Early this summer, we received 3 orphaned kestrels from the same location. A gentleman found them one by one in the middle of his barn floor and could not find a nest to replace them in. Unfortunately one suffered a broken leg and internal injuries in the long fall and didn’t survive. The other two we took in and carefully raised them. It is very important when we have orphans that they are raised with as little human contact as possible. If they become imprinted or too acclimated to people, they cannot be released back into the wild. So as tempting as it is to talk to and make over the babies, they must be fed in silence and even without them being able to see a human face. We can't release a bird that thinks a human is its mother!
Unfortunately one of the babies developed an injury to her front middle toe which required amputation. The front middle toe and their back toe on each foot are used for killing their prey. So, unfortunately if they are missing either of these two toes, or even just the talon on either of these two toes, they are not releasable back onto the wild. We do our best to place these non releasable birds into a zoo or similar licensed facility.
