Bullet, a common buzzard, was picked up by a member of the public in February 2020 and taken to a Worksop vet where an x-ray showed a shotgun pellet lodged next to his ribcage. There were no other obvious injuries but pellets had passed through his right wing and damaged some of the feather roots. When he arrived with me, he was clearly in shock. He wouldn’t stand or eat so had to be hand fed for a few days and treated with pain killers.
Buzzards are tough though and intelligent. He quickly realised that I was trying to help him and he was soon standing and eating on his own. I decided he was a male, due to his size.
Having consulted my specialist avian vet, we decided that it would be pointless to attempt to remove the pellet so I started a course of rehabilitation primarily to assess Bullet’s flying ability. Clearly, he was not keen to fly and so was going to be with me for some time. I decided to give him a name – ‘Pellet’ was appropriate but not very macho so he was named ‘Bullet’. Normally when a bird is in care for a short time, it is not named unless a visit to the vet is required, then some form of unique ID is necessary.
Bullet’s reluctance to fly was probably due to irritation caused by the pellet and his damaged primaries. He would fly to me but in an arc, not directly. However, all was going well until he developed a large swelling on his left foot. A trip to the vet and minor surgery sorted that but then a smaller swelling appeared on his right foot. There was no obvious cause for these swellings but this time a course of antibiotics did the job.
There were no more problems in 2020 but he was always reluctant to fly to me, even when hungry and, when grounded, appeared to have difficulty getting airborne. He had moulted out some of the damaged feathers and there were no other obvious problems. I decided to have him reassessed by my vet with a view to release following his 2021 moult. Then, disaster struck in the form of a broken leg. How this happened I still haven’t a clue. Normally I would blame the keeper for bad bird management or poor diet but that was not the case with Bullet. Anyway, it was a clean break, my vet operated and the repair was a complete success. It meant incarceration in a parrot cage for six weeks but Bullet wasn’t bothered. He didn’t have to fly for food and that suited him. He was given a clean bill of health when the metalwork was removed and rehabilitation progressed.
Eventually he regained his will to fly and by September, he was fit to go. I cut off his anklets and put him out for the day on his perch. He sat there all day, flew to me for food and then back to his perch. I put him back into his aviary at night and out again next morning. At around lunchtime he obviously realised he was free and left. Disappointingly, I’ve never seen him again. Maybe that’s how it should be, but it would have been nice to catch a glimpse, just once.