Alexia faces long flight home
They are confident that her instinct will lead her home to Russia eventually.
A visitor from Russia recuperating in the Lowveld after a serious accident and operation is ready to go back to her homeland.
The injured lesser spotted eagle was found with multiple fractures of the ulna near Middelburg and brought to White River in January 2018.
It is suspected that she was hit by a car or could have collided with power lines. “We operated and used pins and external fixation to stabilise the wing,” Dr Carien le Roux of the White River Animal Clinic explained. X-rays taken 11 days after the operation clearly show how that was done.
As soon as the eagle could be moved, it was transferred to the Dullstroom Bird Of Prey and Rehabilitation Centre where Frith Douglas, who previously ran the Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre near White River, took over the process.
During a recent visit to Dullstroom, White River Post was introduced to this magnificent bird, fondly named Alexia.
Douglas explained that members of this species spend their breeding season (from April to September) in eastern European countries and Russia, but during the northern hemisphere winters, migrate to the warmer climates of South Africa.
After she had originally molted out they started with physiotherapy and fitness training. Molting is the process by which she shed her old, worn feathers to be replaced with fresh plumage.
Everybody was ecstatic, because of the way her wing had healed, and hoped that she would be able to fly back once she had completely recuperated from her injuries.
Before that could happen, however, she started to molt again, making it necessary for her to overwinter a second season.
Douglas feels that Alexia is now as ready as can be for that long journey. “We plan to release her in March and her instinct should lead her back to Russia,” she said, adding that they would like to fit her with a decent tracker to monitor her.
Such a tracker costs in the vicinity of R15 500, hence they desperately need some sponsorship(s) to make that possible.
During her current fitness training, Douglas had already fitted her with an ordinary GPS tracker and had her test her freedom. To their joy she took to the sky and had to be retrieved from a farm about 40 kilometres from Dullstroom. “We are confident that her instinct will lead her home eventually.”
• According to sources, the lesser spotted eagle (Clanga pomarina) is a medium-sized eagle, about 60 centimetres in length and with a wingspan of 150 centimetres.
Its 20 000-kilometre annual journey is rather dangerous, as the bird has to fly twice a year through territories like Syria, Lebanon or Sudan, which threaten its life. In recent years, new obstacles like wind farms can pose serious threats to the birds.
They do not use active flying as a means of travelling, but use the thermals and glide, saving energy for their long journey. This way of flying can be used only above land, as above large bodies of water thermals do not form.
• The Dullstroom Bird of Prey Centre is managed by the Wildlifesos Trust (IT000101/2015(M/N)) and incorporates Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. It is a non-profit organisation (169-719 NPO) (930053148 PBO) and receives no subsidies from government. It relies solely on the generosity of the public and corporate communities to achieve its goals and to remain sustainable.
