Amber RIP

I write this post feeling very down. This afternoon  I had to have Amber (Harris Hawk) put to sleep. She was almost 7 years old. I had her since October 2004. I found out that she had wing tip oedema. In it's final stage the end section of the wing dies off and then falls off. This is what happened to Amber. Unfortunately the first signs that there is a problem is when the end of the wing drops off normally after about 6 weeks of having the infection. She had shown no signs that there was a problem. The bird sometimes sticks the wing out a bit so the wing is not touching it's side as the infected area is painful. Amber didn't do this. I spoke to Jo about it in her capacity as vet and we decided that the best and kindest thing was to put her to sleep.

No body really knows what causes wing tip oedema. There are a few theories. It tends to be most common between October and April and it may be caused by frost bite but I have spoken to 2 people today about it and they told of cases in May and in July. The advice is when it is cold keep the bird dry, above the frost line and out of draughts. I did this. Another theory is that the bird has a problem with it's blood circulation and there was a blood clot that affected the blood supply to the wing and this lead to wing tip oedema. Harris Hawks are prone to getting wing tip oedema along with Lanner and Lugger Falcons. The way Amber was kept should of made the risk very low. She was always kept free lofted (in an aviary) so she could always move around so she was never sitting near the ground and she could get out of the way from draughts. This should of also reduced any blood circulation problems as she was able to move around and didn't spend long periods sitting still.

At the end of the day she is gone and she will be missed dearly. She wasn't the best Harris Hawk I have ever flown or worked with. She was ok but she was a character and had real personality. If she wasn't happy with me she would let me know and we had a few run ins over the years in her aviary. I always had to watch myself  when I went and cleaned her aviary when she was a flying weight. Out in the field if I put the work in with her she was good and flew well but you needed to put the work in with her and she was still prone to being a bit stubborn every now and then. In her time she took rabbit, pheasant, hare, gray squirrel and crow. She even crashed into the bushes once and grabbed a roe deer by mistake. She let go quickly once she realised what she had caught. Her one bad habit out in the field was that she was always catching mice. I bought her so I could hunt hare and she did for a while but she took a few hits from the hares she bound on to and decided that there was easier things to catch like rabbit and for the last few years she has always refused to chase hares. In the last year I had started using her in activity days at the centre. She was always very reliable and always looked great. The only down side was that the centre always had to be locked down when she was flying as she would always fly over the centre looking to see if she could try and kill one of the other birds. Apart from this she was a good bird and will be dearly missed. Amber RIP

 

Amber out in the field

Amber in action coming out of the trees

At the end of the day I run a business that involves looking after live stock. That's what the birds are livestock they are not pets. I don't have a special relationship with them. I have a working relationship with them. Amber is not the first bird that has died on me but it has been 4 years since the last bird died suddenly and she is the first bird in the 9 years that I have been running Strathblane Falconry to get wing tip oedema. The thing is if you work with live stock as a farmer once told me then at some point you will have to deal with dead stock. It doesn't make it any easier - it still hurts.

Tomorrow is a new day and life goes on. The coming week is thankfully busy so there will be no time to dwell. In the next 7 days we have 11 bookings (4 in the centre, 3 at Cameron House, 1 school visit and  the Easter weekend will be spent at Edinburgh Castle) so a busy few days coming up.

I have also got the centre to paint. Which it desperately needs after the winter. I was able to make a start today but there is still loads to be done. My mum and dad said they would give me help with the painting so a big thank you to them. It helps to take the pressure off a bit.

Last week started off reasonably quiet then got very busy Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday was thrown into disarray thanks to Duffy (Bengal Eagle Owl). He was flying in the afternoon in a half day session when he saw the window cleaner walking across the hotel car park carrying a ladder. That was him spooked. He flew off into the trees and spent the next 2.5 hours sitting there. I got him back after I asked him to fly to a hotel guest as he wouldn't fly to me. I have to say he looked great flying down from the tree. He must of been about 30ft up. I need to make a mental note to watch out for ladders when he is flying. It did mean that i was unable to go and collect the van that I needed for Glasgow University Vet School Rodeo. It just meant that I had to do 2 trips to get all the birds and equipment to the venue on Saturday. Thankfully the venue is only 15 mins drive from the centre.

We had 2 flying displays with a static display to do. We had lots of people come up and watch the display with a steady stream of people coming up to look at the birds when they were sitting out. All the birds flew well apart from Uist (Lugger Falcon) in the first flying display. He was going great guns. The weather was ideal (dry, not too warm with a gentle breeze) for him. He was looking great and then he went and grabbed his tail meaning he couldn't turn so he flew off and landed in some bushes. I had to go and look for him but I had him back within 5 mins so no big deal.

Sunday was the wedding fair at hotel (Strathblane Country House) where we are based. I just used Mardy and flew him about the grounds. He was going great. Flying over the top of the hotel and through the tops of the trees.

After a good weekend with events. Things were brought back down today.

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