Great Lengths - The Green Heron

As I ride my bike back to my house, I have one hand on the handle bars and one delicately cradling a Green Heron (Butorides virescens) that is thankfully behaving.

The bird is beautiful with deep green plumage on its head and back, rusty-colored feathers around the neck, a long pointed beak and a deceivingly long neck. From a riverside perch, Green Herons can extend their neck great lengths to the water and snap up an unsuspecting fish.

Green Heron © Manfred Dangel

The Heron was found in shin-high grass in the Harns Marsh in Lehigh Acres, Florida. As I peddled by, I expected it to fly and when it didn’t I considered it was injured. I parked the bike and stepped towards it. The bird rolled on to its back and offered its feet in a meek attempt to defend itself. I placed my hat over its head and examined what I believed was an injured wing. The bird could not fly. I carefully placed him under my arm and headed for home, chanting softly “please don’t bite me”.

Green Heron © Maria Elena Corradino

What I have done so far and what I will do is nothing exceptional. Rescuing injured wildlife is something that everyone with the capacity to do, should. What the rehabilitators do is something extraordinary and should be supported. Chances are you have a wildlife rehabilitation center nearby (and this is your chance to give them a shout out). For me, the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (C.R.O.W) in Sanibel, FL is the closest. They have a wide reaching network of volunteers who are willing to pick up the animals on location or at designated facilities.

Back at home I placed the heron in an animal carrier. I drop the bird off at the local vet’s office who secures it in a safe area. Later, a volunteer will pick the bird up along with an injured turtle that is awaiting transport. Once at the clinic, they will assess the injury and with good fortune and good medicine, have the animal back in the wild as soon as possible.

Green Heron © Pete Corradino

Consider the great lengths these rehabilitation centers go to for these wild animals and consider supporting their cause. Help injured wildlife. Volunteer to be a transporter. Donate to their organization. These clinics and the wildlife need all the help they can get. 

Isn't it Ironic? Don't You Think?

Coincidence - the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection.

Example - I write a post about Vultures and later in the day rescue an injured Turkey Vulture on the side of a busy highway.

Disgusting - a marked aversion aroused by something highly distasteful

Example - A black fly in your Chardonnay

Ironic - incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result

Example - A vulture that eats dead things in the road becomes roadkill after being hit in the road retrieving roadkill

State Road 82 is a terror of a two lane highway and collects its share of roadkill, animal and human and although I don't normally take this road home, I did today and hopefully a Turkey Vulture will be the better for it. As dump trucks and horse trailers zoomed by, I grabbed a tablecloth from the back of my car and dodge my way to the other side of the road where the injured bird flapped about helplessly.

I asked it calmly not to vomit on me as they often do to anything that stresses them. It peered up at me to wounded to regurgitate. I covered it and placed it in my car and made a quick call to C.R.O.W. - the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife and asked what to do. They directed me to an Animal Hospital in Lehigh Acres where the bird would then be shuttled to the rehab hospital along with an injured Opossum. It livened me up to see that someone else had rescued a typically unloved animal as well.

It was an utterly efficient process and I can only hope they can patch the bald-headed beauty up so he can get back out there to clean up the roadkill. I don't wish to pat myself on the back. I only wish others might have considered rescuing this bird instead of leaving it on the side of the road to become roadkill itself. Please consider donating to CROW or your local animal rehaber.

Glad I took that route home. Isn't it coincidental? Don't you think?

Puke Breath

"Let me warn you about Vultures" the woman on the phone at the animal rehab center said. "It's ok - I know where you're going with this. They're pukers."

While on tour on Friday we spotted a juvenile vulture sitting on the ground under a palm tree. Unusual. It hopped about and clearly could not fly. So after a quick call to C.R.O.W (Center for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife) out on Sanibel I confirmed that the Vulture had most likely fallen from the nest and was in need of rescue.

Vultures eat carrion. Dead stuff. On occasion the Black Vulture will help a sick or injured animal into the next world but fresh road kill is always the chef's choice for our roadside clean up crew.

Vultures don't seem to have much in the way of a defense system considering their weak talons but it might be a toss up if I had to rescue an injured owl vs a vulture. Vultures puke. They vomit when stressed. They barf if you get too close. So the idea of rescuing an injured vulture requires considering this consequence.

I prepped myself by climbing into a stinky dumpster to get a cardboard box big enough to transport the bird to CROW, grabbed a towel from the Lake Trafford Marina and headed down the road to wrangle the bird.

I know it's a juvenile because it still has feathers on the head. Adults go bald which is a great benefit when you spend your days with it stuck in a dead animal carcass.

Upon approaching the bird - it hopped about and tried to get lift off. I followed it around the Marina sign. I followed it around a Sabal Palm. There was no way I was going to catch this bird. It was healthy. It just had no idea it could fly. So I made one mad dash towards the potential puker and it leaped skyward, landing 6 feet up on a chain link fence. I approached again and the bird hopped down and headed towards the canal - I followed and when the bird ran out of space and was cornered by me, my box and my barf-shield, it leaped again, soaring a few feet down into the canal. Just before splashing into the gator-filled water, it flapped with several heavy wing beats, soared skyward and landed on a branch where it looked back at me as if to say "I had no idea I could do that". The vulture could finally fly. Good luck my new vulture friend and may the cars and roads bring you good fortune.

How to Kill a Pelican

Judging by the precautions the wealthy community of Anna Maria, Fl takes to protect their wildlife it wouldn't surprise me to see a poster on how to kill a pelican. I mean why not. They're just birds. They poop on the pier. They steal fish from people fishing. Who cares if a pelican dies?

Kenny and I were geocaching from Venice to Bradenton along the Gulf of Mexico today and found ourselves out on the pier at Anna Maria. The 600 foot long pier has a bar and a restaurant out on the end and there were well over 200 people on it this Saturday night including many people fishing. As we were walking off the pier an unmanned fishing pole snagged a pelican. Kenny grabbed the fishing pole - alerted the owner and demanded the guy understand the seriousness of the situation. "Oh that happens all the time" the guy explained. Now seriously annoyed - Kenny and I tried to make him understand that the hook had torn the Pelican's bill, the monofiliment was now tangled around the bird's wings and the treble hook had cut deeply in the bird's side.

We were able to get the bird onto the pier. As I distracted the Pelican, Kenny covered the bird's head with a reusable Publix shopping bag and grabbed the bill. Pelican's can turn their head in every direction and if they hook you they can shred you. We untangled the fishing line but the hook remained lodged in it's side.

The fisherman who hooked him helped us restrain the bird and after 30 minutes the bird was stressed to the point where it seemed to pass out. We were able to cut the hook loose and eventually the bird roused itself (and posed for the picture).

Another woman called 911 and asked for their assistance only to be passed along to Fish & Wildlife in St. Lucie County. I asked a local bartender who also said it happens all the time. Cut the hook and let the bleeding, injured bird go. A poster on Brown Pelican Safety explained how not to be injured by a hooked bird and to call a number (which is no longer in service). I called 411 while restraining the bird with the other hand. They gave me the number for Fish & Wildlife in Polk County. Where is Polk County?!?

Eventually we called Save Our Shorebirds - a bird rescue operation 30 minutes south of the Anna Maria Pier. Coincidentally when we passed it earlier in the day I explained to Kenny that my dad used to help rescue Pelicans back in the 70's and 80's and some of the Pelicans came here. Who knew we'd rescue one later?

We placed "Billy Bob" in a large pelican-sized Rubbermaid file folder and I drove while Kenny kept the know angry Pelican from escaping in the back seat of the car. We brought him to S.O.S. and dropped him off in an overnight hotel cage (the pelican not Kenny). Volunteers from S.O.S. will look after the poor pelican as soon as they can and I'll update his progress.

It was a frustrating experience and the lack of help from people passing by was disheartening. Had we not been there the Pelican would have died. And even after we had assisted the bird, the lack of information on how to rescue the bird is unconscionable. The really stupid thing is I ran to the car to get the container and when I returned another guy (who had helped us capture the Pelican) had snagged a Laughing Gull by the legs. By the time we had brought that bird in and restrained it, his feet were so bound up that it was not long from losing circulation in the feet and possibly losing those feet.

I'm sure things like this happen all of the time and sadly fishermen probably just cut the line and the animals die. Thankfully there are organizations like S.O.S. (941-388-3010) in Sarasota County that help rescue and rehab injured wildlife.

In Lee County C.R.O.W. (239-472-3644) does similar work for many types of wildlife.

For those that would injure an animal or pass one with little care? I would send them to the Anna Maria City Jail. But that probably wouldn't make much difference.

Turtle Speed Bumps

When given the opportunity, most of us would avoid running over an animal with our vehicle but this is not a universal sentiment.

A few days ago I stopped to rescue a Softshell Turtle that had been hit. I could see it in the road from about 1/2 a mile away and yet car after car passed it by without care. It was clearly struggling and when I stopped, to the annoyance of a vehicle that was forced to change lanes and go around me (SORRY - grrr), I could see that the turtle's back half was crushed. It could not survive but I could see the flies, ants and mosquitoes already starting to congregate and still the turtle desperately attempted to drag itself across the road.

I gently placed the turtle in a reusable shopping bag and tucked it into the back of my new car (and selfishly hoped it would not move around and make a mess). I was on my way to Sanibel Island and knowing there is an animal rehab center out there, I called them and let them know I was coming in.

I was pessimistic when I handed the poor turtle over to them. They gave me a phone number and told me I could call and check back but I didn't. There's no way it could have survived. But they said if they could not help her they would put her down to prevent further suffering.

In the clinic I noticed an Endangered Gopher Tortoise shuffling around, its carapace (upper shell) caved in from a serious accident.

The turtle had been brought in and miraculously rehabed to the point where it will be able to be returned to the wild soon. So it was heartening to see a success story in person.

Humans can be compassionate for each other and for the natural world but there are so many that are cruel and ambivalent towards nature. I can't imagine how anyone can hit a turtle and leave it (or any wildlife for that matter).

I'm grateful for the volunteers and staff members of C.R.O.W (Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife) for all of their efforts and have become a member to help them continue to do great work.

Whether a snake, turtle, raccoon, opossum, deer or any other creature - they aren't speed bumps and we all need to slow down a little and give them a chance.