wildlife Archives - Page 13 of 16

14/11/201705/03/2024

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

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. ↩︎

17/10/201723/01/2023

Why Not To Light A Bonfire

It is soon the time of the year again, where social media messages are piling up in your ‘virtual inbox’ advising you to check your garden woodpile for hedgehogs before you start a bonfire. And you certainly should, if you really cannot live without a bonfire to annoy your neighbours, cause an asthma attack and to pollute the environment.

But do you really have to light a bonfire? Most certainly not. Let us start with some basic biology and ethics. It is a wrong and typical speciesist as well as anthropocentric view to focus only on one or a selected few, often popular species, in this case yourself and the hedgehog. If you have built your bonfire woodpile over a longer period time, then you actually have done something wonderful by creating a mini ecosystem with a very rich biodiversity of different species, who benefit from your hard work, and you as the garden owner will too. Frogs and newts need somewhere to spend the winter and a wood pile is just the place. Toads might shelter or even hibernate here as it is safe and damp. Centipedes, ground and rove beetles live happily here and will take care of slugs and their eggs. Fungi are great food for wildlife and will help to recycle rotting wood and make also good food for slugs and snails, which in turn attract hedgehogs and garden birds. You may even find slow worms and endangered stag beetles in your little wood pile world. So checking for one species, whilst ignoring and killing others unnecessarily, is simply short sighted, not justifiable and morally wrong.

The ideal case scenario would obviously be to just leave the woodpile alone. Alternatively, you could compost your garden waste by yourself before it builds up, or if the amounts are to big, then you could bring the waste to a tip, where it will be done for you. And if you have got the unfortunate type of organic waste, which is normally not regarded as compostable, then you can obviously let the council collect these scraps, or you can compost it directly, together with vegetable and fruit scraps, in your kitchen by using the Bokashi composting method. Bokashi composting is a cheap, easy and odourless method of composting that is so quick that all kitchen waste from a large family could be composted in something as small as a 20 litre bin. You need only two tailor-made bins to be used alternately and some Bokashi bran, which contains a carefully controlled mixture of beneficial bacteria, yeasts and fungi, that work together to speed-up composting, suppress pathogens (there are no e-coli in a Bokashi composter), prevent putrefaction and eliminate bad odors. As a side effect, the drained-off liquid can be used to keep your drains fresh and patent, and can also be used to nourish your plants and crops.

So, the answer is definitely NO, you really do not need to light a bonfire, to wipe out a whole mini ecosystem, and to also possibly kill the ever so popular hedgehog, whose numbers are rapidly declining. One should always endeavour to intervene in order to benefit the sentient beings who are living in nature, and not intervening in nature in a way that harms human and non-human animals.

22/09/2017

Blackbird Herbie

Admission – 15/06/2017

Herbie, a blackbird nestling, came to us as after being caught by a cat. Herbie suffered superficial wounds around his back and right hip. Additionally, we found a sprain injury of his right leg. The routine faecal float test revealed a severe coccidia infection. Herbie has been treated accordingly and settled in very well. It took just a couple of days for Herbie to fledge. He then has been moved from his hospital box into a much larger flexarium, which is a soft fabric indoor aviary, to allow him to exercise his wings and leg without damaging his developing plumage. His superficial wounds healed very well. The mild paralysis of his leg, caused by the sprain injury, did also resolve completely.

Update – 03/07/2017

When it became clear that Herbie was reliably eating by himself, we transferred him from the indoor flexarium into our outdoor release aviary, where he joined blackbird Marcia. Birds which have been in care for more than a few days should be reacclimatised by housing in an outside aviary for a period of time (generally about two weeks) before release. Fledglings also require an oppertunity to exercise to develop sufficient fitness prior to their release. The exposure to the elements will also encourage preening and ensure that the plumage is returned to normal waterproofing, which is important for any bird species.

Update – 22/09/2017

Today blackbird Herbie has been successfully released. Stay safe Herbie!

22/09/201722/09/2017

Blackbird Marcia

Admission – 28/04/2017

Blackbird Marcia came to us three weeks after been rescued by a well meaning person, who found the bird as a nestling being out of the nest on the ground. Unfortunately, a wrong diet has been fed to the bird, which led to a very poor plumage and delayed general development. Marcia suffered also from an untreated coccidia infection worsened by a generally weakened immune system due to lack of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Additional plumage damage has been inflicted by keeping the fledgling bird in a metal cage. Marcia appeared also clearly imprinted, as she has been raised by her own. Luckily, the finder didn’t release Marcia as initially intended, but only because of concerns regarding cats visiting the garden. This was the main reason why Marcia has been brought to us eventually, which saved her live and gave her another chance.

Although Marcia’s plumage might not look too bad at the first glance, one should not forget that most plumage related problems will manifest themselves at a later stage. Feathers and flight are the primary facets of bird rehabilitation, which are sometimes overlooked by inexperienced and even seemingly experienced rescues and rehabbers. Feather condition is as critical during the course of release for birds as is the ability to fly. Any type of damage to the feather structure will impede a bird’s ability to fly, to be waterproof and to thermoregulate. In short, birds with compromised feather condition have a low survival rate following being released. To further compound the problem, the majority of birds have only one annual moult, the first complete one usually occurring in their second year.

Update – 28/05/2017

It took Marcia five months to replace all damaged and prematurely lost feathers. Marcia was unable to fly for many weeks, which would have been her death sentence in the wild. She would have been unable to protect herself from the elements, rendering her unable to maintain her body temperature and unable to forage. Marcia has spent most of the time in our sheltered soft release aviary, where she could exercise and explore freely, but where she also had the chance to find shelter and warmth when needed.

Update – 22/09/2017

Today blackbird Marcia has been successfully released. Stay safe Marcia!

06/09/201718/09/2017

Blackbird Orwell

Admission – 13/08/2017

Orwell is a fledgling blackbird, who has been caught and injured by a cat. He suffered a puncture wound to his left wing as well as sprain injury of his left leg. Orwell has been treated accordingly, which did include a course of antibiotics to counteract a potentially fatal infection transmitted by the cat contact. Orwell settled in very quickly and was eager to be fed. A couple of days later blackbird Orwell has been moved from his hospital box into a much larger flexarium, which is a soft fabric indoor aviary, to allow him to exercise his wing and leg without damaging his developing plumage. The puncture wound to his wing healed very well. The mild paralysis of his leg, caused by the sprain injury, which did obviously involve soft tissues and femoral nerve, has also completely resolved.

Update – 26/08/2917

Today Orwell has been moved into our soft release outdoor aviary, as he is now independently feeding. Birds which have been in care for more than a few days should be reacclimatised by housing in an outside aviary for a period of time (generally about two weeks) before release. Fledglings also require an oppertunity to exercise to develop sufficient fitness prior to their release. The exposure to the elements will also encourage preening and ensure that the plumage is returned to normal waterproofing, which is important for any bird species. Orwell settled in very well into his new temporary home.

Update – 18/09/2017

Today blackbird Orwell has been successfully soft released. Stay safe Orwell!