Past News
Psittacine beak and feather disease is caused by a circovirus and is endemic to Australia and parts of Indonesia
This poor young Sulfar Crested Cockatoo is suffering with a very bad case of Psittacine beak and feather disease. This disease is painful and leads to a horrible death unfortunately many of our native parrots (Psittacines) can be affected. It is thought that it is passed through the egg into the unhatched chick from its mother. If a bird manages to escape the disease prior to two years of age it is suggested that they will be immune however current thoughts believe they will still carry the disease but may not display obvious signs.
The virus has two main clinical features
1/.Feather abnormalities and in some cases beak abnormalities
2/. immunosuppresion- allowing them to contract other health problems,diseases and illnesses.
The circovirus attacks growing feathers causing feather dystrophy ( progressive degeneration of feathers, caused by inadequate nourishment of the affected part, as a result of some unknown cause) this can present in a variety of ways
- feather loss
- abnormal feather coloring
- deformed feathers
- weak feather attachment
- feather calamus abnormalities ( such as pinching or death in the shaft of the feather)
Because the virus attacks the feathers when they are growing, the clinical signs of the feathers will depend on the stage of moult of that bird when it became infected. Young chicks can present with 100% feather dystrophy, but adults and older birds will be gradual, only the new growing feathers will be affected as the bird moults. often it is the overgrown beak in adults that give the first visual signs on closer inspection it is apparent feathers are affected also.
Currently three locations are being monitored by AWARE for birds with this horrible disease - Mt Martha, Carrum Downs and Edithvale
Fledgling Magpies and Ravens Abound
Fledgling Magpies and Ravens are the order of the week this week with a whopping 45 calls for these alone, this does not include the countless cat attacks on possums both young and adult that have come into care.
A lot of people are still asking if they can move birds from their back yard and take it to the park down the road. this is a death sentence as the parents will not be able to feed them as it will be most likely out of their territory, with other territorial adults patrolling the area ready to evict any invaders.
Young birds really need to stay within a 100 metre radius of where they were found. if you are concerned because you have a cat or dog discuss with you neighbours if you can place the fledgling in their back yard. Still you will need to consider what your cat is up to and whether it is next door stalking a young bird. However most magpies will give any cat a run for its money and hassle it repeatedly if it goes anywhere near the young dependant bird. The parents feed the fledglings during this period and for a further 6 weeks.
Most people are asking if we can take the bird away because they are concerned for its safety. However we cannot, if we took every bird into care that might get injured we would have thousands when our AWARE carers are already caring for well into the hundreds of combined birds in care at this point.
A natural part of a young birds development is to grow an awareness of its predators and food sources. Most wait under bushes for their parents to return with food. Remember most of these birds don't get fed between 10 am and 2pm. So if they are alone don't interfere, simply watch and wait for the parents to return but do it at a distance.
Lorikeet Calls are Driving Me Nuts
We are receiving plenty of juvenile Rainbow lorikeet calls at the moment, they are all jumping out of their nests earlier this year than ever before.
If they have a black/brown beak they are a juvenile that is still
learning to fly, this is called the fledgling period and during this
time they are mostly on the ground. They get from the nest hollow
down to the ground with limited amount of control -as they have
built up enough breast muscle to get safely down to the ground, but
are still not able to achieve upward flight. In this time the
parents feed them from sunrise till around 10am then go off to feed
themselves returning later in the afternoon around 3pm and feed
until sunset. These times are a guide and as a rule birds go by
weather conditions and availability of food as to the time frame
that they start feeding the young again each day. It is
important to stay away around these times so that the parents feel
safe enough to feed the young on the ground.
Old wives tales of "handling the birds will prevent a parent
accepting a chick back" is not true as most birds don't have
the sense of smell that we as humans possess, however this tale has
been skewed in its interpretation. As many people take pity on
juvenile birds and offer food to them, if a young bird is full when
the parent arrives it will not give the "I am starving
hungry " call.
The parents know they have not fed the bird themselves and know it should be hungry. So they either decide at this point that the juvenile has either:
A. Learnt how to find its own food or
B. That it must be unwell and decide to let nature take its
course.
As a rule juveniles are feed for up to 6 weeks after leaving the nest by their parents. So do not offer food to young or baby birds on the ground or apparently abandoned birds.
Step back, check the time and visit the area after 4pm to see if the bird is still around - If it is still there then give us a call.
When this rule doesn't apply:
When you see a wet or soaked looking juveniles after heavy rain or obviously injured birds. If you are able and confident to catch the bird:
- Place the bird in a cardboard box ensure there is adequate
ventilation (around 30 holes poked through with a pen before
putting the bird in)
around the top sides of the box will do it.
- Ring our hotline 0412 433 727 straight away
and keep the bird warm dark and quiet.
- DO NOT FEED IT OR OFFER IT ANY FLUIDS
unless our operator instructs you to do so. If you can not catch
an injured bird call us and
one of our volunteer rescuers will arrive to do so.
- We also ask that you never attempt to catch a bird more than once as it will cause too much stress. Leave it to the experts -our rescuers.
Attempting to catch a bird over and over will only make it harder for our rescuers as the bird will be on alert for the slightest noise or visual presence. This will also have detrimental effects on the bird as it will take longer to get it into care and potentially cause a preventable and untimely death.
Swan Sighting in Brighton (29/7/08)
A black swan was spotted at a pond in Bay Street, Brighton today by a member of the public thinking the swan had suffered a plastic entanglement. It turned out to be an identification tag from the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne. Paul Hackett, rescue coordinator for AWARE, contacted Associate Professor and Reader, Raoul Mulder at the university, who had this to say about the swan:
Dear Paul
Many thanks for this interesting report.
P57
is a male swan, first captured at Albert Park on 1 June 2006. We
have sighted it there regularly over the past two years.
Interestingly, there were three sightings of this bird in Brighton
(at the beach) for the first time between 20 and 27 June of this
year, but he was recently seen back at Albert Park again on 2 and 3
July.
Please do encourage any members of the public to contact me directly
(details below) if they have any concerns about the birds.
Kind regards
Raoul
You can contact Associate Professor Raoul Mulder at: r.mulder@unimelb.edu.au or telephone +61 3 8344 6245
Fourth Pelican Rescue in Hampton Park (29/7/08)
Another pelican was brought in today from a rescue in Hampton Park. This will make it the fourth pelican rescue in Hampton Park this year and over the seventh rescue from the same area with the birds displaying odd injuries. The injuries would seem to indicate some sort of collision. AWARE will investigate further into the issue.
Pacific Black Duck in Mentone (29/7/08)
Paul Hackett and Griet Jeges caught a pacific black duck today at
the Racecourse reserve in Mentone. Griet and other rescuers had been
patrolling the area since last Tuesday as a result of a hotline call
received from a concerned member of the public regarding two pacific
black ducks with elastic band entanglements around their bills.
These bands take 6-8 weeks to degrade enough to come loose from a duck or effected water bird. A duck cannot survive for that long without food and tragically these birds are often found dead - having starved to death, if people don't notice in time. Luckily for this duck it was caught and had the band removed and was released immediately. However we do know of another duck sited at the same location, Racecourse reserve, Glenelg Ave Mentone. Unfortunately these ducks can still fly and often fly to more secluded areas where they then become weakened from lack of food and die.
AWARE has asked various Australia Post agencies to remind their 'posties' to seal their bike satchels so the elastic bands don't fall out when they ride along delivering mail.
Michelle Thomas (president of AWARE) used to personally pick up a large number of elastic bands from roads around her neighbourhood every week until a phone call and subsequent visit to Seaford post office to express her concerns alleviated the matter. It is however still a very large concern, and AWARE will be targeting Australia Post to get this issue resolved nationally.
Koala Mating Season (25/7/08)
We had our first koala call (in Somers) for the mating season this week.
A mother koala was up a tree and her baby (5 1/2 months old)
was
at the bottom of the tree, whilst some troublesome males were at the
top of the tree trying to mate with mum.
It is extremely important that AWARE (or any other wildlife rescue group) be contacted immediately under these circumstances, as the little babe would have surely perished under the cold conditions Victoria has been experiencing of late.
The baby was successfully rescued and the AWARE team then gathered mum so she could have some much needed R & R. Mum and baby are now resting comfortably. Baby is a female approximately 440grams and absolutely delightful. Both will remain in care for a couple of months.
Update 14/8/08: Great news Summer (mum) & Nickie (baby) are really happy enjoying the comforts of B&B service given whilst in the care of Michelle. Nickie has grown to 583gms and is eating leaf as well as papping and drinking from her mum.
Letter by Dr Shane Watterson regarding the proposed importation of the Serval Cat into Australia
Letter by Christina Dennis - President FOTZ regarding Village Roadshow proposal of a theme park at Werribee Zoo