Our first bird of prey of the year, and he’s clearly a fighter.
Originally found grounded and thought to be a Kestrel, our reception team swiftly admitted and indentified the small bird of prey as a sparrow hawk.
A common species in our towns and cities, as they prey on small garden birds as well as the abundance of doves and pigeons.
Living in a built up area, means they are at higher risk of human-wildlife conflict, and clearly this was the case for this particular bird.
Understandably, cranky, he was admitted with an abscess on his right-wing joint, which volunteer vet Judith, was immediately concerned about. With crepitus also felt in the joint, an X-ray was needed to get to the bottom of the birds reason for grounding.
Whilst the X-ray revealed nothing obvious on the joint, it did show an old break to his radius, on the same wing.
Amazingly, this was already calcifying, but we suspect the abscess on the joint is preventing the bird from extending his wing properly and, thus, rendering him unable to fly.
In the face of serious attitude (!), our vet team has placed him on antibiotics and pain relief, along with some isolated cage rest. In the next 5 days, we should have a clearer idea of how the abscess is responding to the medication, and the bird’s ability to use the wing.
Sadly, for this sparrowhawk, after five days in care, he unexpectedly passed away.
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