Steppe Buzzard Rescue
The Story of "Buzz"
Guess what I rescued from the side of the road yesterday. I was driving along and saw a raptor standing in the grass on the other side of the road. That's not normal behaviour for a bird of prey not to fly off when cars are driving past so I did a u-turn and went back for another look. I saw an injured bird of prey hopping and limping across the road.
A big beautiful Steppe Buzzard... he couldn't fly but was so beautiful and proud and wild!! I chased after him and when got close he flipped on his back and offered me his claws and a big beak... smiling... all I had was a soft sunshield screen and a rag... so I very slowly and carefully managed to get his eyes covered and gently take a wing and roll him over so he couldn't claw me with those impressive talons or peck me (like peck describes what that beak would do.... BITE rather). Put him in my owl transporter (leftover from the 3 baby white faced owls I rescued, hand raised and released) and left him for the night in the dark to calm down and hope he recovered a bit.
In the morning "Buzz" as I appropriately named him, was standing up inside the carrier and looking very alert so I offered him some rump steak which he had a piece or two of (raptors are actually supposed to get meat with bones and feather for digestion but hey a couple meals of pure meat won't do any harm) and then this morning I went off to a vet who specialises in wild birds. This vet is great and offers his services free of charge to help rescued birds in trouble.... ahem, I have been to him about 4 times in the last 3 months... last time with an injured crane!
Anyway so Oliver took him out of the cage with just the towel I had, and commented that Steppe Buzzards are not very aggressive and you definitely wouldn't handle a Jackal Buzzard without gloves because he would get hold of you and inflict some serious damage. Oliver put him on the table, poor ol "Buzz" was on the defensive with his wings splayed and beak open trying to presenting a threatening look. We immediately saw he had a horrible sore on the underneath of his foot, which was lanced so the pus and blood could drain. After that we put some ointment in the hole and Buzz had a dressing and plaster bandage put on (smiling, with the claws sticking out on the outside). The vet reckons he would have been feeling poorly from the infection poisoning his system but we still needed to work out why he couldn't fly. Then when I was holding Buzz on his back so the vet could inject him with anti-biotic for the infection, I noticed an area that looked very translucent on the inside of his wing... aha, the cause of the no-flight syndrome. The vet said it was looked like a snake bit and that the tissue was breaking down/necrosing. So another injection of anti-inflammatory (to stop the poison spreading, amazing, they also treat dogs bitten by snakes in the same way) and Buzz's emergency treatment was done. Thanks so much to Oliver!
Then I took Buzz out to a raptor rehabilitation centre where the guy, Ben was very nice to us. He told me Buzz should almost be in Russia by now as they migrate from South Africa around this time of year. Poor Buzz, has a sore on his foot which is poisoning his system and gets nailed by a snake so he is weak, gets thin and misses the migration of all his buddies and girlfriends! Anyway, Ben said that he would feed him up, give him a chance to heal and regain his strength and would then work with him and start exercising him when his wing is better (if it is ever strong enough again) to get him fit, and they will release him around Oct when the other Steppe Buzzards start arriving back in SA again. Let's hold thumbs that Buzz will recover and be set free. If not he will live out a very comfortable life in the sanctuary. You can visit their site at http://www.raptorrescue.org.za/. Ben and company do amazing work with raptor rescue and rehabilitation.
What an extraordinarily beautiful bird, he is really majestic and magnificent, and what dark beautiful eyes.... I am so glad I was lucky enough to see him and be able to help him.
Our last report was that Buzz was eating and starting to feel more himself! I will post updates on Buzz here..
Ciao
Marcelle
Update: Buzz unfortunately had to be put to sleep. The damage to his wing and foot proved too much and despite all the work done on him he was struggling and not going to recover.
Guess what I rescued from the side of the road yesterday. I was driving along and saw a raptor standing in the grass on the other side of the road. That's not normal behaviour for a bird of prey not to fly off when cars are driving past so I did a u-turn and went back for another look. I saw an injured bird of prey hopping and limping across the road.
A big beautiful Steppe Buzzard... he couldn't fly but was so beautiful and proud and wild!! I chased after him and when got close he flipped on his back and offered me his claws and a big beak... smiling... all I had was a soft sunshield screen and a rag... so I very slowly and carefully managed to get his eyes covered and gently take a wing and roll him over so he couldn't claw me with those impressive talons or peck me (like peck describes what that beak would do.... BITE rather). Put him in my owl transporter (leftover from the 3 baby white faced owls I rescued, hand raised and released) and left him for the night in the dark to calm down and hope he recovered a bit.
In the morning "Buzz" as I appropriately named him, was standing up inside the carrier and looking very alert so I offered him some rump steak which he had a piece or two of (raptors are actually supposed to get meat with bones and feather for digestion but hey a couple meals of pure meat won't do any harm) and then this morning I went off to a vet who specialises in wild birds. This vet is great and offers his services free of charge to help rescued birds in trouble.... ahem, I have been to him about 4 times in the last 3 months... last time with an injured crane!
Anyway so Oliver took him out of the cage with just the towel I had, and commented that Steppe Buzzards are not very aggressive and you definitely wouldn't handle a Jackal Buzzard without gloves because he would get hold of you and inflict some serious damage. Oliver put him on the table, poor ol "Buzz" was on the defensive with his wings splayed and beak open trying to presenting a threatening look. We immediately saw he had a horrible sore on the underneath of his foot, which was lanced so the pus and blood could drain. After that we put some ointment in the hole and Buzz had a dressing and plaster bandage put on (smiling, with the claws sticking out on the outside). The vet reckons he would have been feeling poorly from the infection poisoning his system but we still needed to work out why he couldn't fly. Then when I was holding Buzz on his back so the vet could inject him with anti-biotic for the infection, I noticed an area that looked very translucent on the inside of his wing... aha, the cause of the no-flight syndrome. The vet said it was looked like a snake bit and that the tissue was breaking down/necrosing. So another injection of anti-inflammatory (to stop the poison spreading, amazing, they also treat dogs bitten by snakes in the same way) and Buzz's emergency treatment was done. Thanks so much to Oliver!
Then I took Buzz out to a raptor rehabilitation centre where the guy, Ben was very nice to us. He told me Buzz should almost be in Russia by now as they migrate from South Africa around this time of year. Poor Buzz, has a sore on his foot which is poisoning his system and gets nailed by a snake so he is weak, gets thin and misses the migration of all his buddies and girlfriends! Anyway, Ben said that he would feed him up, give him a chance to heal and regain his strength and would then work with him and start exercising him when his wing is better (if it is ever strong enough again) to get him fit, and they will release him around Oct when the other Steppe Buzzards start arriving back in SA again. Let's hold thumbs that Buzz will recover and be set free. If not he will live out a very comfortable life in the sanctuary. You can visit their site at http://www.raptorrescue.org.za/. Ben and company do amazing work with raptor rescue and rehabilitation.
What an extraordinarily beautiful bird, he is really majestic and magnificent, and what dark beautiful eyes.... I am so glad I was lucky enough to see him and be able to help him.
Our last report was that Buzz was eating and starting to feel more himself! I will post updates on Buzz here..
Ciao
Marcelle
Update: Buzz unfortunately had to be put to sleep. The damage to his wing and foot proved too much and despite all the work done on him he was struggling and not going to recover.
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