The Accipiter - Hospital Update August 2005

Hospital Update - August 2005

A monthly look at the comings and goings in our Hilary Smith Bird of Prey Hospital by volunteer Michael Wallis.

We are still very busy in the hospital but it has not been quite so hectic as in the last couple of months. This is mainly due to the reduced number of baby birds being brought into us.

All the Tawny Owl chicks did very well with their various foster parents around the park. They are now fully grown and have been BTO ringed. Some have been fitted with small radio transmitters and have been released. They are part of a study being co-ordinated by Sam Hunt with some help from two university students. There will be more about this from Sam later in the year.

The Red Kite is still progressing well and is now in an outside aviary to allow the moult to complete before release.

Great Grey Owl chicks on the lawn

The Great Grey Owls have left us for two different parks.

The Little Owls which came to us as very young chicks have also left and gone back into the wild near to where they were originally found.

Tolkein, the Milky Eagle Owl, can be seen in his outdoor aviary and seems to be enjoying life meeting our guests.

Kipling the Baby Griffon Vulture

Our new Griffon Vulture who has been named Kipling , is growing quickly and beginning to stand up and flex his wings. He is very popular with many of the visitors to the hospital on the twice daily tours and can often be seen in the incubator through the treatment room window. There is more about the Griffon Vulture from Mike Riley in our ‘On the Park’ feature in this month’s online magazine.

During the month we have had 18 new patients visit the hospital for treatment and care. These included 5 Buzzards, 2 Barn Owls, 1 Little Owl, 4 Kestrels, 4 Tawny Owls and 2 Peregrine Falcons. One of the Buzzards had travelled some distance to be bought into the hospital, from Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire. It has now been released back in that area.

Mike and BTO ringer Tim Walker fitting a ring to the Peregrine

One of the Peregrine Falcons was bought into the Hospital by a member of the public who found it in the road at Calshot in South Hampshire. She reported that the bird had been mobbed by Crows. It was not injured but was a little underweight. It was a young bird possibly only 6 weeks old.

Mike and volunteer Mike Wallis tracking the Peregrine

Ashley became detective, made many phone calls and spent a lot of time trying to trace where the Eyrie might be and if it was intact with parents and maybe other young. Eventually, Ashley was able to speak to the Assets and Facilities Engineer at Fawley Power Station. The Engineer said that they had an Eyrie on the smoke stack of the Power Station, about 600 feet up. A box had been built some 12 years ago and birds had nested there most years since. Several members of staff had spent time watching the birds and had noted that there were two chicks.

Flying free again, with his nest mate who came out to join him

On the day that the Peregrine was bought into the hospital it was noted that only three birds were seen in and around the Power Station. We put two and two together and assumed that our bird had come from this Eyrie because of its close location to where the bird had originally been found.
On Tuesday 5th July, the bird was ringed with a BTO ring and fitted with a small radio transmitter. It was taken to the Power Station and Mike Riley released it from the roof of an adjoining building to the smoke stack. The two parent birds and the other young one were flying above us and calling loudly. We will try to monitor the wellbeing and whereabouts of the bird until it goes off to find its own territory.

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