Meet ‘Indy’ – Queen of the sky

Few things represent freedom and grace quite like a bird of prey, so helping one fly free again is like saving a little piece of wild majesty.

For a whole year local falconer and member of the Natal Falconry club, Mark Hulin looked after an injured juvenile Jackal Buzzard, which he affectionately dubbed ‘Indy,’ until she was ready to take to the skies once again.

Indy was picked up on the side of the road last year with a shattered beak – most of the top half was completely broken away – and damage to her wing and feathers where most of the shafts were snapped, most likely after being struck by a car.

Another experienced falconer, Tim McPherson of the Free State Falconry Club carefully built up and shaped a new beak for Indy using epoxy resin.

“The broken primary feathers were also repaired with feathers collected from either dead birds or old feathers moulted from other birds,” Hulin explained.

Also read: Birds of a feather

The feathers are repaired through a process called ‘imping’ – an ancient falconry technique dating all the way back to the Egyptians, when the pharaohs themselves were renowned for being falconers.

Basically, the process involves joining the broken feather to its replacement by inserting into the shaft of both feathers a thin piece of bamboo, metal wire, or other material (most modern falconers use graphite), known as an imping needle, fixed with a bit of adhesive.

Imping isn’t painful for birds – like human hair or fingernails, feathers are dead structures made of the protein keratin Imping may be a straightforward fix, but it isn’t easy to get right.

Each feather plays a part in helping birds glide, dive, catch prey, or avoid predators, so a proper job requires carefully trimming, measuring, and alignment of the replacement feather so it matches the original in both length and orientation as closely as possible.

Over the course of the next year, Indy moulted out a new set of feathers and regained her strength under Hulin’s attentive care.

She also spent this time leaving an indelible mark on his children, who were more than a little heartbroken when the time came to release her, even as they were happy to see her fly free. Once it was felt the the bird was ready for release, a number of aspects were checked: she was given the once over to check that everything was working, her fitness was checked to make sure that she could not only fly and hunt for herself, but was strong enough to defend herself against other territorial birds of prey should she venture into their area.

A suitable release site was chosen out beyond Sheffield and the weather was checked for the best possible outcome.

Finally, Indy was ringed with a unique ID ring (SAFRING) by a Ben Hoff man of the Raptor Rescue Centre to assist with further information should Indy fi nd herself back in human care for whatever reason.

“I got involved with falconry about three years ago and it has completely changed the way I live. It has become one of the most fulfilling things in my life,” said Hulin.

He said it had affected his whole family and they had all learnt and grown through their experiences with birds of prey.

“All three of my kids help out in taking care of the birds, ‘hunting them’, feeding them, cleaning their mews (large aviary) and more. They have learnt a lot about the circle of life – and just the value of life – from dealing with these amazing predators.”

Hulin said the joy of watching a bird in fl ight was what drew him to this field in the first place.

The next time you take a drive along the dirt road to Flag Animal Farm, keep a whether eye open when you reach the small damn for the queen of the sky flying free thanks to the efforts of all those involved in rehabilitating her.

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