Cracking surgery as hawk lays surprise egg

A London vet practice faced an unexpected delivery when a hawk laid an egg while recovering from surgery.

Harris hawk Poppy, an adult female hawk from a Surrey falconry centre, was referred to New Malden Vets for Pets’ exotics team after a small mass was discovered on her leg.

While tests revealed the mass to be benign, the team opted to surgically remove it under general anaesthetic, with the 20-minute procedure successfully carried out by vet Max Shigaev and vet nurse Elle Valenti.

Egg-cellent

During her recovery from the anaesthetic, Poppy surprised the team by laying an egg.

Dr Shigaev said: “Poppy’s procedure went very smoothly, and we were delighted with how well she recovered. Birds of prey can become stressed easily, so every stage of her care had to be carefully planned. We also needed to protect her feathers, particularly as she is a working bird.

“We certainly did not expect her to lay an egg while she was with us. It can occasionally happen while a bird is under anaesthetic, but it was still an unusual surprise for the whole team.

“As Poppy lives with a male and is part of a breeding programme, there is a possibility the egg could be fertile, so we will be interested to hear how things develop.”

Recovery

The bird remained at the practice for around five hours following her treatment while the team monitored her recovery, with her egg kept incubated, before being reunited with her egg and returned to the falconry centre later that day.

Poppy is said to have since returned to normal health while her egg remains under incubation at the centre.