Storm Damage

[E Orix]

Last evening at 7.30 I was typing a post saying how bad the wind and rain was here on the Border,we had just experienced
around 100mm rain in about 7 min. Then the power went out and the post was lost,eventually the power was restored and it kept on raining.
This morning I woke up to see my backyard totally under water and I guess around 175mm rain had fallen.
I headed for the aviaries which looked pretty beat up plant wise but ok I thought.
When I went into the big aviary I discovered two metal panels blown out of the side wall leaving a gap 1500mmx2400mm right near the feed tray.
Walking through the gap I was greated with numerous small finches hopping about.The hole was rapidly repaired but sadly as they say the horse had bolted.
The ironic thing is there was a small tear in the wire on the top and several Sparrows had actually come in.Poor swap.
There were approx 350 finches in the aviary as it is around 30m longx18m wide at a rough guess the number is down to possibly under 100.
There are a few hopping around on the roof,either young ones looking for their parents or adults not wanting to leave mates.
While most can be replaced easily by other breeding stock from other aviaries the sad part is that several very rare species are now gone.
My breeding pair of Red Crested Finches,their two young from the previous nest and 3 chicks that fledged yesterday(drowned)a pair of Chaffinches that were on 3 fertile eggs,a trio of Pintailed Whydahs and possibly 30 St Helenas,I am hopefull that my Weavers are still there at least some are any way
There were numerous drowned in the down pour my Button Quail,Skylarks and number of smaller finches,I don't know how but the two small Blue Faced P/Finches that I wrote about survived.
In general not good,there are a few birds hanging around but my backyard is still 75mm under water so I can't put a trap out.
I can't see a prolific breeding season now.

[jusdeb]

My heart goes out for you . What a horrible thing to happen to you and those poor little birds .

Guess that's all I can say except keep your chin up and hopefully some of the rarer birds will return when hungry and be able to be caught up.

[matcho]

E Orix,,
What can one say? Hopefully some of the escapees will hang around and can be recovered. I'm lost for words (which doesn't happen often!) Chin up and good luck.

[spanna]

Geez mate, terrible thing to hear. Hope the weather clears up quickly and the birds return looking hungrily at the traps you have set. Heart goes out to you.

[Lukec]

oOOh jeez thats not good.

Is there anywhere you can place a trap?

[Diane]

So sorry, must have been terrible to see that open panel. Very stomach dropping.
I really hope all your Weavers are there and you are able to get some traps set up soon and catch some of the loose birds.

[Weaver]

Bad news mate!

Let me now what i can help with.

Bob

[SamDavis]

What a nightmare! So sorry to hear of your loss.
Hopefully you'll have some success trapping some of them.
If there's anything I can do to help please ask.
Sam

[COUNTRY CAPITAL]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune E-orix, wow thats some storm by the sound of it.
hope you can repair and recover from it soon.
the loss of your birds, particularly the rare ones will be hard to come back from so good luck for the future with them.
hope you can recover some of the strays somehow....near dusk i have caught escapees by leaving a doubledoor open and the birds actually look for a way back in, like you say to find mates etc.
hopefully those that survived can reestablish your numbers.

[Diane]

These are times where the "Tyranny of Distance" really makes its mark. If I lived closer I would be on my way around to your place to help out where I could.