Liz Robinson

I have always had animals (cats and dogs) as far back as I can remember, I am an animal lover. I retired in 2007 and moved from Canberra to Maclean (Gulmarrad), where I just love having our acre backing onto bush land, where the kangaroos and wallabies feed and laze around, the lorikeets, magpies, butcher birds, kookaburras and wattle birds abound in the trees.

I have always wanted to help look after the animals that were orphaned or injured, and now with the time to do it, went along and did my first WIRES course in 2007. I was licensed!!!!! Unlike 007, I have a Triple R licence – Rescue, Rehabilitate and Release. When my first few calls came through I excitedly drove off with my little basket and picked up birds, some of which had broken legs, broken wings etc.

I was able to look after some young birds – Fig Birds. I spent time cutting up fruit and feeding these little birds, they then went into the aviary, where they were fed for a few more weeks.

After discussion with members of the Bird Team, it was decided they were ready for release, and I opened the hatch and let them out at their leisure. For the whole day these birds followed me around the garden while I was working or hanging out clothing. I left food on top of the aviary so they would not go hungry. For two days and a night they were hanging around.

The second night it rained, and in the morning when I went out, there were my little Fig Birds sitting in the tree, all wet and miserable looking. So I plucked them from the tree and put them back in the aviary, saying they needed a bit more care.

A week later I had to go to Brisbane for a few days, and during my absence, it was agreed that Dianne Golding would feed them, and release them. She took them to Gardner’s Road and let them go where there were plenty of Lilly Pilly trees and they could not hear my voice.

And now there is SLICKO - 7 - Clarence Valley Critter August 2008 I was asked to rescue an owl that was covered in oil at Townsend. I drove down to the address, and the gentleman had him in a box. One thing I recognized right away was that he was a Tawny Frogmouth, but only his head was not covered in black grease.

I took him home and on the advice given by a WIRES member, tried to clean him up. Well that was an experience itself. I realized I had to be careful of his beak! I filled a bucket with warm water and dishwashing detergent. Then grabbed my bottle of vegetable oil and towels. My son helped me by changing the water for me.

First I put vegetable oil over the bird, and then rinsed it in the bucket of soapy water. This I did about three times that morning. WoW, the result was – I had grease all over my shirt, my arms, on towels and over my laundry wall. To clean this bird I needed six arms - hold the bird in the bucket; hold his beak; hold his wings and the other to wash the bird and change water, I was a couple of arms short..

A few calls to Bird Team members, and it was decided to make him a cape so that he could not groom himself. We cut a rectangle of material with a hole for his head and put it on him. What a sight, this poor bird sitting with his cape covering him. By this time the Tawny Frogmouth was nicknamed “Slicko”. At night I covered his cage with a blanket so that he would keep warm. Having to go away for a few days, several other members looked after Slicko.

On my return, it was decided to bath Slicko again, and again we got more black grease out of his feathers. He then went to Joan Woodmore for a week while I was in Canberra. Joan fed him well, and gave him a bath also. His feathers were not quite clean but you could see the patterns in them, although he still had that “greasy” look about him. Returning from Canberra I collected Slicko and put him in my aviary, but not before he got another bath, and a bit of blow drying with the hair dryer.

He was eating well, getting mice, ox heart, beef and chicken necks. He was as clean as I could get him, but there was still a bit of clogging of the feathers underneath. He had been in care for over three weeks now, and finally he was given a test to see if he could fly. I took him to Sandra Byrne’s flight enclosure and YES, he was OK and could fly.

I did get a smack on the wrist for not having weighed Slicko, and I was sure he was too thin, but when Sandra weighed him that morning, he was 479 Gms, and I was assured this was a good weight for a Tawny Frogmouth. I took him back home and gave him as much food as he would eat, before taking him to Townsend, put him in a tree and left him.

Slicko is a very lucky Tawny Frogmouth to still be alive. Well the story does not end there – two days later and some more rain, I checked the tree where I had left Slicko, and he was still sitting on the same branch same tree. So, I took him home again. Back in the aviary I weighed him and he had lost weight in the two days. I now started Googling the web on more information on how to clean oily birds.

There is a Centre in the US that is set up for sea birds, with magnificent facilities and they have an agreement with “Dawn”. I emailed the facility – No reply. I telephoned the “Dawn” company in Australia and was advised that Dawn has not been in production for the past 4 years. I emailed Taronga Zoo – no reply. I was given some Dawn Dishwashing liquid, and after some more web searching for information gave Slicko a few more baths.

I even bought a small heater so I could get him dry as the weather was now cooler. Finally after 7 weeks in care, I released Slicko, and the next morning he was not sitting on the branch where I had left him the previous evening.

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