Update from the Wildlife Centre ( London)

[kittypaws]

Hi,

Well as requested, I was asked to update on my new role as a volunteer
at the London Wildcare Hopsital - so here goes:-

3rd week:-

Some of the pidgies in the Bird ward have moved on ( no nowhere
horrible....). Pinky and Perky, the two juveniles are now in a bigger
cage with 3 others so that they can socialise and spread their wings a
bit. Perky likes to sleep in the food bowl and the others have to peck
their seeds around him.

The kestrel has gone outside into an aviary so that he can strengthen his
fractured wing which has now healed and show everyone when he will be
ready to go.

Two other pidgies from the ward, one with a bad foot ( human hair
damage) and another which is the sweetest pigeon I ever saw and I'm
going to Google a bit later on pigeons, because to me she looks like a
stock dove, black eyes, makes a peeping sound and smaller - but she's
not a baby -she was caught up in netting outside a shop so I'm going to
look into her further - as if she isn't a true feral I think she needs
to be released where she was rescued - these two have gone into the
outside avairy to hone up on their flying again after being cooped up.

Five new inmates in the bird ward from last week - a squeaker - adorable
- maybe about 16 days old - peeping and being cuddled big time by the
volunteers - Laura, Kimberley, Margaret and Karen all had a cuddle
with this adorable baby and he put on 40g in 3 days which they say is "a
lot" !! There is another bigger squeaker probably nearly fledged
but still squeaking.

There is another feral with a broken leg sporting a bright purple
bandage to hold his splint in place, a woodie who was caught by a cat
who is no pushover to catch and finally a female black bird with a
broken foot who is going mad being cooped up - bless her.

I was actually put in a different ward when I got there. This contained
the two albino squirrels, 3 grey squirrels who I had to clean out and
one escaped - Mary - as named by Karen - The door is always shut in this
ward as Mary - is a keen escapogogist - It took two of us over 20
minutes to finally capture madam - they are fast and they
bite!!!

The PMV pigeons and the blackbird are doing OK. The baby with PMV is
still severly disabled but putting on weight - he gets a mix of porridge
and farleys rusk 4 times a day - the two adult pigeons are OK - one is
very quiet and doesn't do a lot of head tilting expect when I went to
get him - the stress I guess - he is a beautiful pigeon too - really,
really handsome - and another not so handsome bird who bless, tried to
eat his seed - getting some down and tossing a lot of seed - but these
birds are weighed 3 times a week and if any are lacking in weight gain,
they are supplemented with pigeon cakes or gavaged.

The last two birds in this ward are a crow who has a problem with his
eye - he has eye drops and is very alert!! And the best bird this week -
a herring gull - which is a big old thing - he was brought in after
being hit by a car and then attacked by crows - he has a washing up bowl
of water which he bathes in and a rock to stand on in his pen - when
Kathryn and I cleaned him out, we left him walk around the ward - he was
just so calm, flexed his wings a bit, but no way is he ready to fly yet
- he was quite unperterbed and had a bit of a preen whilst free - when
we made up his food - very "posh" cat food - not the run of the mill
stuff - with cut up baby chick ( I didn't do that!!) he decided to wander - very leisurely back to his pen - he is lovely and such a character.

I then gave Margaret a hand with the hedgehogs, one of who decided that
after being nicely cleaned out, it would be a good idea to try and walk
under his food bowl ( its one of those double plastic bowls that cats
have) and consequently tipped his water and cat food all over his nice
clean cage - so he was hoisted out and we made him all nice and dry
again - for 5 minutes I expect!!

So that was that - after some heated up vegetable lasagne I started to
leave but then someone brought in a weasel - so I had a look at him as I
have never seen a weasel before and then set off home - happy and
contented with my days work and the birds I got to cuddle and
soothe......

One of the fox cubs that Karen was rearing, died so she just has the one
now.

Tania xxx

PS - I forget to say it isn't all glamour!! There is a lot of sweeping,
mopping and cleaning to do also but you don't seem to mind..

[Trees Gray]

Hi Tania,

Thank you for sharing your week in wonderful detail. It sounds like quite a rewarding and fun-filled (but I'm sure not always) week, as well as hard work.

Please don't forget to take good care of yourself, too, okay? You are an important person and an intricate part of the whole rehab process for the birds and animals at the hospital.

[kittypaws]

Treesa,

Oh I'm OK - I love it there - I truly do - its going to get busier though - we expect to start receiving babies.......... birds, squirrels and foxes and maybe the odd badger or deer - then it get really manic apparently.........!!

Tania xx

[Feefo]

A nice varied day! THanks for the update.

I have never seen a baby stock dove, but the adults are distinctive once you know what you are looking at:

You can scroll down this link for more fantastic photos:

http://www.suesbirdphotos.co.uk/STOCKDOVE.htm

The main thing you have already mentioned and that is the black eyes.

Feral pigeons have irridescence right round their necks and chest, whereas with stock doves it only goes round the back and sides of the neck and is a beautiful green colour.

Stock doves have the same colour beak as a wood pigeon, yellow towards the end and a bit pink towards the top.

The wing bars on a stock dove are broken whereas in a blue bar feral pigeon they are continuous.


Cynthia

[Maggie-NC]

Tania, thank you again for a wonderful post. I was sad to read that one of the fox cubs died. I think they are so beautiful.

The stock dove is lovely. Are they pigeons but called doves? The iridescent green that is just on the back of his neck is very unusual and makes it stand out .

Could you explain more about feeding the herring gull bits of baby chicks? I hate to even think of it but would like to know more.

[AZWhitefeather]

Good Morning (afternoon) to a 'very busy' Tania.

Thanks for your update, although I felt like I had done a days work after reading it.
You certainly do get a variety of critters in to care for. I can see where the job would be so rewarding.

I hope you are able to enjoy your days off to the hilt.

Cindy

[Feefo]

The stock dove is lovely. Are they pigeons but called doves?

All doves are pigeons, it is only recently that there has been a tendency to call smaller pigeons "doves". The woodpigeon , despite its size, used to be called the ring necked dove. But the stock dove is not a descendant of the rock dove so it is not a close relative of the feral pigeon.

Cynthia

[mr squeaks]

Once again, MANY THANKS for your wonderful update, Tania!!

You certainly have a variety! How lucky the center is to have such caring people such as yourself! I'm a pooper cleaner upper from waaay back, so really wouldn't mind that type of "dirty work."

I know your future adventures will only whet our appetite for more!

LOVE and HUGS TO ALL!!!

[kittypaws]

Cynthia,

Thanks for the great photos - I don't think he/she is a stock dove - she was smaller that a normal feral and very delicate looking with dark eyes and grey legs - I think she may be a feral but a youngish one - really, really pretty - perhaps she has some "posh" pigeon in her!!

Maggie - the chicks - well I think they just give him that because he needs protein and gulls will eat fish etc and probably small dead animals he does get nicecat food and tinned tuna too.

I don't like the chicks bit really - poor little things - but they are male chicks - a by product from the egg industry - I think the "lucky" ones are gassed - I have heard horror stories about how some are "disposed of"

Mr Squeaks - always a joy to hear from you - poop is OK actually - the pigeons poops are so much nicer than hedgehogs I can tell you - hogs eat cat food so you can imagine what their poop is like but its OK....

Cindy - I get Sundays off - today ( cleaning, catching up with e-mails, viewing my favourite websites, paperwork, shopping and feeding the local ducks!!) , but I don't see the Wildlife Centre as a chore or something I have to do - at the moment iIam loving every minute of it so I want to go and be part of the team and yes we are getting a variety of animals in.

Long may it continue.

Tania xx

[jazaroo]

Tania,

Please do not stop with your updates. I do look forward to them.

Outstanding job!

All the best,

Ron

[Feather]

Tania,

Thank you so much for the update. I will be looking forward to more of your adventures.

Feather

[Rooster2312]

Hi Tania,

Great update! Your work sounds really interesting and rewarding . Looking forward to this week's update.

Lindi

p.s. I got the job that I was interviewed for last week, well actually, that job turned out to be a temporary position, but they offered me a permanent position today. I have also recieved a letter for interview for the job I wanted in the first place, so will attend that also and see what happens. Either way, I at least have a job now so that is great

[Lin Hansen]

Tania - Great update. Thanks for keeping us informed on all that's going on at the Wildlife Centre.

Linda

[Lin Hansen]

Lindi,

Congratulations on the all the job offers!

Glad to hear that you even may get your first choice job!

Best of luck!

Linda

[mr squeaks]

CONGRATULATIONS, LINDI!!!

Please let us know what your final decision will be!