Swift rescue

Yesterday some friends called me to say that they had found a swift (Apus apus) on the road. They knew that these birds can't take off from the ground and so they picked it up and took it home but then they weren't sure what to do with it. They had given it some water (a good idea) and then they brought it to my house. We took it on to the roof to see if we could release it but we quickly saw that it was a young bird and that not all of its flight feathers were developed. If it had been a grounded adult then simply holding it up so that it could take off would have been enough, but when we held this young bird, it fluttered to the ground and clearly couldn't fly properly (NOTE: we did not hold the bird out over the edge of the building - if we had it would have plummeted to the ground and severely injured itself).

Common swift / Falziot comú (Apus apus)

We decided to call the animal rescue centre in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda and they said we should bring the bird in. My friends had put him in a cardboard box with holes in the lid and so with the swift safely stowed in the box we drove the twenty minutes to the Centre de Fauna de Torreferrussa. The man who welcomed us to the centre had a quick look at the bird and said that it was indeed a young swift and wouldn't be ready to fly for another couple of weeks. He thought it looked healthy and that it had a good chance of survival. We filled in a form with the details about where we had found it and what we had done. He was pleased to hear that we hadn't tried to feed it. Swifts are insectivorous and feeding them anything other than insects can make them ill. We saw that he had two other swifts in boxes in the office too (and presumably many more in the rehabilitation centre). He explained to us that the Centre can only take in protected animals and that they cannot look after pigeons or gulls, for example. In fact, if people take these birds there, they will be euthanised. It is better to ask a vet for advice if you find one of these animals injured and then see if there is a local rescue centre which will take them.

We were allowed to have a quick look at some of the animals in the Centre - we saw lots of sparrows tougher in one cage and also some exotic animals (parrots, parakeets, terrapins) which I suppose will be re-homed at some point. Outside we enjoyed looking at the pond where there were lots of frogs and dragonflies. We even saw a hoopoe.

There is some interesting information on the Centre's website. In 2017, 8695 birds were admitted accounting for 83% of all animals brought to the centre. Approximately 50% of the animals that were admitted for rehabilitation (of all species) were released into the wild. The remaining 50% died, were euthanised, were transferred to other rescue centres or recovered but were not released. The work of wildlife rescue centres is so important and I hope they will continue to receive the support and funding that they need.  

If you would like more information about swifts I recommend the Action for Swifts website.