is it to find in one or the other extreme. To find an answer, it seems worth to explore some basic underlying processes, like imprinting, learning, conditioning and habituation.

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