StemCell Therapy

Last year a drunk pigeon won New Zealand Bird of the Year. It's time for our nation's staunchest bird of prey to take out the title, writesVICKI ANDERSON.

On the back country roads of NorthCanterbury, the sun dapples pleasantly through a lush green canopy of trees.Elbow out the window, travelling at a steady 100kmh,suddenly around a gentle blind corner you're confronted with life and death.

Staunchly hunched over acarcass, extracting the dead creature's organs with brutal and determined precision, the swamp harrier aka theharrier hawkor khu doesn't flinch when it spots the vehicle bearing down.

Scott Bowman

Oscar is a little blind owl ''who who who'' visits Christchurch schools and rest homes to teach people about wildlife.

Defiantly the hawk raises its angular head like a thug in an alleyway with a "what are you looking at?" vibe, a rabbit liver or heart dangling from its sharp beak.

READ MORE:*Bird of the Year campaigns to ruffle feathers*Oscar the blind owl winning hearts*Bird is the word - meet the everyday Kiwis saving feathered lives

These birds have "killer vision" so focused on their prey they often don't see cars until it's often too late.

But this time, with an exaggerated pause to gulp down the bloody morsel, the bird slowly and effortlessly unfurls its huge wings and saunters off into the sky with a wild elegance.

You cannot help but stare in awe as it returns to cruisinghigh above paddockand farmland.

The near miss story causes Scotty Bowman of Oxford Bird Rescue, a non-profit organisation dedicated to wildlife rehabilitation,to bury his face with both hands in genuine horror.

"Vehicle strikes are the biggest threat to harrier hawks in New Zealand," he says solemnly.

Beside him, wife and fellow "bird rehabber"Traceynodsin agreement.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF

This harrier hawk is in rehab at Oxford Bird Rescue. Hawks often blink one eye at a time.

Every year during autumn, winter and early spring the Bowmans end up nursing many harriers back to health from vehicle-inflicted injuries.

New Zealanders value our wildlife, as evidenced by the continued public interest in the winner of the Bird of the Year competition.

The couple are among a growing number volunteering their time to care for injured wildlife.They run their bird rehab centre alongside regular jobs.

Bowman is also the campaign managerfor the harrier hawk in this year's Bird of the Year competition.Harrier (Khu) | Bird of the Year 2019

"On Facebook the campaign managershave been giving each other a bit of stick," he says. "Come on... adrunk pigeon won last year."

Why do our birds need our help to survive?

Clumsy kerer become drunk on fermented berries and crash into things trying to find their nests while our cheeky and photogenic kea get lead poisoning after nibbling just one roof too many.

Forget the cuddly image you've been sold ofpenguins via the sweet dance moves of Happy Feet.Unlike swans, which form monogamous bonds,penguins are the shaggers of the bird world.

Notoriously promiscuous, penguins have sex up to 50 times a day and are essentially riddled with sexually transmitted diseases. They are typically rescued after being bitten by peckish sharks, barracuda or becoming entangled in set nets.

The Bowmans specialise in caring for raptors - harrier hawks and little owls.

WReNNZ Wildlife Rehabilitators Network of New Zealand is a society dedicated to bird rehabilitation. It has been operating for more than 25 years and is open to anyone interested in New Zealand wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and release.

Khuare the largest of the 16 species of harrier. Mori believed them to be a messenger from the gods.

Boasting extremely sharp vision, they can spot the slightest movement from vast distances.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF

Scotty Bowman, of Oxford Bird Rescue, is the campaign manager for the Harrier Hawk in the New Zealand Bird of the Year 2019. He is rehabilitating this bird after it flew into a front-end loader.

An opportunistic bird, they prefer to hunt live prey such as rabbits, hares, waterfowl, smaller birds, the occasional pkeko, rats and mice.

Scotty Bowman's life as a bird rehabber began in 2012when he hit a harrier hawk driving home from work.

After many phone calls, he found a bird rehabber who took it in and followed itsprogress until it was healed and returned to the wild.

"I got hooked in that way."

Early on,he found himself in some interesting situations.

"There was a hawk on the side of the road injured. I went to pick it up and it got a talon embedded in my hand," he says. "Itried to get it out but I couldn't.

"Eventually I drove home with one hand withthe bird on the passenger seat with the talon still in my other hand and when I got home I called out to Tracey to give me some help to free it."

He turns his hand over to reveal a small white scar.

Other people wear gloves to handle birds of prey but Bowman just reaches around themand deftly swoops them up, secures them and cradles them like an angry baby in his arms.

Fiercely blinking one eye at a time, a tawny-coloured bird stares stoically from its spot under Bowman's wing.

"That bird came from the Department of Conservation in Greymouth. He head-butted a front-end loader. They put him up on a bank and he sat there for two days and they realised something was wrong. I was in Queenstown and drove all the way through to Haast to go and get him."

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF

Bowman checks a Harrier Hawk that was injured after headbutting a front-end loader.

On average only onein 10 birds can be saved and successfully released into the wild.

"It's not the best in terms of figures," he says.

"They eat carrion all year around, but they much prefer fresh and to hunt. They only resort to carrion or roadkill during the colder months when other food becomes more scarce. Roadkill is their last choice basically. If they're eating that you're looking at a starving bird."

This year he has been on a campaign in the Oxford area to help change these statistics.

"Wherever safe to do so, we encourage people to stop and move carrion to the verge to provide a safe meal for these stunning raptors and save a life. It has been incredibly successful and we have had far less birds than usualbeing hit locally."

Natives, their conservation status is "not threatened". If anything some joke these savvy hunting birds are more likely to add to endangered lists, but they play an important part in our environment by both hunting pest species and cleaning up dead animals on farmland.

Each spring the hawks' mating dance is "incredibly dramatic".

Theaerial courtship is often called "sky dancing" and involves plunging u-shaped dives around each other and distinctive loud calls.

The bloke bird apparently offers a loud "kee-a", and maybe even a whistle,to which the female, if keen, responds with a "kee-o".

Ground nesters, they prefer to build nests in swamps and wetlands to lessen access by predators but will also nest in long grass and crop paddocks.

Keenly intelligent, these birds shrewdly selectand strategically placestones warmed by the sun to ensure the nest is kept warm while the motherhunts dinner.

"These birds are just so incredibly clever," says Bowman.

When he talks about hawks, he becomes increasingly animated.Just don't mention falconry. He is not a fan.

"No, don't get me started on that," he says, turning the palms of his hands up apologetically. "I'll get cross... it's not about the birds with them."

As we talk, the hawk which hit the front-end loader is unusually still. Its bright yellow eyes blink as it observes us. its tail feathers are incredibly beautiful up close.

"Most people don't get a chance to see them. They fly away so fast when you see them, it's really hard to get photos of them as anyone who has tried knows.Their eyesight is so fantastic they see you a mile away and move away, that's why it's so hard to get close to them,"Bowman says.

"He's quite unusual because he's so calm. He is probably still recovering from concussion. This bird is not stressed. If they are stressed they open their beaks and leave them open."

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF

Scotty Bowman with a harrier hawk that was injured after headbutting a frontend loader. Bowman is the campaign manager for the harrier hawk in the New Zealand Bird of the Year 2019.

He doesn't give the birds names because it "pays not to get too attached".

"Now and again a bird comes along that you can't help but name, like Hollywood the owl last year Tracey looks after the owlsbut we try not to as a rule."

Bowman gently weighs the stunned bird, which still has a dangling piece of meat in its beak,and then carries it to an outdoor aviary.

"He was very thin when he got here. I had to hand feed him for two days until I finally got him eating. He wasn't happy."

When rescued, the bird also had a "funny stance". Further X-rays showed one leg had an old break which had already fused.

The bird naturally stands with one leg forward like a footwear model.

"There is no nerve damage and he can still use his leg. I just need to build up his muscles."

As hawks age they lighten in colour, changingfrom a richchocolate brown as a juvenile to a mix of white and light tan.

Their eye colour also changes, starting out dark and turningyellow.

HARASSED HAWKS

While the native bush falcon is today considered a threatened species, retreating as forests have been cleared, the harrier hawk is more widespread than ever. According to conservation experts, the khuis "doing OK". This is quite impressive considering their haters.

Depending on what theyfarm, farmers adore and deplore hawksin equal measure.

Its fair to say many landowners have a complicated relationship with them.

Harrier hawks were once treated as vermin and suspected of stealing baby lambs but were given partial protection status in 1986.

However, landowners were still permitted to kill birds threatening their domestic birds and animals specifically "cattle, sheep, horses, mules, asses, dogs, cats, pigs or goats".

Butif a hawk is stalking your alpaca or your pet guinea pig, you can't shoot them without a special permit from DOC.

There are many other curious technicalities in the law when dealing with the hawks,Bowman says.

"Fish and Game decided to target harrier hawks a few years ago, 2014, and now they've almost got no protection. I think the Department of Conservation supported the law change because they cull them over areaswhere the black-billed gulls are. It makes it easier for them to run their culling programmes."

It is illegal to take any feathers from a hawk killed on the road.The fine for killing harrier hawks other than in accordance with the law is $5000 or $10,000 for a body corporate.

The Bowmans appreciate DoC's workbut also negotiatetheir own difficulties withsome of the regulations.

In 2016 they rescued a blind, tiny German owlfound beside a chicken coop by a young child. His mother called the Bowmans to help save his life and Oscar has lived with them ever since.

It is believed Oscar's blindness is a result offlying into the wire fence.

The disabled bird has since become an online hit and won hearts around Canterbury as fans follow his deeds on the Oxford Bird Rescue Facebook page.

Now an advocacy bird, he regularly visits schools, rest homes and other groups to raise awareness.

"We don't technically have a permit for Oscar. If they wanted to, technically DOC could say he needs to be culled," Bowman says.

"If he can't be returned to the wild he should be culled, that's typically what the rules say. It's always black and white for government departments. If Oscar could see we could release him back into the wild but we can't do that as he wouldn't survive. Why does he need to be killed? He's a beautiful bird. Life has a lot of grey areas and sometimes the rules don't fit that."

WILDERNESS REHAB

Seven hawks in various stages of rehabilitation are dangling on the aviary netting as far away from us as they can get, giant wings flapping frantically.

Their beaks are open slightly. We don't want to stress them out so we retreat to until their beaks close again.

Bowmanpoints out onebird. "He is just about ready to be returned to the wild. He was in a bad way when he came in here and now he's nearly fully healed. That's the best part of it, releasing them back where they came from. We always try to return them to the spot they were found."

Across the sprawling paddocks, magpies call to one another.

"That family of magpies has been living in those trees for decades," Bowman pointinto the distance. "They co-exist with these hawks but there was one hawk I rehabilitated and released. He left and then turned up one day about a year later. Everything was going well but then he ate one of the magpies' babies and they forced him out. He shouldn't have done that."

Two years ago the couple were caring for so many birds in their home shelter that it began to take a toll on their health.

A Massey University survey in 2017 looked at compassion fatigue exhaustion from prolonged exposure to the stresses of caring for sick and vulnerable wildlife among New Zealand wildlife rehabilitators.

It found most were able to keep a healthy balance, despite the pressures of the role, but this wasn't the case for the Bowmans.

"Because we are doing this around our 9-5 jobs and it is in our home, we took on too much, but now we have scaled it back to primarily concentrating on raptors to make it more manageable so we can keep going.Bird rescue is a lot of work and a big commitment but it is all worth it when you watch that effort result in a wild bird flying free."

Koshy Yohannan

Fran, aka Miss December in the 2017 Wingspan Calendar, is an adult female harrier hawk.

See the article here:
Khu vision: Why this harrier hawk is New Zealand's swaggiest bird - Stuff.co.nz

This entry was posted on November 2, 2019 at 12:42 am and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |