Amor came to our Corvid Isle Sanctuary in May 2017 as a 4 day old hatchling. Strange enough, he has been brought into the house of the cat guardian by her unsupervised roaming cat. The owner brought the injured, lifeless and hypothermic bird straight away to us, and we put him immediately into the incubator. We have found it quite curious that a cat would have raided successfully a crows nest. However, this was the only information available to us.

Our first assessment found a severe and deep soft tissue injury to Amor’s left wing, which showed a lot of swelling and bruising. Luckily we could not find an associated fracture. The first 2 weeks in Amor’s life were very problematic to say the least, as he developed a wound infection and gastrointestinal symptoms despite intensive treatment. Eventually, with Amor’s will to live and our perseverance the breakthrough came and Amor started to thrive in a more normal way and developed into a beautiful and lovable crow.

Unfortunately, over time we eventually discovered that Amor turned out to be unreleasable. The soft tissue injury and wound infection Amor had sustained turned out be to affect his feather development. Although feathers themselves do not connect directly to bone, their arrangement is dependent on the skeletal structure beneath the skin. So while feathers do not actually attach to bone, bone position does guide feather patterning and placement through the follicles. And it seemed that this feather patterning and placement had been disturbed, which resulted in Amor finding it difficult to produce healthy feathers, which often broke and bled.

A subsequent surgical procedure stopped this to a degree, but not completely. Amor managed subsequently to grow his feathers in a more coordinated or organised way, but his feather quality remained slightly compromised.

Nevertheless, Amor settled very well into our small communal crow aviary and got on incredibly well with his corvid comrades. He became independent but remained still close to us, even when he bonded with another wild disabled crow we named Rhea. When both birds became sexually mature, we had to move them into their own aviary, as Rhea and Amor became quite boisterous towards the elderly birds, who lived together with them.

After both birds built their first nest, and laid their first eggs, we found our suspicion confirmed. Once again we got the naming of our birds wrong. Amor turned out to be female, whilst Rhea was now clearly the male in the aviary. Either way, it has been always very touching to see Rhea and Amor caring for each other, and not just only during the nesting season. Outside breeding season, when their hormones had settled, both of them have regularly taken young crows under their wings and helped them to to get ready for release.

On the 9th May 2026, 9 years later, and completely unexpected, without the slightest noticeable health problem or warning, Amor passed away in her aviary in the company of her beloved partner Rhea. We all will miss her amazing and gentle soul, and her unique way she communicated and interacted with her own kind and us. Amor, we are very saddened, but we are also very grateful. It was a privilege that our paths have crossed and that we were able to become part of your life. You have been very dear to our hearts and you will be sincerely missed. Rest in peace Amor.