release Archives - Page 3 of 3

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!

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!

Tag: release

Sparrowhawk Amaya