Last week, an urgent call came in to Fight 4 Flight, a wild bird rescue group in Townsville, Australia. A local man named Lachlan had spotted a branch that had fallen from a tree on a property. At first, it looked like an ordinary fallen branch.
But a
closer look revealed life stirring inside.
In the hollow branch, Lachlan found three young kestrels. The chicks and their parents had been using the cavity as a nest, and the parents were still in the area. But now that the branch was on the ground, the chicks had lost the elevated protection of their nest.
“Once we established they were uninjured from the fall, I explained [to Lachlan] that if we could get the log back up in the tree somehow, the family could continue together,” Deborah Carter, founder of Fight 4 Flight, told The Dodo.
Getting the hollow branch back into the tree would have been difficult in most situations. Thankfully, Lachlan had access to a mechanical lift.
“I let him know to stuff towels at each end of the log so the bubs didn’t fall or try to get out during the lift, as that’s a potential way for them to get hurt,” Carter said.
With the chicks still inside, Lachlan lifted the branch back into the tree.
Since finishing the job of restoring the nest to higher ground, Lachlan has reported back that the kestrels’ parents have continued on raising their youngsters as normal.
That effort given to maintain the feathered family had paid off, according to reports from the kind local who set things right.
“Lachlan has texted a few times to let me know that the birds are doing well,” Carter said.
