Treating injured birds and seeing them off on home journey

Standing on the edge of a pond at the Ghadira Nature Reserve, Ian Balzan takes one last look at a female kestrel before releasing it into its habitat after a month of rehabilitation.

A final check to make sure its injured wing is fully healed, and Mr Balzan launches the kestrel into the sky. It spread its wings and flew off, rising swiftly into the clear skies towards the Red Tower, before banking out towards the sea.

"Seeing her fly so freely was a far cry from the bird that had been brought to our office," Andrè Raine, BirdLife Malta conservation manager, said.

The bird landed in its office in June after a member of the public found it hopping helplessly about on a road in Mosta with a partly healed gunshot wound to the wing.

It took one month for Mr Balzan to nurse it back to full health and the BirdLife team was delighted to see the kestrel fly off to resume its migration to Europe.

The release was a great moment for Mr Balzan and the culmination of all of his hard work rehabilitating injured birds shot illegally over the spring season.

Several weeks earlier, another three rehabilitated birds of prey were released on Comino by BirdLife.

"As the hunting season had only just ended and widespread reports of illegal hunting continued, Comino represented a safe haven from which to release these magnificent birds.

Each one - a marsh harrier, a European hobby and another kestrel flew off strongly, a testament to Mr Balzan's hard work and dedication," Dr Raine said.

"Unfortunately, this spring, as with every year, Ian has had to deal with a continuous stream of injured and dying protected birds," he added.

Kestrels and marsh harriers are the most common targets shot as they migrate through Malta each year in large numbers.

This year reaped many other victims ranging from a very rare pallid harrier to several red-footed falcons, a honey buzzard, and European bee-eaters, a golden oriole, a purple heron and a great bittern.

Dr Raine explained that members of the public, walking through the countryside, usually inform BirdLife of downed birds. A dedicated team of BirdLife volunteers then goes out to collect the birds and take them to Eurydike Kovacs, a veterinarian who volunteers her time and resources to examine the birds.

"If the injuries are too severe, and the bird has no chance of returning to the wild, it is put down. The majority of birds are very badly injured. However, if the birds have a chance, they are passed on to Ian," he explained.

Once in Mr Balzan's care, the birds are transferred to his wild bird rehabilitation centre where they begin the road to recovery.

It is very important that the birds do not become too familiar with humans or they may never learn to live in the wild again, so Mr Balzan keeps contact with them to a minimum.

Once the birds are completely healed, they are taken to a safe release point and sent on their way.

"With luck, they then continue their migration towards European breeding grounds where they can raise the next generation," Dr Raine said.

As the autumn migration begins this year, perhaps the same kestrel released at Ghadira will once again pass over Malta on her way to African wintering grounds.

But for the time being, BirdLife is happy just picturing it leaving Malta behind, heading onwards to Sicily, Italy and over central Europe, perhaps ending up in Finland, Germany or Sweden, in search of a suitable partner.

www.birdlifemalta.org