Help for the swallows

An important part of our zoo’s extensive nature conservation activities is wildlife rescue, including bird rescue. In our wildlife rescue centre, we give a second chance to individuals of protected or highly protected animal species who, for some reason, have gotten into trouble in nature and need human help to survive. Among them there are injured, broken-winged, weakened and orphaned animals as well. The number of our proteges exceeds two thousand each year. For example, last year we took care of 2368 rescued animals, who belong to 130 different species under nature conservation. The majority of the rescued animals are birds, but there are also numerous small mammals among them.

Various swallows are frequent visitors to our wildlife rescue centre. Last year, for example, we took care of 134 rescued swallows (49 house martins, 44 red-rumped swallows, 40 barn swallows, 1 sand-martin), and in the previous years, the number of swallows rescued each year was 150, 130, and 148 respectively. This year in September, however, something unusual happened: within a few days, 71 swallows, which is roughly half of the annual number, were admitted to our wildlife rescue centre.

Those who have been following the news in the past few days will surely not be surprised by the matter. Indeed, numerous media outlets have reported that the unusually cold and wet weather in the second week of September is causing difficulties for the swallows nesting here as they begin their migration to wintering grounds, as well as for swallows passing through Hungary from the north en route to their southern destinations.
The cold and rainy weather poses a great challenge for the swallows. On one hand, because their bodies need to use more energy for “heating”, to maintain body temperature, and on the other hand, because they cannot replenish the used energy with food, as the flying insects that make up their main food source are much less active during such weather.

The tragic weather situation unfortunately cost the lives of many swallows, and this is sad news for every decent person. From an ecological point of view, the situation is dramatic, as swallows play an important role in the natural ecosystem. Not to mention that a swallow can eat up to a thousand mosquitoes a day, meaning, if there are fewer swallows, there are fewer predators for mosquitoes, which can affect people’s well-being, and even their health.

Good news, however, and it was good to see that almost the entire country mobilized for the sake of the swallows, and everyone did what they could to save what could be saved. Even just tolerating the birds retreating to a sheltered place from the cold helped a lot. We also shared some advice on our Facebook page on how one can help if they find a weakened swallow. Meanwhile, within a few days, we received 64 house martins and 7 barn swallows at the wildlife rescue centre.

As we mentioned, we save 130-150 swallows each year, so our staff has significant experience in rescuing swallows. They immediately began to strengthen the birds weakened by hunger and cold, to boost their condition, nutrition, and strength to be sufficient again for the long journey.
Two things were needed for their release. One is for the weather to turn more favourable, which has since happened. The other thing is that their condition should also be suitable for continuing the journey. The first release took place last Thursday, and since then there has been another release. We released the swallows from the Great Rock of the Zoo so they could continue their journey on the heavenly highway towards Africa.