birds Archives - Page 19 of 20

04/09/201718/09/2017

Sparrowhawk Amaya

Admission – 28/08/2017

Amaya is an immature female sparrowhawk, who suffered a severe impact trauma. She has been found unconscious after flying into a window, presumably whilst chasing her prey. Although she regained consciousness quickly, she was unable to fly off by her own. In cases like Amaya’s, where there was a witnessed loss of consciousness, it is strongly advised not to release the bird immediately, but to monitor the situation for at least 24 hours before even considering a release. In Amaya’s case, the admission assessment revealed typical signs of a severe concussion and a mild spinal contusion, but also a marked haematoma around her right shoulder girdle.

Sparrowhawks are very instinct driven bird, and as such will not learn quickly to adapt to new situations like being held captive. These birds react to stimuli without thinking, so one has to make sure that these birds cannot injure themselves whilst being in captivity. For this species specific reason, but also due to her brain injury, Amaya has been transferred immediately into a quit and slightly darkened hospital box, where she could rest undisturbed. This dark and quiet hospital box is very important for the recovery, as this can prevent convulsions induced by the trauma. If the bird is restless, it might also be sometimes necessary to apply a tail sheath or guard, which will be fitted to protect the tail feathers.

To get a sparrowhawk started on food can sometimes be difficult. Sparrowhawks seem to have a fairly set “idea” of what their food has to look like. Therefore these birds need usually to be force-fed to start with, which may include tube feeding of a specifically design liquid raptor diet, a step being particularly important during the acute phase of the disease. Luckily Amaya suffered only a mild concussion and recovered quickly. Against one’s expectations, she also adapted well to the new situation and accepted her first assisted feed the next morning.

Update – 30/08/2017

Amaya made a very good recovery from her traumatic injury to brain and spine. However, as she wasn’t using her bruised wing sufficiently enough to be released soon, the decision has been made to transfer her into the care of experienced falconer Charlie Rolle of South Coast Falconry, who has today kindly taken over her care and is providing a flight aviary, where Amaya can exercise and strengthen her flight muscles, before eventually being released. Thank you very much Charlie for your help and continued support!

Update – 07/09/2017

Today sparrowhawk Amaya has been successfully released. Stay safe Amaya!

02/09/201718/09/2017

Dunnock Ali

Admission – 23/08/2017

Ali is an immature dunnock, who has been brought to us, after being caught by a cat. Ali has been admitted with severe shock symptoms and had to be stabilised before a full assessment could be made. It took nearly 24 hours for him to recover from the shock inflicted by the cat attack. The full assessment revealed several bruises, puncture wounds, lost tail feathers and a sprain injury of his right leg. Dunnock Ali has been treated for shock, pain, bruises and the potentially fatal pasteurella multocida infection caused by the cat attack. In this context it is important to understand, that all birds, in fact all animals, who have been caught by cats, have to be treated with antibiotics, even without showing any external signs of an injury. These animals will be otherwise killed by an overwhelming systemic infection or septicaemia, which would occur in birds within 72 hours post cat contact.

As Ali’s leg symptoms didn’t improve despite treatment for trauma and nerve injury, we decided to tape the foot to assist the healing process. Four days later the tape has been removed and a brief assessment showed the return of the full functionality of foot and leg. Ali has been kept a few days longer indoors in a so called flexarium, which is a soft fabric mesh indoor aviary allowing him to exercise safely without damaging his plumage further, which is a common but avoidable problem when active birds like him are being kept for rehabilitation in the wrong environment like a wire cage.

Update – 01/09/2017

Today dunnock Ali has been moved into a large communal outdoor soft release aviary, where he will stay until he has acclimatised to outdoor temperatures and has had enough time to exercise and regrow his traumatically lost tail feathers. This will also give him a good chance to improve the waterproofing of his plumage, which is another often underestimated factor before being soft released. Soft release is the preferred release method to be used for hand-reared birds, juveniles or long term patients.

These birds are being kept in a specially designed species specific aviary, which will then be opened to allow the birds to leave in their own time. Support feeding will be provided and the birds are also able to return whenever the feel the need to. This way theses birds are given the best posibble chance to successfully return into the wild and to be re-integrated into their respective bird societies.

Update – 18/09/2017

Today dunnock Ali has been successfully soft released. Stay safe Ali!

28/08/201723/01/2023

The Remarkable Story Of Jackdaw Nestling Kojak

Kojak, a nestling jackdaw, has been brought to us after being found on the ground, for reasons unknown to us. He might have been the runt of the brood, thrown out of the nest by his own kind, but he was lucky enough to have been found and rescued by a very kind and compassionate person. However, we have also learned over the past weeks, where we had the privilege to care for him and to get to know each other, that being the runt doesn’t mean at all that the bird concerned doesn’t want to live. Kojak has got the spirit of a fighter, whilst also being a very gentle and loyal soul.

He came to us almost dead with signs of severe dehydration, starvation, and malnutrition with poor plumage development and splay legs. Kojak’s leg muscles where severely atrophic, which made it impossible for him to stand up properly, to walk or to keep his balance. Due to a severe electrolyte imbalance caused by dehydration and starvation, he developed seizures and other neurological symptoms. After days of intensive treatment, sleepless nights and a life-threatening relapse, we eventually managed to stabilise his condition, which was the crucial moment when things started to improve. But not without Kojak’s help and strong will. We would not have been able to save his life without his own determination and help.

Kojak was determined to get stronger, to walk and to fly. Thanks to his healthy appetite, and a specially designed diet, he started to put on weight and to become stronger allowing him to exercise. And that is what he did. He was exercising and practising all day long until he was strong enough to stand up and to walk. He exercised his flight muscles until he was able to lift off. But he didn’t do all this alone. He was inspired and helped by another patient, a jay nestling we named Alita, who came to us as a very poorly orphan as well, and was of roughly the same age as Kojak. Both birds got on very well and soon ventured out together to explore their outdoor rehabilitation and recuperation aviary, encouraging each other to take on the next hurdle.

Then the time came for Alita to say good-bye, to get her second chance in life and to be soft released. It took Alita a while to make up her mind, but eventually she left. She still visits the area and occasionally her old friend. Both birds seemingly knew that from now on they have to look forward, into their very own futures, after having spent a short but important period of time together, a period of time which helped both birds to find their place in their respective worlds. By accident, at almost the same time a new patient came to us, a juvenile jackdaw we named Benno, who suffered a badly fractured wing. And within a few days, both birds bonded, almost as they would have waited for each other.

Kojak’s journey hasn’t come to an end yet, as he still has got some smaller issues to overcome. But since we know him now that well, we are confident that these issues should not be a problem for him, in particular not with the help of his partner Benno. All it needs is time, trust, love and determination.

Jackdaw friends Kojak and Benno

26/08/201723/01/2023

Pet Cats And Their Impact On Wildlife

According to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) cats kill an estimated 55 million birds in Britain every year and such a predation could be contributing to long-term declines of garden birds. Cats also pose a significant threat to endangered mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Studies have shown that alone the presence of cats in the garden is causing directly and indirectly the death of nestling birds, as parents are disturbed, nestlings are not fed sufficiently and third party predators are invited for a free meal.

Cats are domesticated animals. They are not a natural predator in our existing ecosystem, as they have been brought in existence by humans. It is estimated that UK households owned approximately 10.3 million cats in 2006, strays not being counted. Trap – Neuter – Release programmes are supported by several charities. However, these programmes are only partly addressing the impact cats have on our wildlife, as most neutered stray cats will be returned to ‘the wild’. With regards to wildlife conservation, it would be more efficient to stop breeding and selling cats completely and to focus on a foster system taking care of the existing cat population, to basically get all feral cats off the road.

Cats and Wildlife – eBook

Birds caught alive and being seemingly uninjured should not be released. Please contact an experienced bird rescue immediately, even if the bird seems to be healthy and uninjured. Due to bacteria (Pasteurella multocida) within a cat’s claws and mouth it is essential that the caught bird is seen and treated with antibiotics straight away. If the bird is left for too long, there is a risk of a fatal infection (septicaemia).

These are sad but proven facts. Fortunately there are solutions available a responsible cat owner can adopt. So what can be done? The best and safest option for a cat and for wildlife is to keep your cat indoors, or in a sufficient stimulating outdoor enclosure. Cats can also have a good time in the garden in a supervised fashion, or even be trained to be walked on a lead. In other words, the cat flap has to go. Collars fitted with bells or ultrasonic devices are widely recommended, but their effectiveness is questionable. To make them work at all bells need to be changed frequently, as cats are able to learn to adapt their movements to avoid to make any noise. As these collars serve the purpose to make cats more obvious to birds, they may simply provoke even more alarm calls during the nesting period, resulting in a higher nestling mortality as mentioned above.

It is also recommended to spread out bird feeders so that feeding flocks might spot a cat more easily. The more birds you attract to your garden, the less likely cats are to catch them as there are more pairs of eyes keeping watch. Chicken wire can be placed around nest boxes and thorny vegetation can be planted to help protect nesting birds. In addition, ultrasonic devices, which are triggered by the cat, can help dissuade cats from using certain areas of a garden. Make sure feeders are not too close to possible cat hiding places. If the lid of a bird box is not secure, the nesting family becomes a target. Check twice when you are siting a nest box. Make sure it is not accessible to cats from a branch or the top of a wall.

One of the things you can also do to keep wildlife safe is to keep your cat at least in at night. Sunset and sunrise are the times of day when cats like to go hunting most. These are also the times your cat is most likely to be run over. That way you do our wildlife and your cat a big favour.

20/08/201708/10/2017

Finding The Optimal Diet For Corvids

Although corvids are generally known as scavengers and omnivores, the diet of the different corvids species does vary considerably, from species to species, and over the seasons of the year. Only about 40% of the rooks’ diet for example consists of animal protein, and those being mainly worms, bugs and larvae. They usually don’t eat carrion, as their beak is not designed and able to rip animal carcasses into manageable pieces. The remaining 60% of the rooks’ diet are plant-based products like fruits, seeds and vegetables. During the winter time, carrion crows prefer seeds, berries and carrion, whilst during the summertime they do mainly live on animal protein like snails, worms, insects, small mammals and eggs.

Hatchlings And Nestlings Up To 3 Weeks

When raising hatchling corvids it is important to feed a purely insect based diet for the first two weeks of their lives. Ideally these birds should be fed on an insect mash consisting of the following ingredients:

Frozen fresh insects like crickets and wax worms
Mineral and vitamin mixture like Korvimin ZVT+Reptile (WDT)
Boiled egg yolk
Soaked NutriBird Bird Complete pellets (Versele-Laga)
Minced beef
Small amounts of feathers and fur should be added to the mash occasionally, but only when the bird is older than 2 weeks, which will help to produce pellets

Alternatively one can also create a baby food mixture (Modified recipe, original recipe by Samantha Bedford of Bedfordshire Wildlife Rescue) based on the following ingredients:

2 parts ground up (80%) chicken biscuits (Applaws Kitten Food Chicken)
1 part Hagen Tropicana Breeding Mash
1 part Heath’s Prosecto Insectivorous Soft Food
Dried ants, flies and daphnia
Korvimin ZVT+Reptile by WDT (Nutrobal for Birds by Vetark)
Bene-Bac Powder for Birds and Reptiles by PetAg (AviPro Plus by Vetark)

Nestlings Older Than 3 Weeks

When the bird turns 3 weeks, we would start reducing the amount of mash and introduce soaked cat biscuits in addition to the mash fed, which are of an ideal consistency and therefore easy to use for hand feeding. GoCat Chicken and Duck Complete pet food for adult cats (Purina) is well suited for corvids, as it provides the needed high protein contents required. It contains 20% rehydrated meat and animal derivatives, with a minimum 4% chicken and 4% duck (30.0% protein, 10.0% fat content). Tinned dog or cat foods are not a suitable diet for corvids and will most likely cause diarrhoea.

Fledglings

When the birds have fledged, a broader variety of food items will be added to the daily corvid menu, which will be provided in addition to hand feeding in a dish to encourage self feeding. Food will be supplemented with Korvimin ZVT+Reptile by WDT (Nutrobal for Birds by Vetark) to avoid a calcium deficiency. Alternatively one could also grind thoroughly cleaned empty snail shells, which make a good cheap, natural and easily digestible calcium supplement. The basic diet plan for all corvid species consists of:

Soaked cat biscuits (GoCat Chicken and Duck Complete pet food for adult cats (Purina)
Minced beef
Vegetables (fresh corn or maize, corn on the cob or peas)
Fruits (berries, grapes, apple or pear)
Scottish Rough Oatcakes
Good quality bird food seed mix enriched with peanuts, suet pellets and dried meal worms
Live meal worms (larval form of the mealworm beetle – tenebrio molitor) and wax worms (larval form of the wax moth – galleria mellonella)
Dead or frozen fresh insects like crickets, calci–worms (larval form of the black soldier fly hermetia illucens) or natural pinkies (larval forms of bottle flies)
Hazelnuts or walnuts for jays
Occasional food items in particular for crows include dead mice, day old chicks, raw pigeon eggs and cuttle fish bone

Worms and snails must not to be fed to corvids, although being part of their natural diet, as they are carriers of coccidia and worms. Although birds are being encouraged to feed themselves, assisted hand feeding needs to continue until the birds are completely weaned. Fledglings should also be moved into a suitable and spacious aviary, where they can learn to forage and are able to cache food.