Monday, November 09, 2009

A close encounter with a Morepork

Everything has come to a standstill this morning, I'm meant to be getting in with my jobs. I went out a little while ago to do the outside rounds, check the cows for any signs of imminent calving.........nothing yet! Then I went out the gate onto the lane, dogs in tow and was taking a stroll down to the mailbox. Up ahead I noticed Max with his nose to the ground take a sharp right turn and then stop, whatever made him stop was proving interesting.
As I got closer I noticed feathers, thinking a pheasant had been hit by a car, quite hard to happen we don't get too many cars up that stretch of the road, I thought wrong. It wasn't a pheasant, it was a Morepork, a New Zealand native owl. It was on it's back, injured but alive. I picked it up and carried it home. He has I'm pretty sure got a broken wing, a damaged eye and one foot is curled, the poor thing has had quite a bump. He's still feisty enough to have taken a gouge out of my finger though.
I rang Hamilton Zoo and they gave me a number of a bird rescue place in Hamilton. A man will come and pick the bird up some time very soon. He or she is tucked away in a box awaiting pick up.
Aren't they the most beautiful creatures?




Keep your fingers crossed he/she makes a full recovery.
Click here for more about Moreporks

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:21 pm

    I hope he/she recovers. Good job helping him/her out.

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  2. Oh it is so lovely - poor thing. I hope it is ok - like my baby ringtail that I found in the chook pen who survived - fingers crossed for the little Morepork. It's amazing how you go into damage control when you find them - everything else stops!!! Well done on saving a life.

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  3. I love moreporks...

    I remember in primary school when we had Morris the Morepork visit and we all got books to take home thanks to Forestry NZ.

    I've loved them ever since. Here's hoping the little fella gets better!

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  4. Thanks for your support, s/he certainly was beautiful, the guy who came to collect it reckoned nuerological damage, he didn't seem to think that s/he had any broken bones. He was going to take it to the vets for x-rays. He said he would let me know how he goes.

    ReplyDelete

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