162 | A STITCHING RESCUE

162

STRONG WINDS BROKE NESTS

A stitching rescue

Photos and text by Stefan Rust

2013

(In terms of the Geneva Convention the copyright of these texts belongs to Stefan Rust)

Birds were at the mercy of the element a few weeks ago, with strong winds battering Windhoek and Schlip area.

One old White-browed Sparrow-Weaver nest that was taken over by Red-headed Finches for nesting in Windhoek and an active Southern Masked-Weaver nest on Farm Gauchas near Schlip were torn apart and broken down by strong winds with the Finch nest having three chicks in it and the Weaver nest two eggs. Both broken off parts, found on the ground, contained each the three chicks and the two eggs.

In both incidences the parts lying on the ground were taken and fixed back onto the remaining nest parts that were still attached to the branches by carefully stitching them together using thin flexible wire.

   

Male S. Masked-Weaver             Weaver nest repaired on Farm Gauchas

BirdsConTour was delighted when hearing that the stitch work withstood the nesting activities resulting in all three Red-headed Finch chicks having successfully fledged fourteen days later. Even the female Southern Masked-Weaver continued with her nesting duties.

It is one of BirdsConTours’ goals to save the life of birds.