Saturday 5 March 2011

First baby bird of the year.

This young Tawny was found on a wood floor at Bransholme, Hull this week.
He had a wing measurement of 98mm making him about 3-4 weeks old.
The parent birds must have begun nesting in the dark, extremely cold days
of the New Year.
He is just too young to be a "brancher" and must have fallen out of the nest hole.
They come out of the nest shouting for food and are still unable to fly. If they fall out
they can and do climb back up with talons and bill. I don't think he would have managed to get back.
He should rear well and be released back once he is a strong flyer and has good adult flight feathers.






Deer make difficult paitents in rehab. They are extremely skittish, shy and very nervous.
This adult roe buck was crossing a busy road and was clipped by a car. A following mini bus driver kindly stopped as the deer was laid out thrashing wildly.
He picked him up and laid him among the seats, he had no passengers at the time. After arriving here we drove straight to the vets and after a listen to his chest and an examination of his fine slim legs we decided to give him a go.
I laid him in deep straw in a small shed with a heat lamp and left him to rest. He was concussed , had a bloody mouth and a deep gash to one leg but didn't look too bad, only time would tell. He remained calm and slightly dopey the next day, he had swelling to one side of his face but was on his keel and looking ok. I hoped he would stand and start to look more active.
The next day he could stand on his back legs but one of his front legs was loose and not right. 
The vet called again and the injury to the front leg was just too severe and he was quietly put to sleep. 
Some you win, some you loose.