Our post on the injured Purple Heron at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve attracted the attention of Summer Fey Foovay of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.

She encountered and documented an injured adult Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) way back in October 2005 on one of the two Tern Islands. She found out from the vet that as the injury was old, the wing could not be saved. And a single winged heron could not possibly survive in the wild. This meant that it could not be returned to the wild after rescue and, according to procedure, would be euthanised.

Rather than traumatise the bird by sending it to the vet to have it eventually euthanised, Summer left the bird alone on the island. There, she would be safe from predators and it could live whatever was left of its natural life in relative peace. Below is Summer’s story:

“She was so grievously injured and yet she went on doing what herons do – even raising and fledging three young herons that season.

“She was safe there from most of our local predators (feral cats, foxes, the occasional bald eagle and hawks) with both cover and fast running water between herself and the river bank.

“…The first time I saw her the wing was already almost nothing but bones as you can see in the photos, so it wasn’t a recent injury even then. The wildlife officer I contacted said she had probably collided with a power line - a common occurrence in that area.

In December, “the one winged Great Blue Heron has survived a 3 degree night and is out fishing in the river. She has a companion as well, either her mate or one of the three young herons. I’m leaning towards thinking it is her mate as when the three young ones go anywhere, they hang more or less together. You know, togetherness Blue Heron style which means 10 feet apart at least.

“…My final sighting of her seems to have been in January 2006. January and February are the hardest months of winter in Tulsa - she almost made it.”

Meibao was taking a stroll in the Singapore Botanical Gardens one day in June 2008 when…

“I came across what seemed to be a stranded Yellow-vented Bulbul chick (Pycnonotus goiavier)… I only noticed it as its parent was trying to feed the chick which was on the ground and was chirping loudly to warn me to stay away… (left).

“There was a family a few feet away… having a picnic and their dog (on lease) was trying to get to the chick though they didn’t notice.

“I ended up not daring to touch the chick as I have read somewhere chicks may get abandoned by the parent if human scent is left on chick.

“Now, I keep thinking should I have tried to rescue it or at least place it on a branch or something so it would have been safer.

“What would be the correct thing to do?”

It is an old wife’s tale that once we handle a young chick, the parent birds would abandon it. Yes, it would be helpful if the chick was placed somewhere safe from the dog… not that the dog would get at it, considering that it was on a lease.

Should we “rescue” a helpless chick and bring it home to look after it? Check out our earlier post HERE.

Since January 2007, Thailand’s Kasetsart University Raptor Rehabilitation Centre, in partnership with the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand and the Thai Raptor Group, has launched an “Adopt a Raptor” programme.

The scheme was started when a Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) was found exhausted in south-east Thailand in early January 2007 and handed over to Dr Chaiyan Kasorndorkbua of Kasetsart University.

Around the same time, four Himalayan Griffons (Gyps himalayensis) were caught in various locations in southern Thailand (top). They were likely members of a flock of five that were earlier seen at Doi Lang in mid-December 2006. All four eventually found their way to the Kasetsart University Raptor Rehabilitation Center.

Plans to release the Cinereous in South Korea was not possible due to a number of reasons. As such, it was released, together with the four Himalayan on 10th May 2007 along the Thailand-Myanmar border in Chiang Mai province (above).

The Centre continues to rescue injured or weakened raptors, especially vagrants that stray during migratory flights. Rescued birds are cared for until they regain their health and vigour. They are then tagged with a leg band, wing tag (left) or satellite telemetry prior to release to enable subsequent monitoring of their movements. Release will be done at the appropriate habitats and seasons to ensure maximum possible survival chances.

To participate in this “Adopt-a-Raptor” programme, contact Ms. Pajaree Intravooth, Assistant to the Executive Director, Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (e-mail: pajaree@bcst.or.th). A nominal sum to cover food, medical and other expenses is all that is expected.

A video clip showing the actual release can be seen HERE.

All images courtesy of Thai Raptor Group.

What would you do if you come across a helpless chick on the ground, crying softly to its parents? Would you simply walk away? Would you pick it up and look after it, or seek out someone to do so?

Many people believe that the chick will die as it has been displaced from its nest. And they will pick it up and take it away. But what exactly is the situation?

Most chicks when they first leave their nest, or what birders call fledge, are just learning to fly. The may end up on the ground but the adults will always be around to feed and encourage them on. You may not see the aduls but they are there somewhere. But once you pick it up and take it away, the parents will not be able to look after it.

Chicks may also accidentally fall out of the nest. These will be younger chicks that are a long way to fledgling. Sometimes they may be pushed out by their siblings. Invariably, these younger chicks will not survive if left on the ground. This will be a slightly different situation from the fledging chicks discussed above.

So what should you do? If the chick is fully feathered and can run away and flap its wings, the best thing to do is leave it alone. If necessary, pick it up carefully and replace it back to the nest if you can locate it or if it is within your means to do so. If not, place it somewhere above ground - on a twig, on the roof of a nearby shed, in an open box above ground or anywhere that it cannot be easily trampled or snatched by a passing cat. The parents will easily locate it and take over.

Taking the chick home to look after it may not be the best thing to do. For one, it is a full time job. It needs to be fed a few times an hour throughout the day. Only at night will you get any peace. And even if you succeed in raising the chick to eventually release it, are you sure that it can adapt to a free adult life?

Calvin Simonds, in his 2000 book, Private Lives of Garden Birds (Storey Books), in his aside entitled “A bird in the bush is worth two in the hands” has this to say:

“The fledgling period is an important period of training for the young birds, one in which they learn from their parents what they should eat and what dangers they should look out for. Male fledglings even learn something about how to sing. Even with all their natural training, young birds have a terrible time making it through their first year. Do you really, honesty, think your ignorant, hand-raised baby could survive?”

I have been foster parent to three chicks now, a Little Heron (Butorides striatus) (top) and recently, two Javan Mynas. These were given to me well after they were picked up. The heron was eventually released; one of the mynas was subsequently predated by a cat (above left) while the other successfully fledged (above right). What happens after release is anybody’s guess.

The pair of Malayan Whistling Thrush chicks that was nesting in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia fledged naturally. Their first flight out of the nest landed them on the ground of the warehouse where the nest was built. They were hopping about and the adults were around them all the time. To ensure that the fledged birds were safe from wandering dogs, they were put in a box and left outside the warehouse. Within two days they were flying around and the adults were busily feeding them. Now what woul happen if a concerned person took them away to look after them?

Now, would you still pick up a seemingly helpless chick should you come across it?

The Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus) chick picked up by Gloria Seow and raised by me since 18th March 2008 was keenly aware of its surroundings. Whenever it heard bird calling from the garden, it fluttered excitedly around its cage trying to get out.

Obviously it was about to fledge. Its wing feathers were fully developed; it regularly exercised its wings, flapping and stretching them; and it had begun to actively preen its feathers.

In an effort to encourage it to feed itself, I stopped hand-feeding it and left some food inside the cage. Out of hunger it finally pecked at the food after about an hour or so.

Encouraged by its ability to feed itself, I took it out of its cage on 21st March and placed it on a low branch of a tree (left). It remained there for the next two hours until I tried to return it to its cage. Moving from branch to branch, it finally jumped down and ran from one end of the garden to the other.

Finally cornered, it took shelter inside a small patch of low growth selaginella. Crouching low and remaining dead-still within the patch, even when I was physically parting the plants, I nearly overlooked it. But it was there all right, a still black blob not moving an inch.

Its loud screeching when handled attracted the attention of a pair of adult Javan Mynas that flew in to investigate.

The bird remained inside the cage for another day after which I again tried to set it free. Leaving the cage about a metre and a half from the ground with the door opened (left top), the bird took about half an hour before it finally realised that freedom was a few centimeters away.

Jumping onto the open door (left middle), it immediately flew off towards the nearby branched (left bottom). I was sure that it landed on the branches but apparently I was wrong. It was nowhere on the small tree. It must have landed on the ground and ran off.

I failed to locate it after a thorough search of the garden. Knowing its ability to remain still and blend in with its surroundings, I realised the futility of locating the fledgling.

My only hope is that it does not end up inside the neighbour’s cat.

When Gloria heard what happened to the chick, she wrote: “… its OK if you can’t find it. We will have to assume that it flew away and is a happy and free bird now. I’m just glad that it has begun to peck (eat) on its own without you having to stuff food into its mouth… so I’ll presume that it can start hunting for its own food.

“Anyway, flight is instinctive, so I believe that if it is a healthy bird, it should be able to outfly any cat. Hopefully though, the bird will return to your garden somehow… or hang around your estate… so that you can monitor if it has any attachment to your home at all, and any strange behaviour in relation to this man-bird relationship ecology.”

Well, the bird has yet to return. And it has been more than two weeks now. At the advanced age it was picked up, it would not be tame enough to return after release. Hopefully, it is now moving around with other Javan Mynas.