A Bird in the Hand
So I caught a bird today.
It happened like this. I had an early meeting with a client in Long Beach, knocked off early, and headed over to the park to try to recoup some of yesterday's lost pictures. It was an absolutely beautiful day for it. And I had the camera set to "AUTO" the way God intended.
I just biked around, taking pictures of whatever I chanced upon, as is my wont, and the birds were cooperating pretty well. Lots of ducks, egrets, herons. Even the occasional egg (this one a dud goose egg).
The baby ducks were out in force, and getting quite big and much more independent. Still cute, though.
I came upon a couple of nice ladies who were very intently watching some Night Herons. As I've mentioned before, I'm fond of the Night Herons, so I stopped to see what their interest was.
It turns out, one poor unfortunate little guy had a fishhook stuck in his leg (not the one pictured here) and some fishing line was all wrapped around his toes. He could still fly, but was looking a little skinny.
The ladies said the bird rescue people had been trying to capture him for two weeks, but he was too wily for them. They had nicknamed him Einstein. You know, because he's smart. (Although they also called him Lefty. Because, you know, it was his left leg.)
So anyway, they said every time they got a net on him or anything, he'd get away, but not before the other five or six Night Herons hanging around would pounce on him and stab at him with their beaks. Night Herons being kind of badass and all. And a Great Egret would come and just wail on him. And the geese would bite the rescue ladies. It was a real mess is what I gathered. So they asked me to try to keep the other Night Herons occupied while they focused on the rescue.
Which I did, fairly well. I tossed a few bits of bread and they all came running over to me. Meanwhile, the rescue ladies were not having much luck with Limpy. They were pretty good at feeding him tuna - just not that great at catching him. Eventually, Hooky flew over to the other side of the creek, putting a little water between him and the rescue. I followed him over there and was getting pretty close. The rescue ladies broke out their big blue fishing net, and he didn't like that one bit. He waded out into the middle of the stream.
Meanwhile, we'd drawn a crowd. And by crowd, I mean a lady with a little girl and a nice older guy named Steve, who just happened to be a birder in the park to take some pictures of hawks.
To wrap this story up, I borrowed the rescue ladies' net, took off my shoes and socks, waded into the creek, and caught him. I wrapped him in a t-shirt, lifted him from the net, and set him down in the cat box the rescue ladies had brought. Steve had some pliers and we cut the barb off the hook, but weren't able to pull it out. Rescue ladies had a vet all lined up and we didn't want to make matters worse.
He'll get the hook removed, probably a shot of antibiotics, a brief rest at the San Pedro bird rescue facility, and then he'll be back in the park, good as new.
And you know what? Night Herons are pretty good sized birds, but they don't weigh hardly anything. He was light as a feather. If you ever get a chance to hold one you should do it.
It happened like this. I had an early meeting with a client in Long Beach, knocked off early, and headed over to the park to try to recoup some of yesterday's lost pictures. It was an absolutely beautiful day for it. And I had the camera set to "AUTO" the way God intended.
The baby ducks were out in force, and getting quite big and much more independent. Still cute, though.
I came upon a couple of nice ladies who were very intently watching some Night Herons. As I've mentioned before, I'm fond of the Night Herons, so I stopped to see what their interest was.
The ladies said the bird rescue people had been trying to capture him for two weeks, but he was too wily for them. They had nicknamed him Einstein. You know, because he's smart. (Although they also called him Lefty. Because, you know, it was his left leg.)
So anyway, they said every time they got a net on him or anything, he'd get away, but not before the other five or six Night Herons hanging around would pounce on him and stab at him with their beaks. Night Herons being kind of badass and all. And a Great Egret would come and just wail on him. And the geese would bite the rescue ladies. It was a real mess is what I gathered. So they asked me to try to keep the other Night Herons occupied while they focused on the rescue.
Which I did, fairly well. I tossed a few bits of bread and they all came running over to me. Meanwhile, the rescue ladies were not having much luck with Limpy. They were pretty good at feeding him tuna - just not that great at catching him. Eventually, Hooky flew over to the other side of the creek, putting a little water between him and the rescue. I followed him over there and was getting pretty close. The rescue ladies broke out their big blue fishing net, and he didn't like that one bit. He waded out into the middle of the stream.
Meanwhile, we'd drawn a crowd. And by crowd, I mean a lady with a little girl and a nice older guy named Steve, who just happened to be a birder in the park to take some pictures of hawks.
To wrap this story up, I borrowed the rescue ladies' net, took off my shoes and socks, waded into the creek, and caught him. I wrapped him in a t-shirt, lifted him from the net, and set him down in the cat box the rescue ladies had brought. Steve had some pliers and we cut the barb off the hook, but weren't able to pull it out. Rescue ladies had a vet all lined up and we didn't want to make matters worse.
He'll get the hook removed, probably a shot of antibiotics, a brief rest at the San Pedro bird rescue facility, and then he'll be back in the park, good as new.
And you know what? Night Herons are pretty good sized birds, but they don't weigh hardly anything. He was light as a feather. If you ever get a chance to hold one you should do it.
nice story. You're a bird hero.
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