Hi Everyone,
I’m getting this report out early so that I can wish you all a Happy New Year!
One day remains in December and to date WBR has attended 25 rescues and completed several major releases.
The number is less than average because I took a much needed week away in Lightning Ridge. Why Lightning Ridge you might ask? Because it was the farthest I could drive from the Gold Coast in one day! Following that I made a very quick return trip to Perth and spent Xmas day with my family which was lovely.
The week in Lightning Ridge is the first decent break I’ve had all year, but going away can be tough because sometimes hooked and entangled birds are left behind. So it was with this white faced heron. I’d run myself ragged trying to get my hands on this creature, but it’s attendance at the callers house was erratic. In the end I 
just had to leave and hope the bird survived. I remember catching her partner at the same address some years before when he too had become entangled in fishing line.
Fortunately our luck changed the day I arrived home and I caught her. On examination the bird was entangled in very light weight fishing line that was set to amputate its foot. I quickly removed the line and released her. She flew away looking much happier.
On my first day in Lightning Ridge I was messaged about a lame pelican seen at Charris Seafoods in Labrador. There just isn’t anyone else on the Gold Coast who can catch ‘flight capable’ birds which meant the peli was going to have to tough it out.
The day I returned I took my boat out to the offshore sandbanks with a bucket full
of fish frames. Ninety pelicans surrounded me hoping for a feed. Guess who wasn’t among them?
Disappointed, I walked back to the boat and noticed a message on my phone. It was SeaWorld saying thatholiday-makers at Loaders Creek, two k’s south, could see a peli nearby holding up its leg and looking very sorry for itself. Oh yeah … that’s the news I wanted.
I drove straight to the creek and sure enough, it was her. Ten minutes later she was caught. Examining the bird’s dreadfully swollen upper leg it was clear the tiny hooks attached to the lure had caused considerable infection. She was bundled into the boat for a fast trip home. Then it was down to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital. I’m pleased to report the pelican was released, safe and well, 5 days later.
That first day home had been busy, but it wasn’t over yet. I caught a juvenile ibis, then got a call about a swan with fishing line trailing from her body. I drove directly to the address and the caller took me around back where a family of swans were grazing happily on the lawn.
The little girl with the line was an easy catch. I held her up to expose a nasty
fishing lure with two sets of treble hooks buried in the webbing underneath her right foot. Ouch! It was a nasty injury but not life threatening; just bloody uncomfortable for the bird. The hooks were quickly removed and she was released back to her mum and dad who were very happy to see her. There was much trumpetting and neck bobbing. As with the pelican above, most lure injuries are deliberate hookings, but the fishers who do the damage never call to get the birds help.
Epic fail of the month goes to poor Popeye. This is the young osprey I’d taken to hospital five weeks ago after he was found under a car in Labrador, two kilometres from any significant body of water. The hospital had cared for him and he was looking good.
On the morning of Popeye’s planned release he’d been ‘imp’d’, which means the vets had cut off the end of a damaged feather(s) and then carefully glued on a new end feather. The procedure requires the bird to be fully anaesthetised. The hospital likes to get imp’d birds out on the day to reduce the chance of damaging their new feathers. Several hours had elapsed while Popeye recovered from the anaesthetic. Then I took him to The Spit for a land based release. This would allow him to fly straight out over the Broadwater, in the vicinity of established osprey nests where it’s likely he’d been born.
Popeye came out of the capture box like a rocket and took straight to the air. At first he looked OK, albeit a bit shaky. His flight was unsteady, but I thought he’d be alright. A few seconds later he lost altitude, nosed dived, and hit the drink! Not in some easy-to-access area, but right in the middle of the channel between The Spit and Wavebreak Island. He was 250 meters offshore! My heart sank. I wasn’t prepared for that.
Popeye was still afloat, but only just and I had no way of getting to him quickly. I called one of my mates on his yacht anchored in Bum’s Bay, just behind where I was standing. Fortunately Nic was home and shot around in his dinghy. While phoning I’d lost sight of Popeye. I feared the worst. We searched frantically until finally I spotted his little head bobbing in the waves 200 meters from the boat. The tide had very nearly swept him out the Seaway.
We fished him from the water. Popeye was soaking went and looked miserable, but he was ALIVE. That’s all I cared about. Thirty seconds later the boat was clobbered by a massive deluge when a storm front came through. Now all three of us were soaked. Popeye spent the night at my place drying out. Next morning he was looking much happier. At 8am he was readmitted to hospital.
In stark contrast to Popeye’s disaster I’m delighted to report that Yuki, the ‘threatened’ beach stone-curlew, in 
hospital receiving treatment for a dangerously infected foot caused by a tight wrap of fishing line, was successfully released at The Spit. Yuki didn’t fly off when he came out of the capture box. Rather, he stood for a moment and furtively took in his surroundings, before charging off along the beach. Curlews like to run. A few minutes later he made a tentative, 100m flight, followed by another run before taking to the air and heading for South Stradbroke Island where we believe his parents are nesting. This is a very good result thanks largely to the excellent care provided by Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.
If you look closely at the pic you can see deep indents left by the fishing line on Yuki’s right foot. The right toe on his left foot has been amputated. (That’s makes him easy to identify).
The other day, while picking up rubbish on Curlew Island, I spotted two curlews. Can’t say for sure, because I’d forgotten my binoculars, but I reckon it was Yuki and his brother Whiskers. I was very pleased to see them.
This report has been a small sampling of many interesting rescues that took place during December.
My Xmas present to you, slightly belated, is a report free of all manky ibis feet! That’s a first. It’s not that I don’t have those pics … it’s just that I thought I’d spare you, this once. Please don’t get used to it.
I’ll also be recommencing Facebook posts at the beginning of 2016.
I’d like to thank everyone who donated this year to keep Wild Bird Rescues going. Preliminary figures indicate that more than 400 sick or injured birds got the help they needed in 2015, thanks to your generosity. A special thanks to Jim Downs and to Liz and Paul on the Donations Committee.
Happy New Year!
Rowley