Tag: corvids

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Crow And Rook Release 2017 – 15 Birds Released

Carrion crow Magnus

Yesterday, we closed our release aviary doors, bringing this years’ carrion crow and rook release saison to an end. At the end of September we opened the aviary doors for 17 crows and rooks to be soft released.  Out of these 17 release candidates, 15 birds, consisting of 11 carrion crows and four rooks, have been successfully soft released. Two birds decided to stay and will get another release chance offered next year. These two birds will join a group of birds in our communal aviary already being earmarked for release in autumn 2018.  Out of these 15 released birds, we released three birds, who stayed with us since 2015, three birds, who came to us in 2016, and nine birds, who have been admitted in 2017.

Soft release is a release technique, which involves continuing care for animals at the release site, particularly back-up feeding, and requires a greater commitment of time and effort than a hard release does. Soft release is particularly important for hand reared animals, especially of species which need to learn about their surroundings and need to learn survival skills such as foraging and hunting.  It is also appropriate for older immature or adult birds, who have been maintained in captivity for prolonged periods, or are being released at a site distant from their original location, as the original location might not be suitable.

Some of the released birds have joined straightaway our local mixed rook and jackdaw as well as non-territory holding carrion crow flock, which they already got to know very well during their stay with us. Both flocks are frequent visitors to our premises, a fortunate situation, which allows direct interaction and communication between wild birds, patients and residents. Over the past weeks some of the released birds decided to come back into the safety of the release aviary to roost, whilst others came back only to get some extra snacks. Many of them stayed in the near vicinity for longer periods of time. After becoming more and more confident, which is a learning process lasting anything between several days and many weeks, we could observe these birds, when they followed the local flocks flying further and further away from the release site, to participate in daytime activities and to eventually join the night roost.

Rook Atreo
Rook Bella
Carrion crow Castor
Carrion crow Corbyn
Carrion crow Harper
Rook Hugo
Carrion crow Joey
Carrion crow Justus
Carrion crow Magnus
Carrion crow Penthesilea
Carrion crow Stella
Rook Tadeas
Carrion crow Philander
Carrion crow Merilyn
Carrion crow Bertram

Although the aviary doors are closed now, backup feeding and shelter will still be provided throughout autumn and winter. Most of the released birds are now staying away completely, or at least for longer periods of time. Some of them  are still coming back to visit their old comrades or to enjoy some food, which we will continue to provide.

When checking out the picture gallery, you will find a short summary underneath every picture telling you a little bit about the individual stories of these fascinating birds.

If you like the work we do, then please consider supporting Corvid Isle, as we are completely self founded. Please check out our support page and donate. Thank you very much in advance!

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Animal Emotions – Joy, Happiness and Play

This short videoclip shows one of those beautiful occasions, where we were privileged to be part of the daily lives of our wild non-human animal neighbours. Just by chance we have been able to document and record a fascinating playful interaction or variation of social play occurring between a wild young rook and a mixed group of rooks and jackdaws as well as a small flock of residential pigeons circling the area. Just a few seconds after the rook had drawn the attention of one of the approaching jackdaws, the rook decided to disengage and to follow the leaving birds.

” Social play is an excellent example of a behavior in which many animals partake, and one that they seem to enjoy immensely. Individuals become immersed in the activity, and there seems to be no goal other than to play. As Groos (1898) pointed out, animals at play appear to feel incredible freedom. ” 1

Social play observed amongst non-human animals including corvids plays an important part in the emotional lives of many non-human animal species. During our daily interactions with our corvid patients, residents and visiting wild birds, we are frequently able to observe many of these intricate nuances of their fascinating emotional lives, and even get sometimes involuntarily involved in their playfulness and cheekiness. Although many encounters we are able to witness may serve a specific purpose, a purpose we may or may not fully understand, some incidents like the playing rook in the video clip, might just be what it seems – a bird having a bit of fun, nothing more and nothing less.

Rook Hanging Upside Down

Bibliography

  1. Bekoff, M. (2000). Animal Emotions: Exploring Passionate Natures Current interdisciplinary research provides compelling evidence that many animals experience such emotions as joy, fear, love, despair, and grief—we are not alone. BioScience, 50(10), 861-870. ↩︎
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Crows To Clean Up Cities – Ignorance Versus Intelligence

Carrion crow Merilyn

The list of animal exploitation is long and includes the abuse of animals for food, clothing, entertainment and experimentation as well as as companions and workers. Right now, there is a new scientific project making its rounds through the media, which is suggesting a new method to keep our cities clean. The idea has been developed by Dutch scientists und is focussing on the utilisation of specific traits of an animals species, which could theoretically help to tackle one of the biggest human evolutionary shortcomings – to be willing to live in harmony with nature and the environment. The project design incorporates a machine and is recruiting and training city crows, who would take care of recklessly discarded cigarette butts.

It is known that cigarettes take between ten and twelve years to decompose. The scale of this waste problem is huge, as it is estimated that every year approximately 4.5 trillion cigarettes are discarded with no regard for the environment. The project is using a so called ‘Crowbar’, which is based on a design created by an American inventor. The device has a large funnel, where cigarette butts can be deposited, and a dispenser for releasing peanuts as a reward. The hope is that crows get busy cleaning up the streets in exchange for some easy food. This idea is trying to utilise the generally acknowledged fact that crows are very intelligent and adaptable being known for their ability to solve complex problems and also to create and use tools.

Before looking at ethical questions related to this idea, there are at least two ‘technical’ problems to address, which the inventors might not have fully thought through. First off all, it is very likely that crows will always have a food choice in our crowded cities, meaning that peanuts may not be that much attractive as a food reward. Secondly, our crows are usually territorial, which means that only one territory holding pair is going to use that machine, which doesn’t seem very efficient, when it comes to cleaning up our large cities. These two problems alone are likely to be sufficient enough, to put this questionable idea to rest.

However, without a doubt, this project raises also several ethical issues, the most important ones being the egocentric and anthropocentric way of human thinking and attitude. Obviously, common sense tells us that the far simpler and cheaper way of solving the cigarette butt problem is to educate people, in this particular case smokers. Instead of constructing, deploying and maintaining machines, which are leaving a noticeable carbon foot print behind, one should rather educate and encourage smokers to quit smoking, or at least to discard their waste products appropriately, which is the least one could expect from a grown up human being.

Carrion crow Pan Tau

However, the problem is far more complex than that. Firstly, as mentioned already, the suggested solution is based on an anthropocentric view point. Humans have long tested animals to see how smart they are by seeing if they can do human-like tasks. We are too quick to judge animals by our own human standards, instead of testing within the limits of the animals’ natural behaviour and within their natural setting. By any standard used, we all know that corvids are clever enough to be able to fulfill this particular task, but so are other sentient beings, like toddlers too. And this leads to the second problem.

Humans do not treat sentient and intelligent beings like crows as equals, meaning we treat them differently, and by far not the way we would want to be treated, despite that there is a general agreement about the fact that humans and crows are both, sentient and intelligent. It is actually even worse, the anthropocentric view point is so deeply rooted, that many humans are often tend to focus on the level of animal intelligence (compared to humans) rather than sentience, when it comes to decide how to treat an animal, ignoring completely the fact that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness.

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Corvid Isle FAQ

Rook Martha – An Obituary

The truth is that this machine, when it would actually work, would exploit crows, ignoring the fact that it is morally wrong to use or exploit sentient beings in any way. Even worse, this machine is putting these birds at an additional risk by encouraging and rewarding them to handle toxic and also possibly still burning cigarette butts, which might even end up in a place, where we might not want them to be. Furthermore, at least to a certain degree, these birds will be made dependent to rely on human handouts. Based on the natural behaviour of corvids, they will also cache their food, or potential valuables like cigarette butts, as they might want to trade them in later. The result will be that litter will not only be removed, but also be distributed in a different, not nessarily desired pattern. It is also to expect that crows will test the built in scanner to its limits, simply to find out, if other items like pebbles or pieces of paper also trigger food rewards, something which will put the whole machine to a test.

Carrion crow Arwen

Sadly, even some bird and corvid lovers seem to find this idea fascinating, as they feel that this approach spreads the word and is helping to change and improve the traditionally bad reputation of corvids. It might even do that, but by disregarding the rights of an individual sentient being and by supporting exploitation. Luckily, regardless of all ethical issues, and purely due to technical problems alone, it remains doubtful that this machine is ever going to work.

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Rook Irenaeus – An Obituary

Rook Irenaeus

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the loss of our rook Irenaeus. He came to us in June 2017 following a phone call of a kind and concerned person, who spotted Irenaeus during a heavy downpour, when he was trying to find shelter next to a pub. We went to assess the situation and eventually decided to catch Irenaeus, who we found grounded, soaking wet and cold.

Rook Irenaeus

Apart from being slightly underweight and an increased internal parasite load, Irenaeus did not show any other obvious sign of disease or injury. He has been treated accordingly and settled in very quickly into our residential rook community. Over the following weeks it became clear that Irenaeus wouldn’t fly again, at least not for longer distances, despite the lack of any physical or medical reason. 

Rook Martha – An Obituary

Corvid Isle Sanctuary

Nevertheless, Irenaeus became quickly a well regarded community member amongst our rooks. Interestingly, we also noticed that in particular young birds enjoyed Irenaeus’ proximity, possibly being attracted by his very calm and relaxed attitude towards other, but in particular young birds. Over the last days of his life Irenaeus became a little quieter than usual, but still enjoyed his food and company very much.

Rook Irenaeus

Sadly, last night Ireneaus passed away peacefully in his sleep. We don’t know how old Ireaneus was, but we think that he must have been quite old already. We are relieved that he was able to spend the last months of his life in peace and comfort enjoying in particular the close friendship to our residential rook Anthea. Irenaeus, you will be greatly missed. Rest in peace! 

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Spinal Trauma Rehabilitation – Magpie Anton’s Story

Admission – 28/06/2016

Anton, an immature magpie, came to us as in June 2016. He has been found hiding in a greenhouse after being injured and unable to fly. At admission we found a subacute fracture of radius and ulna of his left wing. The fracture has been treated conservatively and splinted accordingly. Anton made a full and uneventful recovery, and four weeks later he has been successfully soft released. Anton stayed in the area and has been seen daily returning for some snacks.

Update – 20/08/2016

The last three weeks, after we opened the release aviary, magpie Anton stayed in the closer vicinity and came back almost every day for food and to visit some old friends, in particular magpie Ebony. However, today we have been shocked to find Anton near his release aviary lying on his back and being unable to walk or stand. Although we don’t know what has exactly happened, the admission assessment revealed very quickly that our unlucky magpie fellow Anton suffered a severe impact trauma, which has resulted in a spinal contusion with subsequent partial paralysis of both wing and legs. 

Rehabilitation Of Brain And Spinal Trauma Patients

The treatment of corvids in general, but in particular the treatment of spinal injuries in birds can be a controversial topic and is handled inconsistently. Apart from the disappointing species related fact that corvids are often not treated and rehabilitated at all, a spinal trauma or spinal injury with partial or complete paralysis of wings, legs or both, is commonly seen as an acceptable reason for an immediate euthanasia. And even if a rehabilitation attempt is undertaken, often enough these birds are hastily euthanised after only a couple of days without significant improvement. Our own experiences, rehabilitation approach and results are different, focussing on birds without a fracture or on birds with non-displaced spinal fractures only. It has to be noted that displaced spinal fractures usually result in irreversible damage to the spinal cord and a recovery is very unlikely. In these cases euthanasia is probably the kindest option.  However, these kind of decisions have to be made on a case by case basis. In all other cases outlined above, a treatment attempt should be considered. If there is no noticeable improvement within a fortnight, chances of recovery are remote. However, as soon as there is a noticeable improvement observed, chances of a full recovery will increase markedly over time. Under these circumstance the rehabilitation process and timeline will be extended and adapted accordingly. The video clip below shows some of the milestones of Anton’s rehabilitation process and recovery including his second successful soft release. 

Considerations For The Early Rehabilitation Phase

Magpie Anton is a typical example, which proves that birds with spinal injuries should be given a second chance and that these birds can make a full recovery. At admission Anton was unable to stand or walk at all. He was able to fly short distances, but in a very uncoordinated way, which did suggest a mild coexisting concussion. As in any other rehabilitation situation, the rehabilitation process needs to be frequently adapted according to the degree of neurological deficit and should also take the personality of the individual concerned in account. The treatment usually starts off with a secure and padded hospital box in a quite and dimmed light setting, with the primary goal to keep the bird calm and the blood pressure low, without using any restraints (e.g. bird harness or sling). This is in particular important during the first week, as the risk of a sudden neurological deterioration is highest during the first 24 hours after the trauma. Any bleed or haematoma within spine or brain will lead to a compression of the surrounding structures, also resulting in an additional perifocal swelling or oedema, which usually peaks at 72 hours and persists for about 5 days. These findings might explain a second mortality peak commonly seen at the third day post accident and they also justify the necessity to give any bird with a brain or spine injury enough time and a chance to recover. Based on these facts and our own experiences, it becomes evident that the 14 day rule seems to be a good compromise. 

Longterm Rehabilitation Of Brain And Spinal Trauma Patients

For the next phase of the rehabilitation process, a padded play pen or baby cot works very well, which allows the bird to exercise in a safe environment, as the bird is usually not in full control of his or her movements and may be prone to injuries. Not unsurprisingly cleanliness is paramount, primarily to avoid additional damage to and contamination of the plumage, which is at risk to excessive wear and tear in particular in birds, which are unsteady and prone to falls. The added interior of the padded pen has to be chosen carefully, to take again all these facts in account. This also obviously includes water dishes to avoid accidental drowning in unsteady patients. When the bird has regained his or her abilities to control its movements, a transfer into a small safe aviary can be attempted to allow more freedom, entertainment and exercise. However, the progress has to be monitored closely, as frequent adaptations of the aviary setup may be necessary to adapt and optimise the rehabilitation process and to minimise any remaining risks of falls or injury. The final step of the birds recovery will be the transfer into a larger free flight soft release aviary. It goes without saying that these kind of bird patients are not suitable for a hard release at all. Soft release is the only viable option for any young or long-term patient allowing a gradual reintroduction back into the wild. 

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Update – 02/11/2016

Magpie Anton made a full recovery and has been successfully soft released for the second time. Anton teamed up with previous inmate Ebony, who has been also soft released together with Anton. Both birds stayed close by and are frequently visiting our garden, even a year after their final release. Stay safe Anton and Ebony!

Magpie Anton’s Story