Rheia Does A Heavy Number

Warden Julie Finnis writes:
Today three of our summer flying demonstration team were taken out of their winter aviaries and equipped with anklets and jesses to start exercising and be ready for Easter, when our display season starts.

During the winter months we give all our demonstration birds extra food to help them through the cold weather and to encourage their feathers to moult. The drawback is that at the start of the exercise season, all that weight needs to come off again.

All the birds in the team have what is called a "flying weight", which is the weight at which they respond to the food rewards and will fly to get them - this gives our visitors the chance to see each bird demonstrate its aerial virtuosity. At "fat weight" owls and other birds of prey cannot be bothered to fly because they don’t need the food. This is exactly like the situation they evince in the wild, where a bird will only fly when it needs to hunt and will spend the rest of the time sitting quietly on a perch somewhere.

The three birds that started exercising today have got quite a bit of dieting to do!

Our European Eagle Owl 'Rheia' (pictured above and who, incidentally, has been with us for coming up to 12 years) tops the scales at 6lb 9oz. Her ideal flying weight will be around 5lb 7oz.

Our Common Buzzard 'Ash' weighed in at 2lb 9oz and has a target weight of 2lb.

Meanwhile the lightweight Lanner Falcon 'Flint' weighed in at a mere 1lb 6oz and will aiming for 1lb 1oz.

As a very general rule a bird needs to lose around 25% of its body weight to get to "flying weight", although the actual weight is specific to the bird - they are all individuals. These three are all aiming for there or thereabouts, and if so you were to put in the context of a human who had a "fat weight" of 12 stone, their "flying weight" would be about 9 stone!

We'll keep you posted on their progress but do come and see us from Easter onwards, when all three should be happily soaring around the demonstration ground.

Play Misty For Me

Last Thursday was a busy day for SOS as we took our travelling roadshow to the Canterbury Infant School and Kingfisher Nursery in Thetford, on the far side of the county.

This meant a very early start, not only for the staff but also for the birds involved - on this occasion the birds selected to represent SOS were Lock (Lanner Falcon), Cedric (African Spotted Eagle Owl), Josh (Harris’ Hawk) and Misty (Barn Owl).

The day started with preparing each of the birds for their outing - checking their condition & ‘flying weights’, making ready their special traveling boxes and preparing their food for the day: then they and our equipment were loaded aboard the transportation kindly supplied by one of our regular volunteers, Kathy Bole - for whose frequent assistance we would like to raise a big vote of thanks!

On arriving at Thetford, we were shown into the assembly hall, which would be our base for the day as we met with various classes from the school. The children were extremely well behaved as we introduced all the birds and talked about their lifestyles and habitats, and despite their young age, the pupils asked many relevant questions regarding the birds we had brought along.

By far the favourites on this occasion were the owls, particularly because the children had just finished reading ‘The Owl who was afraid of the Dark’ which features a Barn Owl. This meant that meeting our own representative of the species, Misty, became the highlight of the day and, it seemed, about as important and significant as a ‘royal visit’ in the minds of these youngsters!

Here at SOS, we believe that every child should have the opportunity to get close to nature and learn about the fascinating creatures that inhabit our planet. If you, your teacher, your school or activity group would like to arrange a visit from our display team, then please contact me at the e-mail address below.

Up, Up & Away!

Remember our story about the two wild injured Kestrels that were bought into the Sanctuary just before Christmas? Well, I am happy to report that the story has the makings of a relatively happy ending!

Whilst one of the Kestrels remains in a rehab aviary, having problems with a very stiff wing (which we hope will rectify itself in time), we were able to release the other last weekend.

This pleased us no end because, truth is, the young female had spent rather too long a time in the rehab aviaries for her own good. In an ideal situation, once a wild bird of prey is fit for release we like to get it back to the wild as quickly as possible. This is because, whilst a stay in our hospital area is designed to allow the bird time to recover, an extended stay in captivity will ultimately compromise its hunting skills, which are essential for raptors to survive in the wild.

However in this case the bad weather conspired against us and we had to change the routine. The terrible storms and high winds of the week the kestrel was ready for release meant that she probably wouldn’t have survived the buffeting. Then we had several bouts of snow, which again may have made hunting difficult - especially for such a young bird.

When a raptor is released, it is best to make sure that it is done so under the best possible weather conditions, so allowing the bird the best chance of getting back into the swing of hunting. Good weather also means that the bird’s prey (food source) is more likely to be out and about. In the case of Kestrels, this diet is mostly made up of small mammals, such as mice and field voles.

Once it’s decided that the conditions are right, the next step is to make sure the bird is ready for release. It first needs to be caught up and removed from the rehab aviary. Then we give it a ‘test-flight’ to check its flying capability and hunting responses.

Preparing for the test flight is what you can see happening in the inset photo above. Firstly, temporary anklets are placed on each leg and then a creance line (training line) is attached to the anklets - this is done not to train the bird in any way, but simply introduced as a retrieval mechanism. The bird is then released for its test flight: should it show any signs of difficulty in taking to the skies, we would then allow it more time to recuperate.

Thankfully, on this occasion everything went according to plan. The Kestrel was released for the test flight and even managed to do a slight hover, the distinctive hallmark of this particular species of bird of prey. This unusual ability is reflected in the Kestrel’s traditional english folklore name - the WINDHOVER!

Once we were convinced that our young guest would be able to fend for itself in the wild, all that remained for us to do was to take it to the appropriate release site and set her free. Whenever possible, the site should always be close to where the bird was originally found, in order to re-introduce it back into familiar territory.

So yesterday Craig (one of the falconers here at SOS) jumped into his car with the bird safely contained within a traveling box and drove to the allocated release sight to set the Kestrel free.

The mission was a successful one and the young female took off with out so much as a backward glance - exactly what we wanted to achieve! Witnessing a successful return to the wild is a terrific reward for those of us involved in the rehabilitation business!

Storm Force Clean Up

Hurricane Stonham!  Perhaps not nearly as dramatic as hurricane Katrina but in some ways nearly as damaging in its own way!

Last week, this region (and most of the nation, it seems) were hit by the worse storms for over seventy years.  Gale force winds with recorded speeds of between 70 & 90 mph were responsible for huge amounts of damage across the entire East Anglian region, leaving over 5,700 homes without electricity for over 24-hours!

As far as the birds here at Stonham were concerned, I am happy to report that there were no injuries or fatalities - but unfortunately, the shrubbery wasn’t quite so lucky!

Thankfully, the aviary design that we employ here at Stonham is relatively sound when it comes “SDS” - Storm Damage Survival!  This due to the fact that the main hexagonal aviaries have no solid walls to speak of, enabling the high winds to pass straight through them.  Had they been completely solid wall structures we might not have been so lucky - the areas of damage we did sustain, most were purely cosmetic.

The only aviary to be badly affected was that belonging to ISIS, our Pharaoh's Eagle Owl, as the mature tree that grew inside was completely up-rooted by the wind.  But we did our best to save it by giving it a healthy trim and re-planting it - with any luck it won’t be too long before it re-establishes itself.  Isis himself didn’t seem to have too much to say about the incident, with not so much as a ruffled feather to show for his ordeal: being the regal bird that he is (Egyptian royalty - don’t you know), he simply sat rather serenely as we went about the busy task of tidying up his royal Kingdom!

How else did the storm affect us?  Well, we were without power for almost 24-hours.  And what, you may ask, do Birds of Prey need electricity for?  The simple answer is that in the wild they don’t have any need for it at all: however, for those in our charge it is very necessary to power the electric freezer’s that keep their food - chicken poults, rats, mice & quail - frozen until required.  And as we had just received a month’s supply of food the day before, it became a military operation in order to find a portable electric generator before everything defrosted!  Thankfully, we did manage to find not one but two and disaster was averted - the food remained frozen and we were provided with the technology to produce the numerous cups of tea needed to keep the team warm as they toiled away repairing the damage.

Amongst the other damaged sustained was the loss of a huge proportion of our perimeter fencing, all of which had to be replaced before the daylight faded, in order to keep the Sanctuary secure.  Even Anna, who is normally exclusively to be found in the SOS office, was drafted in to help with the clear up campaign - all of which went to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the girls are every bit as capable as the boys (as you can see from the photo of our Warden, Julie, above as she grappled with broken fence panels!).

Thankfully, we did manage to get all the work done by the end of the day, the electricity finally did come back on and all that remained for us to do to finish off a tiring & stressful day was (yep, you’ve guessed it) - have yet another cup of TEA! 

Raptor M.O.T.'s

Well, once again SOS was called in to do a bit of SAVING this week. This time it was in order to give a pair of Harris’ Hawks a happier home!

About a week ago we got a phone call relating to the two birds. Unfortunately their current owner was no longer able to continue caring for them and therefore had made the very responsible decision of donating them to a Bird of Prey centre (in this case he chose SOS) so that they may receive the best possible care and potential for a good quality of life.

Our two new arrivals at SOS were, I’m glad to report, in relatively good condition, with no visible signs of feather damage or any other serious complaints. All they really needed was a general clean up - what some might refer to as a Raptor MOT!

To carry this out, the birds were first hooded and then carefully examined by our head Falconer, Andy Hulme. Once it was established that both Harris’s Hawks were in good health, they were then furnished with new equipment so they could be handled with the least amount of stress.

Next came the coping of beaks & trimming of talons.

Coping the beak of a captive raptor is a necessary process. In the wild the birds will generally keep their beaks in good working order - wearing them down of their own accord.

In captivity, successive generations of captive bred birds don’t seem to be quite so fussed about their overall appearance. If not routinely coped, their beaks can often become overgrown - which in turn can lead to problematic feeding habits and dietary problems. So it’s true to say that a bird that looks it’s best will also feel its best, too.

As shown in the photo above, the bird is first immobilised by wrapping it in a towel and then hooded, this to prevent it becoming alarmed or damaging itself.

Its beak is then trimmed and filed. Similarly the talons are given a trim and generally tidied up. Neither process hurts or harms the bird in any way and is really the equivalent you trimming your nails.

We hope to be able to give these birds a new lease of life here at SOS. Confident that once they have familiarised themselves with their new surroundings, they will become a valuable addition to our existing flying team, which help us demonstrate the various aspects of of raptor care & conservation to visitors.

**

HELP! We’d like some names for these two birds!

The only thing that remains for me to say is that both of the hawks (one male and one female) came to us without names. So if you have any suggestions as to what you think they should be called, please send me an email with your suggestions. We will post all the best entries here on our site and then you can pick your favourite name and suggest reasons why you think we should use it!

As they say on BIG BROTHER - YOU DECIDE!!!

**

And finally, it is worth mentioning at this point that whilst it is relatively easy to obtain Harris’ Hawks (and indeed, many other birds of prey, including owls) for private ownership, they are most definitely NOT PETS and require a great deal of dedicated care! And, in my experience, if you don’t also treat any bird of prey with respect, they will soon make their feelings known.

Therefore, anyone intending to own a raptor privately should first FULLY research everything that is required for its care, and also consider the level of commitment required both in terms of the time and the money involved in keeping a bird of prey.

It is also worth remembering that most well-cared-for raptors will out-live most cats and dogs! Hawks, such as the one featured in this story, can live anything up to 20 years in captivity and European Eagle Owls for more than 30.
Which only goes to endorse the fact that falconry is definitely not an occupation to be entered into lightly. Proper training in the care and maintenance of a bird is of the utmost importance before the acquisition of any raptor. If you would like more in formation about the various courses that are be available on this subject, please e-mail me.

New Paths at Stonham

Follow the Yellow Brick Road - well not quite! Its not yellow and its not a road - but a huge truck load of Tarmac arrived at SOS in December, and the question was - where was it all to go?

For those of you that are not aware of what I am referring to SOS has recently had a facelift (well a path-lift actually, and its all thanks to our kind friends at LAFARGE Aggregates - who have not only donated all the materials free of charge but also the labour (although we did supply our own labour in the form of DICK - and a great job he did too, preparing all the pathways before the crew arrived to begin the work)!

I must say that the crew made a brilliant and very enthusiastic start to the project and the weather was kind to us on day one. So how much progress did we make? Well you can see from the photo above that the combined team from SOS, Lafarge and a kindly volunteer (Jamie Smith) made a brilliant start. Thankfully we also had the full crew for day two of the project - and despite the weather on the second day, we did manage to get the project completed in record time.

There was even enough tarmac left over to tidy up the doorway and entrance area of SOS (well, it seemed like a shame to waste it)! So we are looking very smart as we move into 2007.

A huge amount of thanks go to all those involved in the project (too many to name individually). For without their personal commitment (materials, labour and finance) we would never have been able to re-develop the centre in this way (we simply did NOT HAVE the funds to make this happen). It will make a huge difference to the visitor traffic we have at the centre, and will now make all our wonderful birds accessible to all!

So do come and visit us very soon - and perhaps you too can FOLLOW, follow, follow - our fantastic new pathways around the centre - and see exactly how much more accessible our wonderful collection has become - due to the generosity of others!

If this story inspires you (or a company you work for) to get involved and help us to improve our centre for the benefit of all - then please email us with any suggestions you might have!

We look forward to your visit in 2007.

Blogs Eye View

Hello everyone and welcome to the all new SOS blog page. This is our way of moving with the times - and is a very new area for us!  

The idea behind this blog is simply to keep all of our valued supporters and friends updated as to what goes on here at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary - throughout the course of the year.

So the beginning of the year seems like a very good place from which to start. Let me take this opportunity to wish everyone reading this blog a very Happy New Year from all of us here at SOS.

As far as the birds are concerned this is very quiet time of year, with many of our birds either in moult or preparing to breed, and as ever we hope to equal if not improve upon last years breeding successes.

Those birds that are still in work are very busy with the many and varied falconry courses that are ongoing throughout the the year (for anyone interested in Hawking please be advised that places for January are now very limited - due to the 06/07 season ending at the end of January 2007 - beginning again in October 2007).

For anyone that would like to know more about our falconry courses, please click here to go to www.falconry-east.co.uk

We are currently planning to have lots of new additions to the centre in 2007 - in terms of new birds, more red squirrels, new aviaries & education buildings, not to mention a ‘covered flying area’ and special ‘activity-theme’ days for the children which are all in the final planning stages - aiming to be ready for the 2007 summer season - which will run from Easter to the end of September.

So do check our blog page regularly - to see what is happening each month.

We will also be aiming to be report on all our breeding birds and telling you of their successes and failures - and are currently in talks with a company to organize NEST-CAMs in the breeding aviaries, in order to give you incredible access to all your favourite birds here at Stonham.

If any companies out there specialising in WEB-CAM technology would like to donate more CAMs to us, or help out with our NEST-CAMs project, then please do get in touch. The more CAMs we have, the more footage we can post on the web and share with all of our friends and supporters.

It will mean greater access to the collection for many more people - and particularly those who are physically unable to visit us or who live too far away to make a visit possible!

As a registered charity, always in need of YOUR help - we are ALWAYS extremely grateful for any support that the public (or companies) can give us, in order to ease our workload or improve our services and communication to the public.

A good example of this (company support) in practice - can be seen in the form of our ‘new pathways’ around the centre, which were kindly donated to us by our friends at LAFARGE Aggregates. Check out the, “Follow, Follow, Follow” entry on this site to find out more!

We can’t thank LAFARGE enough for all their efforts and hope that you (the public) will make several visits too us over the coming year - in order to put their good work to use UNDERFOOT - as you walk round the centre!

So, we are all looking forward to a very busy year here at SOS - and hope that you will continue to join us, support us, read our blog and even pay us a visit or two during 2007.

We look forward to meeting each and everyone of you!

Fog Blog

Well, for those of you who have visited SOS previously, or those that know something about the work that we do here (and more specifically for those of who are not aware of what we do) - one of our main priorities here at SOS is to give first-aid, care and treatment to many of the sick or wild injured ‘birds of prey’ that are brought into us each year - with the aim of rehabilitating and releasing wherever possible - and this we do in our on-site Raptor Hospital.

This year we had several birds brought into us over the Christmas period - a couple of Barn Owls, a Tawny Owl and two Kestrels - and whilst most of you were at home enjoying the festive celebrations, there were still staff here at SOS administering care to our wild injured friends!

Sadly, we were unable to preserve the Barn Owls as these birds are particularly fragile when it comes to rehabilitation, and despite our best efforts they were so badly injured we were unable to save them.

The Tawny Owl however, was a completely different story and it is currently well on the road to recovery (we know this because he has become very feisty - a typical response - from a creature born in the wild and not used to living in a captive environment).  He or she (both sexes look the same making it rather difficult to tell them apart) is currently resting-up in one of our rehabilitation aviaries ready for its release back into the wild.  Hopefully we will report on the Tawny’s release, when should be in the not-too-distant future!

Likewise, one of the two Kestrels brought into us was also too badly injured to pull through. However the case of the other little wild female Kestrel (pictured above) is an interesting one. We think she too was a victim of the freezing fog that we had just before Christmas: she was brought into us on the 22nd Dec looking very wet and very be-draggled - just to prove, perhaps, that it wasn’t just the JUMBO JETS at Heathrow that were grounded over the Christmas break!

Most raptors (Kestrels being a member of the falcon family) like to bathe each day to keep their feathers in good condition.  We think that she probably took a bath early in the day and then because of the freezing temperatures, was unable to dry herself.  Soaked feathers would have made it impossible for her to fly and therefore catch any food, making her very weak and hungry, and this may well have continued for several days!  

The result was one very ‘sorry-looking’ Kestrel by the time she was finally brought in to us! But thankfully all that was required by this beautiful little bird was some good food and a warm, dry roof over her head. She is doing very well and in the process of getting herself “flying-fit” in another rehab aviary before her release early next week close to where she was found, where she belongs!  What better start to the New Year.

If anyone reading this blog would like to know more about what to do when finding a wild or injured Bird of Prey then click here for more details

Check out our next blog entry to see what happened.....!