Research - August 2008

I am very lucky and privileged enough to be currently involved with collecting data for two projects which are: the post-release survival of rehabilitated raptors and looking at the effects of human presence or absence on rehabilitating raptors here at the Trust’s bird of prey hospital. So far, I have tracked or tried to track two buzzards which hasn’t been easy, especially as I have no sense of direction and my driving and map reading skills are not the best! It’s been quite a steep learning curve for me as previous to joining the Trust, I have only tracked a ‘wandering’ Saker falcon from a couple of falconry displays and only over a distance of five miles. However my map reading skills have improved as have my radio tracking techniques and the experience of tracking these birds from the hospital out in the countryside is so exciting.

The first rehabilitated bird to be tracked by radio transmitter post release from the hospital was a juvenile male buzzard that came into the hospital in the middle of January with a damaged beak. The buzzard was released on 13th May from the Trust with the intention of tracking him for 6 weeks. In the first week the buzzard travelled South West to Newton Tony and continued in a south westerly direction to Fonthill Bishop, covering a total distance of approximately 23 miles. The buzzard was originally found in Warminster so it looked as though he was heading home. However, in the second week the buzzard travelled a further 8 miles south and was located near Shaftesbury. The signal did not move from this position and 16 days post-release the transmitter was located on a woodland floor on the Ferne country estate. I was very pleased with myself for finding the transmitter 28 miles from the Trust but obviously disappointed that the transmitter did not stay on the bird for longer providing us with more data on its location and survival post release.

The second buzzard, a female adult buzzard that stayed in the hospital for a week due to concussion from a road traffic accident, was released on 4th June. She was tracked over eight days post release and travelled 16 miles east from the Trust but unfortunately no further signal has been detected. It is hoped that the tracking of these and other buzzards will be shown on the website shortly so that you can follow their progress post-release.

The study in the hospital observing the bird’s reactions to the presence or in the absence of humans is still ongoing but I have collated approximately forty hours worth of observations so far on Tawny owl chicks, Kestrels, a juvenile Sparrowhawk and an adult Tawny owl and Little owl. As well as carrying out more observations, I am starting to analyse the data I have so far which involves number crunching and statistics, not my favourite or strong point!

Over the next couple of months I will be helping other research students with various dietary and enrichment projects on the park as well as maintaining the second phase of the Tawny owl release project. This phase of the project will investigate a rehabilitation release system known as ‘supplementary feeding’ or ‘soft release’. This stage of the study will involve five Tawny owls being housed in a purpose built mobile pre-release aviary (‘soft-release’ aviary) on site before they are released in a suitable wooded habitat from the same ‘soft-release’ aviary. Pre-release, the Tawny owls will be fitted with a tag, a bit like a microchip, except it will be in a ring on their leg which will be scanned by a scanner at the entrance to the tunnel on the mobile release aviary. Every time the Tawny owls enter and exit the trailer via the tunnel it will be recorded so we can collect data and analyse the frequency of visits back to the trailer. Food and water will be available to the Tawny owls daily in the mobile pre-release aviary so food consumption will also be recorded in the study.