23 Jun Northern Rivers Drought
In the Northern Rivers area we have just been through an unprecedented long dry spring and summer. Paddocks were brown for months and trees were dying everywhere even in our rainforest areas. Insects were very scarce which meant food for insectivorous animals was in extremely short supply. Northern Rivers wildlife carers quickly became inundated with orphaned baby birds in very poor condition. Very few were able to be reunited with their families and many simply just didn’t survive.
This little Tawny Frogmouth was one of the lucky ones. He was found on the ground at the bottom of a large tree where there was a nest visible but very high up. The caller reported that she hadn’t seen the adult birds there for a few days so he was taken into care.
In care he grew quickly and once he was flying strongly in a flight aviary he was able to be soft released. He returned to the aviary each night for several weeks to be support fed by his carer until he was able to find enough food in the wild.
