All Animal Rescuers

A report came in one evening earlier in the week of a native black swan that had crash landed into a surprised resident’s inner suburban home’s courtyard. The swan was hissing loudly at anyone who came near in annoyance but did not seem to be able to find its way back out again.

I headed straight there and found the young swan in exactly the same spot it had landed in. It didn’t appear from an initial observation of being either unwell or injured but it was certainly unusual for it to have ended up where it was, and being dark outside, it would need to come into care at least overnight as couldn’t be released at that time of night.

She was fairly easy to blanket and pop into a large carrier. I noted she had both a leg ring and a neck collar. This was great as the neck collar indicated she was part of the group that Melbourne University keep track of. The collars appear large and cumbersome, but have been proven over use over the last 50 years or so worldwide to not cause any issues, and actually minimise stress as swans can easily be identified from a distance without the need to keep recapturing in order to read a smaller legband or tag as usually is the case with other tagged wildlife.

The fact she had a white neckband told me she was a female and I could look on the swan net webpage to see the locations she had been to easily be able to return her to where she lived. But first she needed to be assessed properly to ensure she was ok.

A call to the amazing Boobook Wildlife Shelter who agreed to see her immediately, so I prepared to transport her there.

But then I was alerted to another black swan needing help nearby.

This one has been reported to be on a busy road with a motorist stopping to shoo him off, then he sat near the side of the road without moving when approached with multiple drivers calling for help concerned he had either been hit by a car and was injured, or would be soon if left there.

I headed straight there which was just minutes away.

The swan was as reported just sitting on the grass next to the main road. He was also banded like the first , this one had a black neckband indicating he was male, so they likely were part of the same flock. Has something scared them both simultaneously to make them take flight and crash down in the inner suburb away from their lake?

I easily netted him wrapping him snuggly in a blanket as he appeared in shock, and took them both to the wildlife shelter.

Inititial assessment found them to have scrapes on their elbows and possible wing damage. The next day they were transported to Healesville Sanctuary for Xrays and tests.

I was thrilled to find out the following day they were all clear and could go back home! A check of swan net showed me they lived at Albert Park Lake, so I went and picked them up that afternoon and at dawn the next morning had them at Albert Park ready for release.

After their little adventure they were very happy to be home and were greeted by others there.

To follow these two go to:
https://sighting.myswan.science.unimelb.edu.au/swan.php?collar=V99&submit=Submit

https://sighting.myswan.science.unimelb.edu.au/swan.php?collar=T37&submit=Submit

City Pigeon update. Day 6 since rescued. Now eating on his own, diarrhoea completely gone replaced with healthy poos! Flying well. Complete recovery.