Throughout the year, amongst those we sadly receive into our bird of prey hospital are beautiful Kestrels.
This little girl was one of them and we suspect like so many, her injury caused by being hit by a car. The Kestrel was brought into us by a lovely family who had seen the bird injured at the side of the road: after turning their car around and collecting her, they drove to the Centre where we received her in a soaking wet, very skinny condition and barely clinging to life.
Feeling it unwise to leave her overnight for fear that she would not survive, one of our team the Kestrel home and fed her through the night. Visiting the vet the next morning, it was discovered the bird also had an injured leg, the remedy being to put it in a cast for support during the recovery period..
Whilst gradually bring her condition back to normal, for the first 10 days of her treatment we gave her physiotherapy on her left foot twice a day, which involved gently opening and closing her talons. The picture on the left shows her standing with her closed foot but by the end of the treatment (right) she was able to keep her foot fully open.
After physio, the kestrel was able to fully extend the talons of her left foot.
From there, the kestrel went from strength to strength. Shortly after the cast was removed, she spent a week in one of our secluded rehabilitation aviaries and after a final check over by the vet, she was released back to the wild nearby to where she was found. It took quite a time to get her back to health - but it was worth every second!
Ready for the off! Our friend was snapped in her carry-box just before she was taken off for release