Simon Thomsett

Category: Raptors, Rehabilitation | Date: Sep 21 2008 | By: simonthomsett

On the morning of the 18th September I was on the computer for hours and was very relieved to get a phone call from Robin Stanley near Salaama. He had what he thought was a young African Hawk Eagle, caught in a water trough near-dead from drowning.
I put the phone down and was in the car gunning down the Mombasa Road in minutes. At times like these I am like a kid on Christmas morning. What can it be, is it going to be OK, will it fly again, can it be released, should it be flown first???

An hour later it dawned on me that whatever it was I could not afford the time to lavish on it as I once did. Just last week Martin Wheeler, who took my Verreaux’s Eagle, phoned to say he had an injured Martial Eagle. I had to control my urge to race off to go rescue it. The raptor rehab side of life has had to be put on hold. But there was no denying the feeling of euphoria at something new and something that might need help as I neared the Stanley’s farm.

David and Jane Stanley own a beautiful small ranch near the edge of the Kapiti Plains, as it slopes into the Tsavo nyika type woodland. Suddenly the habitat changes from (only a few years ago) open endless wildlife-filled black cotton grassland, to the broadleaf woodland on red ochre soils. The temperature and humidity goes up. It looks and feels like Tsavo to a highlander like me, but it is the epitome of formerly common landscapes of the Machakos hills.

This ranch is increasingly surrounded by dense shambas, and will soon be the sole remnant of the region’s ingenious fauna and flora. All the surrounding large co-op ranches that were intact examples of native wild plants and animals were recently sub-divided due to shareholder demands, tough livestock business and a land-saving wildlife industry left to flounder.

When I stopped the car, a large pack of grinning dogs came up to the car followed by Jane as she pushed them aside. I was warmly welcomed by them all and ushered quickly up behind the old family homestead to a small shed, in which was an eagle. I am hopeless in such situations and must appear rude to my hosts as I have to quench my curiosity immediately. On looking in I was suddenly perplexed. I am usually pretty confident at raptor identification, but this was a small eagle with a white head, neck and shoulders. The throat was streaked white and tan. Then the white bled out into a uniform brown. I looked at the nostril, was it round or oblong? Was the legs long and thin? Did the mouth go beyond the eye? It wasn’t an African Hawk Eagle (my heart took a downward plunge but recovered itself rapidly because this was even more interesting).

I took it out and held it gently in my hands, being careful not to stress it unnecessarily as Robin and David took pictures. In the picture you can see that I am still grinning stupidly, partly from relief that it was going to be ok!

After a good few minutes I concluded it was a first year just moulting male Tawny Eagle. No big deal. Still fairly common species (although rapidly declining in Kenya). But it has unique features that need to be recorded. I have seen totally white topped Tawnies before, but on close inspection saw that it was all due to UV bleaching. I have never seen a white topped chick in the nest. I concluded long ago that all Tawnies are born rufous tawny, and get paler according to UV sunlight exposure, soil type and even chemical bleaching (such as in soda lakes). The mixtures of plumages in Tawny Eagles is incredible, and one of the main reasons why there are so many erroneous records of much rarer species. In the picture with the three juvenile Tawnies you can see just how different looking they can be! No wonder we get some whacky records.

The head photo of this particular bird shows a patterning that is unusual. The white on the head has fine black central shafts. I find it difficult to believe that it was born the usual tawny brown, then paled over time to reach this colouration. He is tiny too, no bigger than a large female Wahlberg’s Eagle. There is a pale morph of the Lesser Spotted Eagle, but they have long stove pipe legs, puny feet and rounded nostrils in a kite-like face.
He is certainly a Tawny Eagle, but it does bring to light the poor extent of our knowledge on even common species of raptors in East Africa. Had one been force to open a guide book, one would not have seen the vast array of differing Tawny Eagle morphs. Every eagle to my knowledge, bar a few such as the very mono-morphic Verreaux’s Eagle and Martial Eagle have odd morphs. Even the African Hawk Eagle juvenile has a pale morph in this part of Africa as yet un-described in literature. In most cases it is therefore best to assume that if one thinks one has seen a rare eagle, such as either the Lesser or Greater Spotted Eagle, or Eastern Imperial Eagle, to conclude that it is more likely to be a “rare” morph of a common species.

I took the Tawny Eagle home after a great lunch served on their verandah surrounded by a huge flock of wild Guineafowl. The view remains beautiful with distant mountains striding down towards the coast far to the east. The talk was one so typical of those deeply and more importantly personally involved in day to day wildlife issues and their conservation. David is the long standing chairman of the Machakos and Makueni Rancher Owners Association and the Machakos Wildlife Forum. He and Jane spoke of the need to make wildlife pay, otherwise it will go. This had been the main theme of the forum and it demonstrably worked well. When all rights were removed and no reward was possible for landowners the sale of plots was inevitable. The bush meat trade that blossomed as a result is totally out of control today. Short sighted and yet well intentioned “Band aid” solutions to problems typifies wildlife conservation policy in Kenya.

Such people who have vast practical experience must be heard and respected irrespective of the fact that what they say may not sound at first as pleasant solutions. As I drove back home, I still saw a beautiful land with so much potential for wildlife conservation that would benefit the people who “own” it. This part of Kenya is too valuable to loose.

I took the Tawny out of his box and put him in a large shed. I then retired to look at him from a distance. All his bravado left him. His shoulders sank and his head drooped, till he closed his eyes. He needs a lot of good food and at least a few days to gather his strength. But he will be fine, and I will soon release him.

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Tags: Rehabilitation, Release, Tawny Eagle

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Category: Cataract Operation for Rosy, Crowned Eagles, Raptors | Date: Sep 09 2008 | By: simonthomsett

After the excitement died down, and my stage fright had gone I looked around me at a room filled with 17 people. I had dreaded this day for nearly a year, and certainly the last 6 months my worries had got to the point that I was sure I would pass out at this crucial moment. As it approached the emails got more technical until it finally had to be my call. I opted for the soonest possible date, the smallest possible surgery, and whatever equipment we could muster. A course of action agreed by all. There was pressure. In that quiet moment I could see that every face was focused on Rosy. There were familiar faces. I was glad that Paula was there, she had known Rosy when she was a teenager too. A lot of people knew of Rosy but hadn’t seen him in the flesh. Rosy was and remains a small legend as far as raptors go in Africa. There were people here from all backgrounds and disciplines, and all working to save his sight.

I admit I felt ashamed. For the last few years I may have become less patriotic to my country of birth. I saw so few that truly cared for the wildlife and environment, and see ugly businessmen bulldozing pristine invaluable land for personal profit. They seem bent on taking it all. I came dangerously close to accepting it. This ill feeling conspired with a tangible lack of interest in my own raptor work that commenced a few years ago. This last year my own morale has improved but right then I knew I was surrounded by fellow Kenyans who cared greatly. I felt proud and I am not going to give up on Kenya. In fact I am fairly sure that it would have been very difficult to have got this many people together anywhere in the world………just for an animal.

One lens was irrigated out, and this took some time. The acrylic lens was put it. Dan thought the lens went in very well. The other eye was done more quickly with the use of the Phaco. This needle tip has ultra sound that emulsifies the tissue. The soft material is sucked into the needle. This worked fast. I was able to see the lens being slipped into place and settled in its capsule. What surprised me was the lack of sutures. The whole operation takes place through so small a hole that on pulling the needle out the eye maintains its shape. There is no leakage.

3 hours later and the operation was over. The look of relief on Barry and Nonee’s face showed just how tense the anesthesia part of it had been. We retired to a social tea and cakes arranged by Bernice on their verandah and lawn to talk it all over. People were elated, it had gone exceptionally well. I held Rosy in my arms keeping his head up.

He was very groggy. He was handed around for photographs to nearly everybody. People were that happy.

People left and I was shown my room in which we put a dog box and Rosy’s sole possession, his blue carpet. In this he was lain. Before dinner Barry went over every detail and re-enforced the need for this to be properly written up. It was ground breaking stuff. Yes it had been done before but the literature could certainly have space for this. Besides we had many specialists overseas who had been consulted, and it did make sense to publish a paper of some sort. It was a first for Africa.

I phoned Laila to tell her the news. She said that a lot of people were asking if he was OK. Laila was relieved and said that she would pass on the message as soon as possible.

I slept well that night. Too well. Barry woke me up at 3AM and we checked him again and put eye drops in.

The next morning Dan and Nonee came over to check on him. The eye pressure seemed too high and it is necessary to put special eye drops in frequently throughout the day and night.

I will write again tomorrow to let you all know how Rosy is doing now that he is back at home.

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Tags: Cataract Operation, Crowned Eagle, Kenya, Rosy

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Category: Cataract Operation for Rosy, Crowned Eagles, Raptors | Date: Sep 08 2008 | By: simonthomsett

Saturday the 7^th Sept 2008 began early. It was difficult to sleep so I awoke before sunrise watching Tim the Lanner at the other end of the room do his morning preening session. Because the operation was to begin at 1pm, I thought it best to pack the car and leave for Nairobi at around 10AM. Rosy was taken out of his night shed and placed in the early sunlight. He is now accustomed to this and sat happily on his perch until Girl, his mate calls from the nearby shed. He calls back. I stared at him from the verandah and had second thoughts. “What if he died? “What if it was a failure and he would never see?” Today could be the end of an era, or a beginning of a new one.

Photo Paula Kahumbu

I packed the car with his only belongings, a thick carpet, and walked out the back to pick him up with the thick triple leather glove. My heart was very down. I could not bare the thought of losing him, yet it had to be done. As he stepped onto the glove, he became angry at the untimely disturbance and crushed my hand beneath. Then searing pain hit me in the index finger as he punctured all three layers of leather, skin, flesh and tendon to be stopped by bone….my bone. I let out a howl, cursed him badly and marched him off to the car uttering bitter things. Thank goodness he did that as the moment was far too heartbreaking. Good old Rosy, as formidable as ever!

Photo Paula Kahumbu

We arrived at Dr Barry Cockar’s Veterinary clinic after getting lost in Nairobi at about 11.45 AM, making record speed. Barry and Bernice his wife was there and insisted that I stay the night with them rather than drive back possibly late that night with a very sick eagle.

Dr Dan Gradin took us through the various stages of the surgery. The incision would be made almost at the part were the iris joins the cornea, and angled up to create a long tunnel. Then either a needle with a saline drip would be put in this hole, or a Phaco. Both techniques wash and suck out the damaged lens, after first puncturing the thick coated jacket in which it is housed. This capsule must be cut in the anterior part, but not the posterior…which remains intact. The lens maybe soft and easily removed or hard and difficult to remove. There was no way of knowing until you get there. The access is straightforward. The instrument goes in at the side then it is plunged down the pupil onto the lens which lies just behind. It is then ploughed out in shallow grooves. After removing this he would have to decide whether or not to put the lenses in. In other words the decision was to be made at the operating table.

Dr Nonee Magre came with the donated supplies from Ingeborg Fromberg of Acrivet, which included a CD of how to roll and house the lens in a special syringe-type applicator. Kaneto Mineto and Mr.Shiojiri Kichitaro of the Japan Wildlife Centre Kenya, who had earlier donated some $800 to this operation came, followed by Dr Paula Kahumbu of Wildlife Direct and Peter Greste who was to take documentary video of the proceedings. Dr Daniel Mundia and nurses Rose Louisa and Jane Huria of the PCEA Kikuyu Hospital Eye Unit. The small surgery was bulging with people.

A little latter than planned, Rosy finally had the first anesthetic dose. This is hair-raising. For some reason patients like to talk to their surgeons before surgery, not to their anesthesiologist, the person that keeps them a hair’s breadth away from death. This was the part I feared the most, and said as much to Peter with a camera pointed in my face.

Dr Cockar and Dr Mundia observing Dr Magre putting in the eye drops, Peter Greste filming for BBC

Checking eye pressure

Both Barry and Nonee had it well covered with each taking turns to listen to his heart and breathing. In a few minutes his wings fell to his sides, his head rolled and he was out. He was laid on the table covered in sheets and had a special sheet placed over his eye, an eye clip a bit bigger than a paper clip, prized his eyelids open and soon all there was, was an isolated eye staring out of a sheet at a surgery filled with gowned and masked surgeons. My job was to hold his head so that his eye was static, and to do so unflinchingly, despite the wound that Rosy had inflicted on my hand earlier that day. I had a great view and was fascinated from the start as Dan talked all of us through it. Nonee and Barry were itching to get a closer look and Peter went so far as to stab most of the surgeons in the back of the head with the furry microphone boom of his camera, to get the closest possible pictures. Dan is a veteran of some 10,000 surgeries all on people, and it was clear that he too was fascinated by the avian eye, so much bigger and more advanced than a human’s.

He went straight to work and it was remarkable to see the skill and confidence. At the same time all of it made good sense. The eye is like a camera and so long as you restored all the functioning bits, it would work.

(I am waiting on some photographs and will post the second part of the story soon)

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Tags: Cataract operation on crowned eagle, Crowned Eagle, Kenya, Kikuyu eye hospital, Simon Thomsett

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Category: Raptors, Rehabilitation | Date: Sep 03 2008 | By: simonthomsett

On Wednesday the 28th of August, Vero’s left us for a new life in northern Kenya. Toby Dunn landed on the dusty strip near my house and Mwanzia, Jonathan and I loaded Vero’s into the back in a huge box. When he took off, Jonathan and Mwanzia silently watched the plane go until it was out of sight as I drove fast beneath it. I was fighting back tears.

Vero’s is a Verreaux’s Eagle, one of Africa’s three largest eagles. She is a true eagle, belonging to the Aquila group. The Golden Eagle of USA, Eurasia and Japan, the Steppe Eagle of Russia and China, the Tawny Eagle of Africa and India, and the Wedged tail Eagle of Australia, belong to this group. They are patchily distributed from Israel and Arabia, through to Chad and down eastern Africa into South Africa. That part of Africa shattered by the Great Rift Valley produced the habitat most favoured by this specialized eagle.

They are slope soarers without comparison. Their wings look like paddles, starting at the base shallow and broadening as it reaches the last 1/3rd then it tapers off to a sharp tip. In howling winds that would force a Peregrine to perch, they hold stationary sentinel over their rocky territory.

They are Rock Hyrax specialists. But while this may be true in some of their range, it is not the case in Kenya. Cliff environs harbour an array of different animals adapted to the epiphyte growth and tough scree terrain. The hyrax is of course at home here, but so are Klipspringers, large voles, mongoose, genet cats, hares and specific game birds. Such habitats also have thicket-dwelling animals like Dik Dik, bushbuck and duiker. All these are within the prey range of a Verreaux’s Eagle.

Vero’s comes from Lukenya hill, only a few kilometers from my former house. Each weekend, the hill is visited by rock climbers who own it. Each weekend, the raptors that live there are inevitably disturbed. While the Mt Club of Kenya has many members who minimize their impact on the cliffs, there is always the potential for disturbance. There had been repeated nesting failures of Verreaux’s, Lanner Falcons and Peregrine Falcons. I am never very good with people and cannot understand the need to climb a cliff for no very good reason. There is an element of machismo in the sport that may lead to ignoring everything but the task in hand. I have seen climbers being repeatedly dive bombed by distraught Lanners defending their tiny chicks. None bothered to question why. When informed one climber said so what, they owned the hill.

A few years prior to 1995, I experimented with “Abel rescue”. I had done so with Crowned Eagle and Augur Buzzards many years previously and saw the need to include climbers and students. It would be a good way for all of us to do good and create awareness. Most eagles (and Lammergeyers) lay two eggs, 3-9 days apart. They hatch asynchronously with one being very much more robust than the other. The larger individual will almost invariably kill the younger sibling. The younger sibling has a miniscule chance and that is to kill its old sibling. Only one chick survives. Cain killed his younger brother Abel, and the act of this siblicide use to be called “Cainism”. If you take one chick away immediately at the hatch of the second chick, you can raise it in captivity, and produce twice as many as otherwise would be the case. But the hand-raised chick you kept would be a human imprint. A permanent muddle, who will first take you as its parent, and when mature will try to copulate with you. Not good. Imprints can also be very aggressive towards whoever and whatever they think is competition. This may be a person, a dog or even a particular car. They can never be released into the wild. They may be befriended by a member of their species, but they will do their best to kill and eat it. Many rehabers forget or overlook this problem, raising lions for example that are mentally unable to adapt and be released.

When it comes to Abel rescue, I developed a technique that made sense but was physically demanding. Raise the chick in captivity for 10 days, take it back to its parents, swap it with the “wild” sibling. Take the “wild” one back. Raise that for 10 days. Take that back. ETC. Do this until they are 8 weeks old when they are large and nearly ready to fledge. Put them together and although they fight, they are equal combatants.
On two occasions I had the pleasure of seeing two young Verreaux’s flying around after their parents, and this raised awareness and concern among the rock climbers. I was later able to use this technique with one of the world’s rarest raptors, the Madagascar Fish Eagle.

In 1995, I was helped by a Mt Club member and his girlfriend. But when I went to put the eaglet into the nest at 8 weeks, I found that the nest was partly collapsed, two brand new carabiners were clipped one meter above the nest platform and the chick was not there. I concluded that rock climbers had stood on the nest, and the chick fell to its death. This was not the first time.

Vero’s nest

Vero’s aged 25 days lying prone and frightened having been with her parents for ten days. Bold chick is her sibling at the moment it was taken to the nest from being in captivity for ten days. At this age they will still fight and kill each other, so Vero’s (the frightened one) was taken away.

I put the nest edge up, a tough job considering it weighed more than 200lbs, and put the large chick into it. I returned the next day to see the nest empty. Abseiling a further 75ft to the bottom, I found her, bleeding profusely from shattered wing tip. Her left pinky talon had been torn out too.

I took her home and raised her. The broken growing flight feathers are turgid with blood, and if they break, the bird can bleed to death. Although I gave her a set of new feathers (imping), it was a year before she was able to fly well.

I very seldom have eyasses (a falconry term for a chick taken from the nest), because I disapprove, and never take birds for my own enjoyment. Eyasses are bumbling babies and although very easy to manage and fly, take a long time to get hunting and are poor candidates for release. Vero’s was fortunately a borderline nutcase. She was not imprinted on humans, but only just. Over the years I flew her on hill sides where she was joined by others. She knows only too well that she is a Verreaux’s Eagle, showing an appalling flirtatious side once to an embarrassed male.

I do not live in Verreaux’s Eagle habitat now, but far out on a flat plain. Here she is limited in her repertoire of flight maneuvers. She can thermal however. This is terrifying to watch. If flown at 3.30pm, the thermals are still very active. She will sit on her perch looking upwind. A distant whirlwind or dust devil will excite her. I am sure she sees them in a different way. I understand that American red tailed hawks can see infra-red and thus see rising columns of hot air. I think she does too. Into these she flies and in one or two violent swings she is mounting the wind high up into the sky. Verreaux’s love being tossed around by violent air. Their wings snap in and out and they enjoy tumbling sideways with their legs dangling. So does Vero. On one occasion, she ended up out of sight and vanished. I drove about 90km that day and finally found her on a fence post near our then Vice Presidents’ private house on Kitengela! She is not particularly afraid of strangers and was in danger of being killed.

The years seem to have gone by very easily with Vero’s. She never was a problem. When I had volunteers here years ago it was possible to fly her at hares, using the car. She once took a young Thomson’s Gazelle, and was very nearly killed by its mother as she blind sided Vero’s at top speed with her head down. The holes were very deep and gurgled air. It had punctured her air sacs. Ever since then she has had an irrational fear of Thomson’s Gazelles, until 2006-07, when she killed two full grown females. As usual I let her fly off in the afternoon to a “T” perch some 300m from the house. She sat there as I walked out to meet her. But I noticed she was standing tall on tip toe staring at something. She took off flying low and fast. I thought it was the Ground Squirrel, a veteran escapologist. She flew on and at about 400 m I saw a female Tommie standing looking right at her. She took it head on and they went down. I ran to the spot and could see nothing. I stood still to listen. Surely there would be a commotion? Nothing. I saw her swelled with pride and stretched out before her a huge gazelle, with stiff and straight limbs. The limbs went limp, then they started to kick, and thrash wildly. It was dead, quicker than any cheetah kill. The other Tommie was taken on the run, but again it was remarkably easy. One flight she started from about 400ft high. She stooped straight into the ground about half a kilometer distant, and in a second came thundering across the grass tops diagonal to me. The speed was inconceivable. Her wings were tight to her body, and as she went past me she started to pump them quickly and close to her body. Then she swept up onto the sky vertically, looking hard between her legs, and fell back into the grass. 10 ft away a Thomson’s Gazelle jumped up and ran. When I got there she was taking her anger out on a huge rock. She had missed. But she had displayed a strategy. From high above she launched her attack, not straight at it, but hidden at low level. She had memorized the approach, flying at something unseen. She had messed up and she was furious.

She would fly to school kids and must have landed on the arm of at least a thousand. Sometimes in the crowd, there is a particular person who angered her. Usually they have that inner city rolling way of walking. Cap turned backwards,and a zip somewhere between their knees. Woe betides the one wearing an Ipod earpiece. They will be attacked. She hates tall people too. Sometimes I have to ask these people to stay behind.
I know that many people delighted in seeing her, and having her fly to them. But there is something sad about it all. She is always a faithful backup, for “the bird talk” but I grew to feel that I had let her down.

Vero’s flying to Laila

Last year, when I had to make up my mind to leave I had hoped to release her into the wild, near where I released Duchess the Crowned Eagle. But the social unrest we experienced at the end of last year and beginning of this year put an end to those plans. Vero’s by eagle standards is not old or even middle aged. She has many years ahead of her.

When the word got out that I was leaving, Martin Wheeler contacted me asking if I had any birds he could take on. His school teacher at Falcon College in Zimbabwe was an old colleague of mine. Ron Hartley tragically died a few years ago, and left a deep hole in African raptor research and conservation. Ron had said that Martin was a Kenyan falconer, and surely I knew him? I did not. Now Martin appeared at just the right moment. He works at Tassia Lodge in Il Ngwesi north of Lewa Downs on a community run sanctuary. The lodge is set in the side of a hill. Just the sort of place that would suit Vero’s.

On the 28th Aug, Martin received Vero’s. He has been kind enough to keep in touch to tell me of her progress. This morning as I made my cup of coffee by the kitchen window I subconsciously expected that Vero’s was staring back at me from her perch. Until that is, I looked up to check.

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Tags: Eagle, Vero's, Verreaux's

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