Hi Everyone,
April was brisk at Wild Bird Rescues with 44 sick or injured birds getting attention, plus several major releases.
In line with long standing tradition, let’s begin with ibis feet. Ah, wonderful, I hear you say!
My ‘Manky Ibis Foot of the Month’ award goes to this little lady. I caught her at Tallebudgera Tourist Park last week. How I would love a buck for every entangled ibis that I’ve pulled out of that park over the years. This bird was not only entangled but the line had caught on a large wire snap-clip of some kind.
She was stumbling around on the tip of her toes dragging that clip everywhere she went. ‘Uncomfortable’ does not even begin to describe it.
To make matters worse the clip kept rotating. This was tightening the fishing line that threatened to cut off her three toes. Another week and things would have been very grim indeed.
She was freed of the line and clip and released immediately, none the worse for wear.
Two days earlier I’d caught another ibis in the same park. Called him Gonzo. Poor Gonz was limping badly on a swollen foot. My examination revealed that a previous, long term fishing line entanglement had bent Gonzo’s middle toe backwards, underneath the pad of his foot. The line had rotted and dropped off, but the toe was now permanently bent under. Every time Gonzo took a step he trod on his toe, bending it further. Ouuchh. Once caught I could see he was free of line, so I released him. Stupid mistake. I should have taken him straight to hospital and asked for that bent-under toe to be amputated.
Oh well, it’s easy to be wise in hindsight. Now I have to track Gonzo down and catch him again. Can’t leave him out there like that.
One afternoon a call came in late, around 5.30pm. 
It concerned a cormorant with a lure hanging from its neck. Cormi’s are one of my favourite birds. They suffer dreadfully from hookings and lures. In fact, I predict that within the next 20 years we will have lost most, if not all, cormorants currently living in and around cities, because of hookings. 
A late callout, just as the sun is setting, is tricky for obvious reasons. I hoped the bird wasn’t too far 
away. Turns out it was only 100m down the pier from where I live at Southport Yacht Club! I was there in a jiffy. We still had some light. The cormi wouldn’t allow me anywhere near. It slowly waddled its way to the end of a finger pier. From that position it could dive straight in and escape underwater, or take to the air. Even trickier! Fortunately, the crew on a super yacht had their tender handy. We climbed aboard and made a 
couple passes about 10m off the end of the pier where the bird 
was standing. Seabirds are usually less concerned about boats than 
they are about people on foot. By the third pass I had my range and blew a net over him. 
Cormorants bite like nothing else. This bird was no exception. That’s a good sign; but not much fun for the rescuer. The more fight they have in them, the better their chance of survival. I cut the lure loose from the bird’s neck, then secured the fishing line that was coming from its mouth. No doubt the vets would find a hook on the end of that line. I hoped the hook hadn’t done too much internal damage.
The cormi was operated on at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital the next day. Sadly it didn’t make it. They’re a very stressy creature and don’t cope at all well with anaesthetic and trauma. It was a lousy result. Just shows that even with the best intentions and top veterinary care, you can’t win ’em all.
My ‘Lucky Bird of the Month’ award goes to this little lady who I discovered quite by accident. A call had come 
through RSPCA about a heavily entangled swan on Lake Orr, in the Varsity Lakes region. It was an hour and a half before that report got to me … far too long. This meant two hours before I was onsite and by then, of course, the bird was long gone. Orr is a big lake system to search, but I had little choice. An hour later I spotted a lone swan, a kilometre away across the water, adjacent to a building site. A lone bird, swimming in the same position, is suss. I made my way to the building site then trapesed across broken ground for a few hundred metres before coming to the bird. No fishing line anywhere to be seen. But things didn’t look right. Clearly she was lethargic. Once caught I observed the early stages of botulism. Very lucky indeed. Another 24 hours in that remote area and she would have expired. The swan was rushed to hospital where she made a full recovery.
This story gets even better because next day, while searching Lake Orr, I located the entangled swan from the RSPCA call. He was a very easy catch, right in front of the restaurants and offices, on Varsity Parade. The lunchtime crowd got a bit of a shock when I dragged the creature out of the water, but nobody said a word. Reflecting on this it seems that confidence makes all the difference. if you look like you know what you’re doing and adopt a ‘take no prisoners’ attitude people tend to accept and let you get on.
Ten minutes later I’d removed a small hook and 7 meters of dangerous, light weight fishing line that was entangled around the bird’s right wing. He was returned to the lake and to his girlfriend who’d been waiting anxiously nearby. A very good result.
During one hectic Sunday arvo in April I secured four, ‘flight capable’ birds, in as many hours. That’s a lot. It began while 
responding to a pelican in Currumbin Estuary that supposedly had a spike sticking out of its neck. On the way a call came in about a swan that had just been hooked (and cut free by the fisher) at Laguna Lake, Palm Beach. Under those circumstances it’s hard to know which bird to attend first. I chose the swan. The bird was located quickly, but it was stressed, and being Sunday it had a gut full or bread, making it difficult to lure close. Two dozen picnickers were celebrating just meters away. In the immortal words of that famous song by The Band, they’d been, ‘at the still, had their fill, and felt fit to kill’. Their presence did not help. I was getting nowhere, so left the swan and headed to Currumbin Estuary.
As I crossed the Thrower St. Bridge, a lone peli came in to land. I pulled up on the near bank hoping to get a look at the bird and immediately spotted a limping ibis on the grass to my left. Line tangled for sure. I alerted nearby picnickers (who were sober, thank goodness) and told them to expect a bit of a kafuffle (nothing worse than having a snared ibis land in the middle of your Sunday lunch). The bird was a quick catch. It was freed and airborne again within 10 minutes. I headed to the opposite bank and caught the peli. No spine in its neck but a nasty little lure in the wing. Then it was back to the lake for the swan. The picnickers had moved on and 
the bird was more receptive. She was easily netted, then a rotten little hook was nipped and backed out of her leg. Congradulations, not, to the fisher who hooked her; cut her loose; then drove off without reporting the injury.
So far it was three captures and still going.
On the way to Palm Beach I’d passed the Broadbeach Parklands. From the car I’d seen an ibis standing among a pack of dozen, holding its leg up. This can often mean a sore foot, nearly always caused by fishing line. I’d made a mental note to check that bird. So, on the way back from Palm Beach, I stopped in at the Parklands and quickly located the pack. Sure enough, the limping bird was with them. Working in a crowded park, on a weekend with lots of kids around, can be interesting. ‘Interesting’ being code for ‘a bloody nightmare’. Luckily the bird helped out by flying to a nearly grassy knoll where it was out of sight to most people. This creature was also a quick catch. The line was removed and the bird released, no doubt wondering what the hell had just happened, but feeling a lot more comfortable.
During this report I’ve generously bestowed many awards, so why stop now? My ‘Happy Family of the Month’ 
award goes to Tyson and Trisha on Miami Lake. They recently hatched 6 new cygnets. Unfortunately one cygnet is already in heaven, so they’re down to five. All appear well. Spotter Denise from Mermaid sent this pic of Trisha with her new brood. You might remember that Trisha featured in a Facebook post last month after she was seriously hooked and entangled. Here’s wishing the family well.
So far I’ve talked about nine rescues that took place during April. Thanks to WBR donors those nine, plus another thirty five sick or injured birds, got the help they needed. Some donors have been very generous lately (you know who you are). This is much appreciated. In fact WBR is actually within striking distance of covering operating costs this year. If we achieve that it will be the first time EVER, thanks to you.
Special appreciation also goes to our patron Jim Downs and to Liz and Paul on the Donations Committee.
Finally, here’s my ‘Tip of the Month’. Never trust a seagull to guard your lunch.
Rowley
El Presidente for Life