**3. Results**

A total of 178 records pertaining to birds rescued in 2013 (*n* = 6), 2014 (*n* = 37), 2016 (*n* = 51) and 2017 (*n* = 84) were collected (Supplementary Data: Table S1). The majority of birds were rescued from urban areas (*n* = 135), followed by rural (*n* = 6) and rural−urban (*n* = 6) areas. Note that 31 birds were missing location information. The total number of records was comprised of 25 different types of bird. Of these, lorikeets were the most commonly rescued (*n* = 46), followed by magpies (*n* = 25) and cockatoos (*n* = 23). The most common age group of rescued birds was adult (*n* = 143), followed by juvenile (*n* = 20) and nestling (*n* = 15).

Results from this study show that impact injuries (*n* = 33, 25%) and vehicle-related injuries (*n* = 33, 25%) were the most common occurring preliminary stressors which caused hospitalisation of avian patients (Figure 1). Note that vehicle injuries may be documented as impact injuries if there were no witnesses or evidence that a car was involved upon the admission of a bird. The most common outcome of avian patients that suffered from vehicle injuries was euthanasia (*n* = 15, 45%) and only 18% (*n* = 6) were released back into their ecosystem. Likewise, the most common outcome for avian patients that had suffered from impact injuries was also euthanasia (*n* = 16, 48%). A previous study reported that impact injuries are not typically fatal events for birds [21]. However, our results indicate that only 27% (*n* = 9) of avian patients admitted due to impact injuries were able to be released back into their ecosystem. The remaining patients had no outcome information, died due to their injuries or were kept in care and no further information was provided.

**Figure 1.** Key preliminary stressors experienced by majority of the avian patients admitted to the Adelaide Koala and Wildlife Hospital in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 (*n* = 138). Preliminary stressors were pooled into two categories (health or environmental). Health-related preliminary stressors comprised of factors such as impact injury, vehicle trauma, fallen onto ground from substrate, lice presence, severely wet (unable to fly) and genetic issue (not known). Environmental-related preliminary stressors included factors such as animal attack, abnormal behaviour, bullied, rubbish attached, abandoned, ant attack and heat stress. Refer to Supplementary Table S1 to access raw data related to all bird patients, as not all birds have been shown in the above graph where the preliminary stressor count was only one per bird species.

As mentioned in the above caption for Figure 1, abnormal behaviour referred to behaviours that are abnormal for that bird species and age group that were not characterised as immobility. Animal attack (*n* = 4) also included cat (*n* = 15) and dog attacks (*n* = 5). Impact injury included any trauma from events such as flying into a window or building which was not related to vehicle collisions and which did not fit any of the other categories. Abandoned refers to a young bird which was separated from its mother and found alone. Likewise, fallen from nest refers to a young bird who fell but did not land in a pool of water. In contrast, fell in pool could refer to a bird of any age that fell in a pool of water. Bullied refers to birds which had experienced bullying behaviour from other more dominant birds to

the point where they required clinical care. Wet included birds which had experienced di fficulty flying or locomoting due to wet weather conditions.

Ecological groupings of bird species within preliminary stressors (Figure 1) were as follows: Cockatoo (*n* = 21) also included yellow-tailed black cockatoo (*n* = 1), sulphur-crested cockatoo (*n* = 2) and galah (*n* = 9). Magpie (*n* = 19) included one Murray magpie (*n* = 1). Honey eater (*n* = 1) also included noisy miner (*n* = 2), native miner (*n* = 1) and wattle bird (*n* = 1). Dove (*n* = 6) also included one spotted dove (*n* = 1). Lorikeet (*n* = 31) also included one musk lorikeet (*n* = 1). Owl (*n* = 1) also included boobook owls (*n* = 3). There were some birds presented to the hospital whose preliminary stressor was unable to be identified (*n* = 40) and thus were omitted from this figure.

Primary stress refers to the e ffect caused by preliminary stress including any physical or behavioural abnormalities. Immobility (*n* = 105, 61%) and abnormal behaviour (*n* = 24, 14%) were the most common occurring primary stressors (Figure 2). The most common outcome of avian patients that su ffered from both immobility and abnormal behaviour was euthanasia at 50% (*n* = 52) and 38% (*n* = 9), respectively.

**Figure 2.** Key primary stressors experienced by the majority of avian patients admitted to the Adelaide Koala and Wildlife Hospital in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 (*n* = 173). Note that birds presented to the hospital whose primary stressor was unable to be identified (*n* = 5) or those species with a cumulative count of only one primary stressor were omitted from this figure. Primary stressors were pooled into two categories. Immobile/abnormality-related primary stressors comprised of factors such as physical abnormality, abnormal behaviour and immobile. Injury/physical damage-related primary stressors included factors such as dislocation, oil, damaged feet, diarrhoea, superficial injury, feather damage and bleeding. Refer to Supplementary Table S1 to access raw data related to all bird patients.

Within the primary stressor category (Figure 2), cockatoo (*n* = 3) also included yellow-tailed black cockatoo (*n* = 1), sulphur-crested cockatoo (*n* = 2), galah (*n* = 15) and corella (*n* = 2). Magpie (*n* = 24) also included one Murray magpie (*n* = 1). Honey eater (*n* = 2) also included noisy miner (*n* = 2), native miner (*n* = 1) and wattle bird (*n* = 1). Dove (*n* = 6) also included one spotted dove (*n* = 1). Lorikeet (*n* = 42) also included one musk lorikeet (*n* = 1). Owl (*n* = 2) also included boobook owl (*n* = 4).

Secondary stress refers to the diagnosis underlying that of which resulted in or caused the preliminary stressor. Trauma (*n* = 51, 32%) and fractures (*n* = 44, 27%) were the most common occurring secondary stressors (Figure 3). The most common outcome of avian patients that suffered from trauma was euthanasia for both trauma (*n* = 18, 35%) and fractures (*n* = 25, 57%).

**Figure 3.** Key secondary stressors experienced by avian patients admitted to the Adelaide Koala and Wildlife Hospital in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 (*n* = 161). Note that birds presented to the hospital whose secondary stressor was unable to be identified (*n* = 17) or those species with a cumulative count of only one secondary stressor were omitted from this figure. Secondary stressors were pooled into two categories. Injury/infection/disease-related secondary stressors comprised of factors such as fractures, dislocation, feather damage, broken bone etc. Trauma/shock/ecological/environmental-related primary stressors included factors such as severe dehydration, shock, shot, tissue damage from heat stress etc. Refer to Supplementary Table S1 to access raw data related to all bird patients.

Within the secondary stressor data shown in Figure 3, the ecological groupings were as follows: Cockatoo (*n* = 2) also included yellow-tailed black cockatoo (*n* = 1), sulphur-crested cockatoo (*n* = 2), galah (*n* = 10) and corella (*n* = 1). Magpie (*n* = 23) also included one Murray magpie (*n* = 1). Honey eater (*n* = 2) also included noisy miner (*n* = 2), native miner (*n* = 1) and wattle bird (*n* = 1). Dove (*n* = 6) also included one spotted dove (*n* = 1). Lorikeet (*n* = 42) also included one musk lorikeet (*n* = 1). Owl (*n* = 2) also included boobook owl (*n* = 3).
