Carrion Crows Amor and Rhea

Introducing Corvid Isle Sanctuary Residents

Amor has been brought to us in May 2017 as a 3 or 4 day old carrion crow hatchling, being completely dependent on his parents for care, warmth and nourishment. He had barely any feathers and his eyes were still closed. Hatchlings like Amor are very vulnerable and require constant warmth and protection. Amor has been brought indoors by a freely roaming unsupervised cat. It is unclear whether the cat did raid the nest itself, or a bird of prey did, and the cat was just an opportunistic bystander.

Carrion crow Amor Day 3
Carrion crow hatchling Amor

When Amor arrived, he was lifeless and cold. He suffered a deep soft tissue injury to his left wing also involving his shoulder. We also found a non-displaced fracture of his radius and ulna. We immediately placed Amor in an incubator and warmed him gradually up. At the time we did not think that he would survive his ordeal, considering his critical situation. Unexpectedly, and to our delight, Amor did survive, and he started to thrive in our care.

Although Amor developed into a strong and healthy bird, he turned out to be unreleasable due to a plumage development disorder mostly likely caused by his trauma. Amor bonded later with our resident carrion crow Rhea, who came to us as a juvenile bird in December 2015, having suffered a fracture of her right shoulder.

Carrion crow Amor 3months
Carrion crow Amor

Unfortunately, too much time had passed before Rhea’s rescuer brought her to us. Fracture healing in birds happens much faster than in mammals, which is mainly due to their higher metabolism. This became a problem in Rhea’s case, as the finder did not reduce and immobilise the fracture sufficiently. This resulted in suboptimal fracture healing and compromised joint mobility, which we were unable to correct.

Carrion crow Rhea
Carrion crow Rhea

Support Our Corvid Isle Sanctuary

Corvid Isle is a small non-for-profit organisation and corvid sanctuary (License Number MAU 016710) based in the Scottish Highlands. We are entirely self-funded and are relying on the kind support from members of the public. Please follow the links below to find out how you can support us. Thank you.

GoFundMe – Support Corvid Isle Sanctuary

Corvid Isle Support Page

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