arf@chinet.chi.il.us (Jack Schmidling) (08/03/89)
ahappy/e5
The following essay plus photos has been submitted to and rejected by
several birding magazines so rather than pine over the lack of
appreciation I thought I would share it with rec.birds.
^A HAPPY ENDING^
by: Jack Schmidling and Marilyn Schenk
To have a kestral regularly visit a backyard feeder is exciting enough but
the whole story makes it one of the most rewarding experiences of our birding
career.
In June, a school teacher friend (Bev Underwood) found a fledgling kestral
flopping around the parking lot of her school on the South Side of Chicago.
The mother was calling frantically from a telephone wire but the fledgling
was obviously injured and subsequently abandoned by the mother. Bev took the
bird home and called Marilyn for advice.
Marilyn and I determined that the bird had a broken leg and was doomed unless
it could be set and properly cared for. It was unable to stand on either leg
and flopped around on its keel and used its wings like the floats of a
catamaran. It was really pathetic to watch. We took it to a vet who set it
(free of charge) and we then began the task of re-habilitation.
Technically, we were breaking the law by not turning it over to conservation
authorities because it is a protected bird of prey. However, we were in the
midst of producing a film ("BACKYARD SAFFARI") on wildlife, in an urban
backyard and the filming opportunity was too great a temptation to resist.
The physical therapy consisted mainly of many hours with the bird in my hand,
in such a way that her legs stuck out through my fingers and with my thumb on
her back. She could exercise her wings without stressing her legs. The
vet's splint came off the next day but as it was only tape, we re-did it
ourselves. This time, making sure the tape was adequately secured to the
feathers on the leg so it wouldn't come off again.
We have a large colony of mealworms which we feed to our bats (I have have a
permit for these) and the mealworms and beetles made up most of the kestrel's
diet until we were able to get her to eat raw chicken.
When we were not exercising her, we kept her in a chicken brooder with a six
inch ceiling so she would be discouraged from trying to fly. After only two
days, she was standing on the good leg and sort of leaning on the broken one
and every day I could feel her grip increasing on my fingers. It was very
exciting to feel this once limp and dangling foot actually cause pain when it
squeezed my finger with its tallons. A kestral in the wild cannot survive
without two working feet. It usually perches on one and holds its food in
the other while tearing it with its beak.
Within about a week, she was able to perch on both feet and I let her fly
under supervision but kept her in the brooder at night. After two weeks of
that, we gave her the run of the basement and her signatures are still there,
under her favorite roosts. By August, we clearly had a succussful
rehabilitation and the only question was when, where and how do we release
her.
After much consultation and debate, we simply opened the door one day and
said good by. She shot up like a rocket, made a few climbing spirals and
headed for the tallest tree in the neighborhood. After about ten minutes,
she let out a "killy killy" and flew out of sight. That, we assumed, was the
end of the story.
Late in November, I found a dead grackle in the yard and instead of trashing
it, I moved it to a conspicuous barren spot just to see if anything would be
attracted to it. Several days later, I noticed a kestral on the telephone
line, obviously eyeballing it. I immediately put out a piece of chicken next
to the grackle and the kestral came right down and started eating. She has
been back just about every day since and provides no end of satisfaction and
speculation. To our further delight, in December, she showed up with a male
and they have been regular visitors ever since.
As we didn't have the sense to band her, we cannot be absoulutely certain it
is the same bird. It is certainly the same sex and we like to think we see
little indications in the way she favors one leg or the way she hops or even
her predilection for chicken as some sort of proof but actually, in the final
analysis, I don't think we really want to know.
END
Jack Schmidling (arf)