Tuesday, January 05, 2010

buzzard rescue


this morning as I was driving slowly into work along the frozen lanes a young buzzard flew out of the hedgerow straight into the front of the car, falling between the wheels. When I went back to check, it was still alive but with obvious damage to its right wing. I am never quite sure what to do in these situations, but I decided to wrap the bird up in my coat and try to save it. For a large bird it was immediately and surprisingly calm thus restrained. Steering one handed with the buzzard under my left arm we returned home, rang up the RSPCA, and with a case number and their instructions took the bird to our nearest vets (Calweton) with the help of one of my neighbours, Derek, who is holding the buzzard in this photo, and his springer spaniel Moss. The buzzard was thin and malnourished and has obviously been struggling to find anything to eat in the cold weather. The nurse at Calweton said that they have a couple of people who specialise in rehabilitating raptors but I suspect the prognosis is not good. I have noticed several buzzards recently at a much lower level in the woods than normal. It was an unfortunate way in which to see one of these magnificent birds at such close quarters.

6 comments:

carletta said...

Hi David-what a story! Hope the buzzard makes it-I am reading Rex Harper's book about his RSPCA center, so it was timely to me! Magnificent photo of the sunset with leaping dogs....
Carletta

Richard said...

Good story and well done on trying to save it. I expect most people would have just left it.
Fingers crossed for it's recovery.

Spot said...

latest news I have is that it had a broken pelvis, but is still alive, ie it didn't die shortly after arriving at the vets.

Tara said...

What a beauty of an animal we never get to see close up! Hopefully it will be able to fly afert recovering...

Devon nature reserve and eco lodges - Maggie's blog said...

Hope it survives. I've been worrying about our barn owls - late autumn was so wet they had to hunt in the day, and now the snow must be making life much harder.

But how does a buzzard break its pelvis?

Spot said...

by hitting the front of my car side on I think as it swerved to avoid me. The problem is they are being drawn to road kill in the cold weather. This bird seems to have been starving