• Wildlife Rescue Cork (WRC) is a registered charity (RCN: 20205803). WRC was set up “to rescue, rehabilitate injured or orphaned wildlife in Cork and surrounding counties”, and with the sole purpose of releasing them back into the wild once successfully recovered. All our actions are geared towards these goals. We are 100% run by volunteers •
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• Water birds •
• General Information •
• There are a lot of different species of water birds; swans, ducks, herons, moorhens, coots, gulls, cormorants, oystercatcher, gannet, Manx shearwater, dippers are just a few of the birds that have been treated at WRC •
• The first signs of injury are that birds will sit out of the water feeling sorry for themselves and can be approached if really unwell •
• Water birds can be tricky to rescue as their main mode of defence is getting back on the water and away from danger. This causes problems when trying to catch them •
• Orphaned ducklings •
• Below is an example of mallard ducklings on the left and Shelducks on the right •
• Ducklings can be orphaned for many reasons. Often the mother is scared off by a predator, other males trying to mate her (even though she has ducklings) •
• Unfortunately, many ducks will lay their eggs somewhere far from water and often in an enclosed space, while the mother can fly the new ducklings cannot and she will not be able to get them out to a safe place •
• Please call us if you have found orphaned ducklings or if you have a mother and ducklings trapped in your garden •
• Common injuries seen at WRC •
• Predator attack; birds can fall victim to dogs, cats, foxes and other species of birds. Attached is a mallard duck who was attacked by a group of male ducks who were trying to mate her •
• Wing/leg breaks, this normally occurs from crash landing, hitting objects, or predation. Birds have hollow bones which enables them to be light enough for flight. The other benefit of this is very fast healing and depending on where the break is in the bone, it can often be fixed •
• Discarded fishing line is a huge problem with water birds, regularly they swallow fishing hooks and lines or have them stuck on their feet or feathers. We have rescued herons that have been stuck to trees where the fishing line has tangled their legs and become trapped in the branches •
• Feathers missing or damaged. Intact feathers are essential for flight and waterproofing, birds have a preen gland that produces secretions, the bird rubs its beak over the gland and spreads it around its feathers to make them waterproof •
