Dovekie Strandings

Hi All,

I am still getting lots of calls about stranded dovekies so I thought I would make a little post in here to help people decide what to do. I have gotten calls and birds from all over, but they seems to be stranding everywhere as I have gotten calls from NB, PEI , Cape Breton and of course the mainland. Several of the birds we have gotten are quite thin and have died despite my best efforts and I am assuming some of these are young from this year which have a pretty low survival rate anyway ( sad but true and part of survival of the fittest). I have also gotten several in good body condition that are quite vigorous and are just victims of the weather and been blown ashore. I'm giving the whole spiel here so if I am saying a pile of stuff that people know about already..sorry :-)

So, Dovekies are pelagic seabirds, meaning they spend all of their time in the ocean and are not normally on land unless they are nesting. If they do come ashore they are pretty much in trouble as they can't take off from land and can't even walk around very far due to the placement of their legs. When people call, I try to convince them to bring them to me so I can assess them and figure out if they are a healthy stranding or a thin bird in trouble. If they are a healthy ( good body condition ) stranding, I keep them long enough to get a dose of fluids and a meal into them and provided the weather is good, bring them to the ocean ( not a river or lake, needs to be salt water). If they are thin or weak, I keep them for several days, give them fluids and food, and decide when I think they are healthy enough to go back. Of course some of these die as they are in poor condition and have very little energy reserves left. A few notes on dovekies in captivity....they generally will NOT eat in captivity as they eat very tiny fish, crustaceans and copepods in the wild...I have been able to get a few to self feed with tiny minnows. I feed them by inserting a specially designed stainless steel tube into the crop via the mouth. They dont like this but rarely regurgitate the food as it is a slurry. I have tried to forcefeed minnows in the past..which they usually just regurgitate back up. Many people want to put them in the tub...if your water is hard you can interfere with their waterproofing and if they are in dirty water ( fecal contamination) ..the same thing happens. Also, even oils from your bare hands can compromise their waterproofing so they are best not handled or if you must...wear gloves. I house mine on a suspended net bottom pen so feces dont get on their feathers and allow limited access to softened water to let them drink on their own. River or seawater works too for temporary housing. Warning..if they are thin or weak and are left alone in water..they can drown...

Many people think they are are in good shape because they are bopping around and trying to escape and look " puffy" which many equate with being "fat". This is often far from the truth. The best way to assess body condition on any bird is to feel the breast or pectoral muscles. Again..sorry if I am preaching to the choir here but I tell my volunteers and students to imagine a full chicken breast...the keel being the middle cartilage and the plump breast muscles on either side. If you feel for the keel, you should feel muscle on either side...in many cases close to level with the keel ( some seabirds have a more prominent keel and streamlined muscle...but you shouldnt feel sharp keel)..if the keel is sticking out of the breast muscle like a blade..they are thin and possibly even emaciated.. Some birds will beach on purpose when they are dying and if you put them back in the water they will just drown or beach again. For this reason I try to get people to bring them to me so I can examine them before putting them back in the water.

Lastly... we shot this little video for our website/blog/facebook to help people who have found these birds identify them. The one that seems lame...is. The other 2 are fine and were released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVWHgO5of-Q

Ive had 4 more calls tonight about more of them. Feel free to pass on my contact info below to anyone who has found one and if I can help I will.

Thanks

Helene

Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre

Truro NS

893-0253

birdvet@hotmail.com

Release of an Immature Bald Eagle

This bird was with us for 5 weeks. Came in a weakened state with a severely infected foot. We were quite sure we could see bite marks on its foot and assumed it was bitten by another animal. Took a major struggle to get medication into this bird for 3 weeks but the effort was worth it as we watched her fly away today with a healed foot. Good luck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3S3jyKc5f4

New Patient - Barred Owl in shock

Admitted an adult barred owl 2 days ago. Had gotten trapped in a barn in a confined space for several days. The owner of the property thought it was dead until he saw its head move. The bird was still in decent flesh but was badly dehydrated. We gave her IV fluids ( assuming a female because of higher body weight, females are larger than males in species of birds of prey) and put her in an incubator to bring her body temperature up. Within 12 hours she was looking better and we repeated her fluids. A few hours later we fed her a food slurry and then the next day, a small mouse. Happy to report that today she is quite bright and has eaten 2 mice! Pics to follow :)

Eagle Release

A good year for land protection in NS

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1218256.html

Rat poison often kills wildlife

Please consider wildlife before using rat poisons. Any animal ( including your pets) can be secondarily poisoned by eating a rodent containing rat poison

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=super-toxic-rat-poision-kills-owls

Wildlife Solutions

Cool story but the answer here is not to relocate the owl, but to make a less flimsy chicken pen . If one owl discovered they are easy to get at, others will , so relocating this one won't work. Plus..it will likely just come back. They aren't stupid! :) Most issues where wildlife conflicts happen, is because we have done something to attract them and need to fix that.

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/johnmccoy/2010/12/08/chicken-killing-owl-freed-by-chickens-owner/

Oiled Wildlife Training

CWRC is at Point Tupper Marine Services ( oil handling facility), teaching a seminar on oiled wildlife rehabilitation. Oil spill preparedness is a main focus of our group.

Oiled Wildlife Preparedness

I spent the past few days at the REET meeting ( Regional Environmental Emergencies Team) in Charlottetown. We have special expertise in oiled wildlife rehabilitation and I spent those the days networking with govt and community team reps. Great opportunity to spread the word about preparedness for wildlife affected by oil spills. Several training sessions coming up too. The more people I can train to help deal with wildlife if we have a spill, the better!

Benefit Concert in Two Weeks and Baby Season has Arrived

Hi Everyone,

We are just entering our busiest month and so far this is the most active year so far. Our first baby wild animal showed in April and was a baby fox ( later joined by 6 others). Since that time we have admitted many more and the phone calls get busier everyday. Will give more details later but so far in house we have the following species: Northern Saw Whet Owl, Barred Owl, American Crow, Rock Pigeon, Northern Flying Squirrel, Eastern Chipmunk, Red Fox, Mallard Duck, Long-Tailed Weasel and a Mourning Dove. Never a dull moment.

This week we also received a bald eagle that I'm pretty sure was poisoned. Luckily we had the antidote on hand and she was the quickest release ever. She was only here for 5 days and was then released back into her territory in Cumberland County.

We have our 2nd Annual Wildlife Benefit Concert and Silent Auction happening on June 19 at Kegger's Alehouse in Truro. It was a great time last year, please come and bring a friend. More info can be found at:

http://www.cwrc.net/2010_benefit.shtml

We have a summer intern from the NSAC Veterinary Technology Program ( welcome Matt) and our summer student starts tomorrow ( welcome back Kathleen). It's great to have the help as this place has gotten way too busy for me to handle on my own!

Stay tuned and I hope to keep up with this blog. Feel free to comment.

Till next time

Helene

Owl release

Released an owl in Cape Breton last night.Wonderful experience, more details to come :)

http://www.capebretonpost.com/Living/Community/2010-05-05/article-1055679/What-a-hoot!-Rescued-owl-returns-to-the-wild/1

Thoughts for 2010

Hello all,

First of all, Happy New Year and the best to you and yours for 2010.

2009 was a great year for CWRC and we are looking forward to bigger and better things in 2010. We have been fundraising like crazy and hope to FINALLY get our large raptor flight enclosure constructed. This has been in the works for a long time and we cant wait to have it up.

We had a New Year's Eve fundraiser at Kegger's Alehouse in Truro and raised $1200. All going towards the big flight cage, stay tuned for more info on that.

As the winter sets in, things are more quiet here. So far we have a flying squirrel, 2 crows, a saw whet owl, and 2 pigeons as "guests" for the winter. They are staying for various reasons, mostly to not release them at a time where food supplies are slim in the wild. We do this every winter for some patients and release in the spring. Stay tuned.

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to keep this blog regularly updated. Help me out with this and feel free to check in regularly and leave comments. Makes it more fun when I know there is someone out there reading. I promise to keep up with the pictures too.

If anyone still needs a calendar for 2010, we have some left and they are also for sale at both Central Nova Animal Hospital and Truro Veterinarians in Truro.

Best Wishes for 2010 and thanks for your interest.

Helene