By Bejay Browne.
A friendly young kestrel made its way to Nicosia to be nursed back to full health after a dog-walker found him lying on a pavement in Geroskipou in Paphos.
Ahead of his trip to the capital, the bird of prey, which is extremely affable, was being looked after by Andreas Evlavis, secretary of the Paphos Green party.
“He (or she) was unable to walk and it seems that he has a broken leg, he is small and seems young and not afraid at all, he is really lovely,” Evlavis told the Paphos Post.
According to BirdLife Cyprus, the bird, most probably a juvenile, is a common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and is widespread in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Common kestrels measure about 32–39 cm from head to tail, with a wingspan of 65–82 cm and are small compared with other birds of prey.
They hunt, searching for prey by hovering about 10–20 m in the air, they have good eyesight and eat mostly small mammals. Once prey is sighted, the bird makes a short, steep dive toward the target. The common kestrel adapts to human settlement, as long as sufficient swathes of vegetation are available.
BirdLife Cyprus is a registered NGO that works to conserve wild birds, their habitats and wider biodiversity in Cyprus, through research, monitoring, lobbying, conservation and awareness-raising actions.
The dog walker posted photos of the bird on Facebook appealing for help and members of the public then contacted Evlavis for help, who turned to Green Party MP, Chralambous Theopemptou, for advice.
Theopemptou said that the bird will be transported to one of the two specialist facilities on the island, where it will be nursed back to full health.
“The bird will go the forestry department facility and be looked after very well.”
The second such facility on the island is operated by the game fund.
Theopemptou noted that as people are setting out poison for rats, mice and foxes as well as those that leave poison meat to prevent hunters from going on their land, the numbers of such birds are dwindling and they are becoming a rarer sight.
“The birds eat this meat and die, it’s not only the dogs that suffer. We are losing many birds this way,” he said.
The rescued bird took a liking to Evlavis, who was feeding him raw chicken as advised, and choose to climb all over him, even sitting on his shoulder as he went about his work at the Green Party office in Paphos.
“Hopefully this lovely bird will be full restored and released in the near future to carry on living in the wild,” he said.
