Peregrine in Hospital

This morning, we were surprised to hear Radio Derby carry a story in the news about a peregrine falcon that had been found injured at the new Royal Derby Hospital. It had been collected by staff and was about to be released later in the day, having been cared for in captivity for some days.

Photograph: Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

This came as a quite a surprise as we'd heard nothing and nobody had thought to contact us, not even from the radio station with whom we've long had a close association. Luckily we know that our two birds were seen on top of Jurys Inn on Monday afternoon, so it couldn't be one of ours. That was a relief.

We immediately rang both Radio Derby and the Royal Derby Hospital facilities team. The story emerged that an adult peregrine had been found bloodied and injured at the bottom of a small courtyard which acted as a light well to the seven storey hospital building. Luckily a falconer employed by the NHS Trust happened to be present that day (he comes every week from a professional pest control company to use their own falcons to reduce the pigeon problem around the new hospital). He took the bird back with him and to a vet for examination.

Peregrine falcon just before release.
Last seen heading towards Mickleover.
(Photo: Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)

I spoke to the falconer, Ritchie, this morning and learnt that the injured adult falcon had been convalescing in captivity for some days, and was shortly to be released. He thought it was between four and six years old. We have looked into trying to get the bird ringed by our licenced ringer today, but have been unable to reach him at such short notice. We also discussed holding the bird for a further night at the home for a local Derby falconer, so it could be ringed in the morning. But Ritchie felt it has been held in captivity long enough, and was keen to release it as soon as possible. So by 3pm it was agreed it would be released unringed. As always, it is important to put the interests of the wildlife before the interests of scientific study or education.

At this time we don't know where the falcon came from; we do know that other peregrines are seen from time to time over Derby, though these normally get seen off from the city centre by the resident birds. Meanwhile, our own injured falcon from 2009, Cathy, is still being cared for by our local falconer. She has always been well enough to fly (I've flown her myself), though we knew she would never have the ability to hunt and feed herself in the wild. We are currently discussing what arrangements we make for her in the future, and hope we might be able to get her seen by more people and school children than has been possible up to now.
You can follow the original story of Cathy here and here and here

Nick Moyes
Peregrines and  People Technical Advisor

Of Life and Death

So, as many webcam watchers are well aware, a second chick now looks certain to die. From early this morning it was clear that one of the chicks was on its back, unable to right itself. The falcon (female parent)  did its best to shelter it from the sun, but made few moves to right it, though she was clearly concerned with it all day long. Despite kicking its legs vigorously every few minutes, the chick was not successful even in moving more than an inch or two.  Not surprisingly, many comments were left expressing concern over its welfare, asking about the cause and the solution. The realistic answer at this stage is that there is no solution - this is nature at work, and we must wait to see whether it regains the strength to recover, though this is not likely.

I had planned to find a form of words that highlighted how  privileged we are to be able to see nature at work and to highlight that, with this privilege, comes the need for us not to become overly attached or sentimental. All around us, everywhere we could look, nature is at work in its continuous life and death struggle for survival. But this comment left here earlier today probably does that job better far than I could, so we decided to reproduce most of it here:

"Although it's sad to see a chick not making it, and doubly so probably for the children watching, I feel we should be careful not to react as though they were human babies. This how the natural world is, and most of us living in towns and cities have to some extent become divorced from this reality. Don't get me wrong - I've invested a lot of my own time and hopes, like everyone else , in this pair and their chicks,  and I do feel the pain; but we shouldn't get sentimental . . . "

At around the time the picture below was captured earlier this evening *suggesting all three chicks were receiving at least some food) two of the Project Team met to discuss our course of action. The experts we have spoken to feel the problem probably lies with a "rearing issue", which itself has a number of possible causes.We're still investigating how best to proceed, and will do our best to keep you informed of progress. As we so often say here, these are truly wild creatures whose life and death struggles - along with those of their prey - are playing out countless times across the spring countryside right now and intervening is rarely an option..



We hope you may also understand that for each of us in the Team this Peregrine Project is not our main job - it's an added extra which we're happy to support, sometimes in work but more often than not in our own time. So forgive us if we aren't able to answer every question you may ask, or provide video clips of every moment - no matter how delightful or upsetting they may be. The comments and screen shots many of you are however posting are proving immensely helpful in letting others follow the daily life and death challenges faced by just one city's family of peregrines. And for that we're grateful.

Not out of the woods yet

As many readers to this blog will be aware, our female juvenile peregrine was found with a permanently damaged wing just over a week ago. She will never be able to survive and hunt for herself in the wild. She has been to the vet a number of times, the last being yesterday, and her future has still to be decided. Colin, a local falconer, has been caring for her since she was discovered and has kindly produced a progress report on Monday's visit:

Not out of the woods yet.
The vet was pretty pleased with the strength and movement in her right shoulder joint. In fact perhaps a little surprised in just what movement and strength she did have. He was pretty impressed at what we had achieved and said I had made a good job. The shot in her abdomen seems to have moved and looks to be breaking down. This does not worry him as the lead level in her blood is very low at the moment.

However what does concern him is her long term care, and where she will end up.

In an ideal world he would like her to be cared for by a falconer, though she will never fly well enough to become a hunting falconry bird. But I believe she will fly well enough to keep fit and enjoy the freedom that flying free brings. The reason he is keen on her being cared for in a falconry background, is the constant contact and handling this brings every day which allows her to relax among people and give her a quality of life. He does not want her to end up in an aviary where, without constant contact and handling, she would revert back to being wild and become fearful and feel trapped. In that situation he feels the quality of life would be very poor, and euthanasia would be his recommendation.

In short, she goes back in 3 weeks time to see how we have got on with her training, and to see just how far her flying has progressed. When I go back I will tell the vet that I will try to commit to her welfare long term; this is something I had not given a great deal of thought to yet, as all I had thought about until now was getting her as well as possible and flying to the best of her ability.

On a good note I have been granted a registration document from Animal Health (DEFRA) for her as her keeper, it arrived this morning.

The project team adds:
Our thanks to Colin for reporting back on the situation following 010's visit to the vet today. It's clear that not only have we - the Project Team - got an obligation to look after 010's best interests, we also have an obligation not to force 010 upon Colin, or indeed someone else, who might feel duty-bound to look after her for years to come when, deep down, that isn't really what they might want or could manage.

The vet is clearly concerned to ensure that eventually there is a long term commitment to her upkeep and quality of life, and it would be wrong of us all if, by our support for what Colin is doing now, we push him into a corner that he never expected to be in. His decision - and ours - need to be made on what's best for all involved, and for now we are immensely grateful to him for his superb care of this injured wild bird.

You have all been so supportive of what Colin is doing. However, we're worried that the intensity of your support via the blog comments might force him into making long-term decisions he wouldn't otherwise make. So we'll continue to support him, of course, in the great work he has been doing but also in what has to be a completely separate and long-term decision which impacts not only on the bird's future, but also on his own.

Footnotes: Another local photographer, John Salloway, has posted a high definition video showing 010's progress. Follow this link to John's Blog

We are expecting an engineer on 14th July to repair or replace our wireless bridge - so apologies for the protracted breakdown in webcam service.

Would anyone spotting either of our two juveniles please leave a comment on the blog for all to see?

More Sad News

Since the video by John Salloway was posted showing all three juveniles last week, some of you may have noticed that there have not been any moments when all three young birds have been seen together since. There is a reason for this, and we have thought long and hard over the last few days about what information to make public – and when.

As you know, we have always stated that we would not attempt to capture any bird, adult or juvenile that seemed to be injured or ill. But if found on the ground or elsewhere unable to fly, we would do our best for such a bird, for example by returning a juvenile to the top of the tower. That position has been tested this last week, and the situation is still unfolding, and our stance may yet change.

On Wednesday last week we had a call from the RSPCA - the major UK animal welfare charity. They had been called by a security guard the previous evening who had found our remaining female juvenile falcon (010) grounded inside the former police station just across the street from Derby Cathedral. She seemed unable or unwilling to fly, so their animal welfare officer collected the bird and, unable to make contact with us at that time of the evening, took it to a specialist welfare shelter some miles away for overnight care.

The next day Nick B. collected 010 from the animal sanctuary and brought her back to Derby to release her. Although 010 had eaten well and looked bright eyed, the sanctuary owner expressed some concerns about the bird’s wings and so Nick B asked our local falconer Colin P. to check the bird over before she was released.

At it happened a number of people, including Colin, had noticed that this juvenile had been reluctant to fly on the tower over the previous couple of days. This indicated some sort of problem and so, armed with this knowledge, it was decided to get some expert opinion about her condition. Colin agreed to look after her meanwhile and he reported back that 010 had adapted to captivity quickly, continue to eat lustily and was very calm, making her an ideal patient.

It also turned out that the RSPCA were involved with a BBC TV programme called Animal Rescue 24:7 which focuses on animal welfare incidents. The programmers had asked if they could film the story to be broadcast sometime next year. We agreed and a film crew turned up to film the bird at the sanctuary and her return to Derby, though by then we had decided she should not be released.

The following day Colin took 010 to a local vet who agreed the bird was not 100% and referred her to a second vet with specialist skill in treating birds of prey. There she was X-rayed and was found to have dislocated her left shoulder joint some time earlier. This had gone back into place and had healed - but in the wrong position. This vet felt it was unlikely that she will ever fly again, though the bird was not distressed or in pain as far as he could judge. To make matters worse, the X-ray also revealed that she had at a large shotgun pellets inside her gut. The vet assured Colin that 010 had not been shot directly, but had probably ingested the pellet from a prey item she had fed on, which itself must have survived being shot.

What these pellets are made of is of great concern. It's most likely that they will be standard lead pellets, in which case there is a considerable risk that, if they don't pass though her body naturally (or after giving her an enema to attempt to flush the lead out), they could be digested and enter her tissues. This would eventually result in lead poisoning. Blood tests have been taken and we await the results of these later in the week. If at any stage she exhibits signs of lead poisoning it seems inevitable that 010 will have to be put down at some stage before she deteriorates and suffers further. But so far she appears healthy and well and is a very gentle-natured bird, and is certainly being very well looked after.

If it turns out that there is no lead poisoning – just a weak left wing - the vet’s opinion is that it would probably still be wrong to keep her penned up for the rest of her life, unable to fly. By contrast and depending how she progresses, Colin thinks it might still be possible to exercise her sufficiently such that she could fly a little, even if she can never hunt for herself.

So what do we do? The answer is we don't yet know. We have to think of the bird's welfare first, and what is the best course of action to take. It could be a hard decision to make to put down a wild bird that could face the rest of its long life in captivity; but it would be almost as hard for us to decide that she should remain alive, knowing she might never fly wild again, and certainly not hunt for herself. 010 will be returning to the specialist vet during the week for the results of the blood test. We will probably also try and retrieve and bring you the x-ray which clearly shows the injury she has experienced.

We visited 010 earlier today, and she was calm and at ease in her new environment. In the first picture above she had just been sprayed with water in an attempt to encourage her to preen and move both wings. That she did with ease, though it was clear that her right wing is being held in an abnormal position.

We hope you understand why we decided not to go public with this unfolding story until we knew more about the nature of 010’s problems. It is possible that you may have views which will not coincide with whatever decision the Project team and the veterinary experts decide upon. But rest assured that whatever it is, we'll attempt to do the right thing for falcon 010, and will keep you informed of progress during the coming days.

However, in view of recent unwelcome comments left on this blog when falcon 009 flew into a glass panel and died a week ago, we do not want to see a recurrence of inflammatory remarks being left about 010 which then deteriorate into an unhelpful and aggressive slanging match.
We think all readers of this blog - including children - deserve better. So for a short period all new comments to this post will require pre-moderation by a project member.

Finally we would also like to thank the RSPCA who took in 010 and who met the cost of the initial vet's fees, and to P.Nurse of Ambivet for his care and concern. Over the weekend she was also visited by one of Derbyshire Police's Wildlife Liaison Officers and her possession at the moment by an experienced falconer has been registered in accordance with UK law. So, most importantly, our thanks to Colin P. for his care and concern for this poor falcon.

Latest Update (29/6/09): The vet's blood analysis apparently shows low levels of lead in her body, which is good news for now. She is scheduled for another check-up next week.