ERGLIS!!!
Last week, Zinta's father, Afeku, Gophine, our guide Raymond and I were birding in a grassy area near Nyakafunjo, the first village outside of the Royal Mile. Just as we were about to leave, a local guy walked up to us, carrying a Long-crested Eagle nestling. He was already quite big, but his plumage has not fully developed yet and he was extremely weak. Since it had been raining throughout the night and also on that morning and there was no way of telling how long it had been laying underneath the tree where it was found, we decided to take the little guy to camp and see if we can help him survive. In the beginning we also thought that his leg may be broken. So I carefully wrapped him in my sweater and we drove back.
Once at camp, I filled my waterbottle with warm water, mixed some eggs and milk powder and checked, whether he would eat. Slowly, he started swallowing the protein-rich mix, though he was barely able to lift his head. His eyes were dull and his movements slow and few in number. During the following night, I fed the little guy his special food every four hours and he started to look better. The next day, I picked up some intestines, stomach lining and also a bit of good meat because I figured that this would resemble his natural diet more closely. To make sure that the meat slipped down the hungry throat nicely and also to kill off bacteria and such, I poured a little bit of boiling water on the small meat pieces and added a raw egg.
Oh boy, does Erglis (latvian for eagle) love his meat. Starting off with two or three pieces a feeding, we have now reached 8 pieces a meal, and if he could, he would eat more! A few pipettes of water after the meat make sure that our little patient does not suffer from dehydration. He happily poops all over the library and escapes his box every once in a while. His balance and coordination are not quite stable yet, leaving us laughing at this crazy bird swerving all over the room, flapping his wings in excitement. Most of the time he spends looking at me and begging with an open mouth.
Unfortunately, I am taking off to Kampala and eventually Capetown (unfortunate for the bird lover in me, I can't wait to see my brother...) on Tuesday. I am not quite sure whether he could be reintroduced to the wild, once ready to fledge (my guess in 3 weeks), so we are taking him to the Ugandan Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe, near the airport. There, the vets will care for him and decide over his reintroduction. And even if he has to spend the rest of his life in the zoo, he is still better off then if he would have stayed in the rain and slowly faded away....
The feeling that I experience when taking care of Erglis leaves me short of words. This royal animal looks at me, begs from me and in a way, we helped him survive. I am just thankful for having had the opportunity to take care of him. Who knows, maybe I will drift off further into the direction of conservation than previously thought. Enough said, enjoy the pictures....
Our first encounter with the little guy.
Zinta's father takes a picture, while the guy holds the bird in the wrong way. He seemed to be scared of the beast.
Erglis, now in top shape! The whole camp loves this guy!
Doing his wing exercise in his box. In the beginning he could barely lift his head...
No more hanging crest! This is a happy little long-crested eagle, and happy we are too...
Once at camp, I filled my waterbottle with warm water, mixed some eggs and milk powder and checked, whether he would eat. Slowly, he started swallowing the protein-rich mix, though he was barely able to lift his head. His eyes were dull and his movements slow and few in number. During the following night, I fed the little guy his special food every four hours and he started to look better. The next day, I picked up some intestines, stomach lining and also a bit of good meat because I figured that this would resemble his natural diet more closely. To make sure that the meat slipped down the hungry throat nicely and also to kill off bacteria and such, I poured a little bit of boiling water on the small meat pieces and added a raw egg.
Oh boy, does Erglis (latvian for eagle) love his meat. Starting off with two or three pieces a feeding, we have now reached 8 pieces a meal, and if he could, he would eat more! A few pipettes of water after the meat make sure that our little patient does not suffer from dehydration. He happily poops all over the library and escapes his box every once in a while. His balance and coordination are not quite stable yet, leaving us laughing at this crazy bird swerving all over the room, flapping his wings in excitement. Most of the time he spends looking at me and begging with an open mouth.
Unfortunately, I am taking off to Kampala and eventually Capetown (unfortunate for the bird lover in me, I can't wait to see my brother...) on Tuesday. I am not quite sure whether he could be reintroduced to the wild, once ready to fledge (my guess in 3 weeks), so we are taking him to the Ugandan Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe, near the airport. There, the vets will care for him and decide over his reintroduction. And even if he has to spend the rest of his life in the zoo, he is still better off then if he would have stayed in the rain and slowly faded away....
The feeling that I experience when taking care of Erglis leaves me short of words. This royal animal looks at me, begs from me and in a way, we helped him survive. I am just thankful for having had the opportunity to take care of him. Who knows, maybe I will drift off further into the direction of conservation than previously thought. Enough said, enjoy the pictures....
Our first encounter with the little guy.
Zinta's father takes a picture, while the guy holds the bird in the wrong way. He seemed to be scared of the beast.
Erglis, now in top shape! The whole camp loves this guy!
Doing his wing exercise in his box. In the beginning he could barely lift his head...
No more hanging crest! This is a happy little long-crested eagle, and happy we are too...
posted by saintcity at 12:06 PM
1 Comments:
cute. loving the pics. very jealous of your close-up experience! hand-raising corvids is great, but i guess an eagle opens up a whole new dimension.. glad you had the opportunity to experience that.
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