Meeting Place For People Interested In Corvids
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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!