An Operation on Amanzi

Amanzi, the father of Blake and Trinity, the first ever Wattle Cranes bred successfully in captivity, broke his wing last weekend, much to the dismay of the Hlatikulu Crane Sanctuary where he lives.

 

Mike Harwich – vet and writer tells the story (reproduced from his blog: http://mike-hardwich.co.za/.) Paul Herwood took the pictures.

In my entire career I have never been called on to work on an animal as endangered as a Wattled Crane, and this Sunday was a truly humbling experience when I was called on by Ann Burke of the KZN Crane Foundation.  This is the tale:

We have been extremely busy, but no real interesting cases – just the usual veterinary work. Or so it was until Sunday afternoon….  At about 3 pm I got a telephone call from a client who was at the Hlatikulu Crane Sanctuary and there was a major problem with one of the breeding Wattled Cranes. Ann, the curator, believed the bird had a broken wing.

I discussed the case with her and said that it would be easy to amputate the wing as I had done to Flightless (a goose) several months ago. That suggestion did not go down at all well. ‘Mike, this bird is the ONLY NATURALLY BREEDING MALE in captivity and he cannot perform without his wings being functional.’ That quickly brought me to my senses! At whatever cost the wing had to be saved and it had to be functional.

I suggested to Ann that they strap the wing and get their usual vet to look at the bird on Monday. That suggestion was also quickly rejected. ‘This bird, called Amanzi, and his mate are rearing a single chick and it is imperative that he is fixed and returned to be with his family as soon as possible’ came an anxious reply. Ann and Peter loaded Amanzi into a vehicle and after a long drive arrived at the clinic.

On examination it was readily apparent that Amanzi had a compound fracture of his right humerus. The cause of the fracture could not be ascertained.

Mike examining Amanzi

We would have to do emergency surgery.

Then the obvious problems arose – I had never done any anaesthetics on these birds and his physical condition was not all that easy to assess (I wasn’t sure how much shock he had suffered).

Ann, being an acclaimed scientist, knew all the necessary websites – thank goodness for the internet –  it was not like that in years gone by. We had all the necessary drugs in stock so prepared ourselves for what could be a complicated and lengthy process.

A tranquiliser was initially given and we waited, and waited and waited. It had very little effect and eventually a second dose was given. Once again there was far from adequate tranquilisation after 30 minutes.

Mike injecting Amanzi with a sedative

By way of a hood, gaseous anaesthetic was given and in a few minutes Amanzi was ready for surgery.

Mike preparing Amanzi for surgery

The area was cleaned and disinfected and Amanzi transferred to the operating table. The compound fracture was cleaned as best we could. Fortunately there was very little extraneous matter present – no mud or dust!

Mike operating on Amanzi with Ann’s assistance

A stainless steel pin was pushed up the bone until it came out at the shoulder joint. The pin was then retro-graded and the bone aligned so that the pin went right down the centre of the bone, crossing the fractured area. It was then gently pushed into the dense bone of the elbow joint. The pin was then cut to a satisfactory length.  At the fracture there was a splinter of bone that was fairly large and this was tightly wired onto the shaft of the bone.

Mike’s handwork on Amanzi

The wound was sutured closed and the anaesthetic was stopped. An antidote to the tranquiliser was given and we waited for Amanzi to regain consciousness.  Whilst waiting for the bird to come out of anaesthetic, the damaged wing was firmly strapped to the body so as to offer more support.

Mike and Ann after the successful operation on Amanzi

Once he had woken enough (and we were able to relax a little) Amanzi was taken back to his pen in the Kamberg.  The next morning he was a little under the weather but strutted around in the pen next to his family. This was a precautionary measure in case he was attacked by his mate – strange smells or the bright coloured bandage could precipitate such an attack.

Amanzi safely back at Hlatikulu Pen after his operation

We now anxiously await the outcome of the operation. All should be well and hopefully the drugs that were given will combat any possible infection. We will know in about three weeks as to just how well he is healing.  Holding thumbs!

In all my career I have never been called on to work on an animal as endangered as these birds and it was a truly humbling experience which I sincerely hope goes according to a quickly initiated plan – we cannot afford to lose the only captive breeding male Wattled Crane left in the world!

Boston October 2013 Wildlife Sightings

Crystelle Wilson Gramarye:  A sight to enjoy at present is the sheets of Watsonia flowers on Mount Edgeware.

The most exciting bird I found this month was a Little Bittern. A member of the heron family it is a generally uncommon bird occurring in wetland sites in bulrushes, reeds or emergent vegetation in shallow water. I saw it at a dam in marshlands in a timber plantation where I also watched an amazing spectacle when a Yellow-billed Kite dove into the dam like a Fish-Eagle and emerged triumphant with something in its claws. When I check my photographs later I saw it looked like a bullfrog, which was confirmed as a prey item by Roberts Birds of Southern Africa.

Another special sighting was a Whiskered Tern sitting on a jetty at my neighbour’s little dam. Migrant birds like the cuckoos and warblers are returning and the bishops and widows are nearly fully changed into their breeding colours for summer.

While out birding early in the morning I had close encounters with reedbuck

and bushbuck.

The bird list for the Elandshoek pentad 2935_3000 topped 100 this month: African Paradise-Flycatcher, Cape Robin-Chat, Village Weaver, Cape White-eye, Cape Sparrow, Pin-tailed Whydah, Dark-capped Bulbul, Speckled Mousebird, Common Waxbill, Dark-capped Yellow Warbler, Black Saw-wing, Red-eyed Dove, Cape Turtle Dove, Helmeted Guineafowl, Egyptian Goose, Little Grebe, African Dusky Flycatcher, Southern Boubou, African Hoopoe, Blacksmith Lapwing, Reed Cormorant, African Stonechat, Le Vaillant’s Cisticola, Little Rush-Warbler,African Reed-Warbler, Fork-tailed Drongo, African Sacred Ibis, Cape Wagtail, White-throated Swallow, South African Shelduck, Drakensberg Prinia, Hadeda Ibis, Cape Grassbird, Greater Striped-Swallow, Yellow-billed Duck, Spur-winged Goose, Grey Crowned Crane, Blue Crane, Bokmakierie, African Firefinch, Cape Crow, Cape Canary, Black-headed Oriole, Common Myna, Common Fiscal, African Pipit, Cape Longclaw, Red-necked Spurfowl,

Orange-breasted Waxbill, Common Quail, Brown-throated Martin, Southern Red Bishop, African Marsh-Harrier, White-breasted Cormorant, Red-knobbed Coot, African Darter, Cape Weaver, Common Moorhen, Banded Martin, African Rail, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Red-collared Widowbird,

Red-billed Quelea, Red-chested Flufftail, Buff-spotted Flufftail, Zitting Cisticola, Speckled Pigeon, Klaas’s Cuckoo, Diderick Cuckoo, Cape Glossy Starling, Grey Heron, Yellow-fronted Canary, Yellow  Bishop, Forest Canary, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, Sombre Greenbul, Long-crested Eagle, Black-headed Heron, Blue Crane, Yellow-throated Warbler, Terrestrial Brownbul, Red-chested Cuckoo, Jackal Buzzard, Long-tailed Widowbird,

Three-banded Plover,

Amethyst Sunbird, Olive Thrush, Pied Crow, Cattle Egret, Pied Kingfisher, Giant Kingfisher, House Sparrow, Southern Greyheaded Sparrow, Yellow-throated Petronia, Common Swift, African Black Swift,  African Harrier-Hawk, Barratt’s Warbler, Bar-throated Apalis, African Goshawk, Southern Black Tit, Cape Batis, Red-throated Wryneck.

Bruce and Bev Astrup of Highland Glen:

Lone Secretary bird in the grass off Dargle road near R617. Greater striped swallows, Jackal Buzzard, heard Spotted Eagle Owl hooting at night.  Reedbuck ram and does on the river bank just below the house.  Four blue cranes, across the Elands River on Netherby, pair of Grey Crowned Cranes in the newly disked field on Netherby.

David and Wizz Lawrence at The Willows: Boubou Shrike; Village Weavers building nests in tall Deodar Pine in driveway; several are either falling to the ground or being rejected and dismantled

David Clulow at Melrose dam for 15 minutes in strong breeze: African Shelducks; Yellow-billed Ducks; Spur-winged Geese; Egyptian Geese; Red-knobbed Coots; Reed Cormorant; Blacksmith Lapwing; Red-billed Teal;

Pete and Frances Nel at Four Gates: On 8 October, two Secretarybirds up on the hills; pair of Grey Crowned Cranes which raised a chick last season, still have it in their company and all three appear regularly.

Neil Baxter from Mosgate writes on 11 October: In a little while the Watsonias on Edgeware hill will be magnificent – like a sweeping veld fire – they can be seen from below, from the village of Boston and catch the eye with their blooms.

Derek Hurlstone-Jones of The Rockeries: African Harrier-Hawk (Gymnogene) flying around the garden, checking out the Weavers nests for future reference; African Hoopoe flying around the Boston Country Club, probably with a nest or plans for one.

General Comments from various sources: Poaching with dogs and some poachers  using guns to decimate the buck; brazen attitudes if accosted.

Christeen Grant on Sitamani:

The summer rains and weather pattern have arrived. Many misty,  wet days and afternoon thunder storms.  Several early morning encounters with Duiker and Reedbuck around the house. But this October, for the first time since we have been living at Sitamani, the shy Mountain Reedbuck didn’t pass through  as in previous years. A small group of about four usually spend a few days on our rocky hillside in October.

Having been away in the  mountains on several multi-day trips it’s been difficult getting out to photograph the flowers. The dry spring has had a marked effect on  the numbers and size of the flowers, but have observed amongst  others these stalwarts: Alepidea natalensis,

Kniphofia bracystachya,

Lobelia flaccida,

Lotononis corymbosa,

Pentanisia prunelloides

and one of my favourites Sisyranthus tricostomus.

Many moths, gobbled up by a flock of varied birds outside our kitchen door every morning. Small grasshopper hoppers newly hatched scatter in all directions as you walk through the grass. The loud screech of the male Bladder Grasshoppers can be heard most days. Red-collared Widowbirds, Common Waxbills, Dark-capped Bulbuls,  Black-headed Orioles, Fork-tailed Drongos, Hadeda Ibises,  Grey-headed Canaries, Cape Sparrows, Southern Black Tits,  Malachite and Amethyst Sunbirds, Lesser Striped Swallows arrived  back here on the 6 October and on the 31 October I finally heard the distinctive summer call, ‘Piet-my-vrou’, the Red-chested Cuckoo was back.

Dargle Kids in Kamberg

Dargle kids hiked to Game Pass Shelter in the Kamberg Nature Reserve recently.

Earlier this year, the Midlands Meander Association Education Project (MMAEP)  and Howick uMngeni  Museum organised a ‘Stories of Change’ history exhibition for Midlands Schools, culminating in an exhibition at the Museum in June.  Each school approached this in a different way, interviewing people, collecting old artefacts, comparing life in the past to now.

The winner (by public vote) was Corrie Lynn School in Dargle.   Their project included interviewing and doing portraits of older local people in their community about life in the past, as well as gathering historical artefacts.

They learnt fascinating things about life many years ago in Dargle.  For instance Mr Ngubane told Mzwanele Zuma that they travelled to Howick by horse to go to the clinic or shops or, for longer journeys to Pietermaritzburg,  by trains that used coal and caused air pollution. Smilo Sithole discovered that everyone had to bring their own lunch to school and that no one wore shoes.   Phindile Zuma talked to someone  who only went to school for six months because he had to work herding cattle and goats.  Everyone had big gardens in those days and grew lots of food and ground their own mielies.  Spesihle Mncubu interviewed a man born in 1920 who told him he used to earn 25c per day.

Nolwazi Ngcobo remembered Nelson Mandela being arrested in 1962 and using a slate to write at school.

Their prize was a trip to Game Pass Shelter cave in Kamberg last month, to learn about the really old history of the Midlands. After a winding drive along the R103 to Kamberg Nature Reserve, Sondelani the guide, explained the rules of visiting a natural heritage site. The group set off at a very brisk pace – Sondelani is a super fit boxer!

It was a chilly, overcast day and a lot of the park had burnt the day before so the visibility was poor.  The advantage was that it was easy to see reedbuck and baboons foraging for food in the un-burnt sections.

Spring wildflowers were beginning to unfold and Thabiso Mkhulise the Grade 7 photographer (who did a photography course with the MMAEP, sponsored by N3TC through the Midlands Conservancies Forum Environmental Learning and Leadership programme in July) was kept busy documenting the flowers.

The wind was strong higher on the mountain and at one point everybody crouched down to avoid being blown off the path!

On reaching the cave there were exclamations of surprise at the beautiful Bushman paintings and everyone had a taste of the crystal clear water which seeped through the moss.

The Game Pass Shelter is commonly referred to as the “Rosetta Stone” of southern African rock art, for it was here that archaeologists first uncovered a vital key to understanding the symbolism of San rock art. The uKhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage site contains 500 known sites of San  rock art, with over 40 000 images.  The San people lived in the Drakensberg area for  thousands of  years before being exterminated in clashes with the Zulus and  white settlers.

After an informative explanation, the children skipped happily down the mountainside pointing out plants, animals and birds.

The National Lottery and Dargle Conservancy provided the funding to support this adventurous day out. Teacher Thenjiwe Ngcobo said ‘I might never get a chance like this again to see a place like this. That was a wonderful experience!’