"Gilligan"

The Friday before Christmas, one of our rehabbers received a call about an injured great blue heron. A young woman named Emily found it tangled in her backyard fence. She had gotten it untangled, but it was injured. The left wing was hanging down. The rehabber's first thought was that it had been shot — an all-too-common occurrence with these beautiful birds. While Emily was on the phone with the rehabber, she saw the heron take flight. Not very high off the ground, but definitely flying. The rehabber told Emily that it would be unlikely to catch the heron if it was flying, but stay in touch by phone if she needed help over the weekend. 

Ten minutes later Emily called back. The heron had hidden himself between a neighbor's house and the foundation bushes. Yes!! The rehabber was on site within 20 minutes. Emily, her mom, Dorothy, and the rehabber captured the heron quickly with no harm to it or them. The capture took less time than disposing of the twigs, spider webs and leaves from the rehabber's hair.

Upon examination, the wing was found to be badly bruised and the bird had a bacterial infection. The bird was a yearling and very thin. It is not known whether the problem was its hunting skills needed a bit of work or the bacterial problem caused the emaciated state.

After a few days of tube feeding and a course of antibiotics, the heron decided to eat on its own. If anyone had recently bought stock in the Capital Seafood Market, they would have noticed something, umm "fishy" — an income increase! The heron was eating almost $10.00 per day in fresh fish. And while the rehabber is still being teased by family members that news of the coming snow storm in January resulted in a mad scramble to the fish market — not the grocery store for milk and bread – the rehab effort was rewarded by a fantastic release.

The heron took flight within a second of the last human touch it will (hopefully) ever feel on its body. A few days later, a bird watcher living near the release pond reported seeing three great blues preening their feathers as they perched in a tree near the pond. Was one of them this heron? We hope, but we'll never know. The main job of a rehabber is to get an animal in the best possible condition and release it. The rest is up to the animal — and fate.The Friday before Christmas, one of our rehabbers received a call about an injured great blue heron. A young woman named Emily found it tangled in her backyard fence. She had gotten it untangled, but it was injured. The left wing was hanging down. The rehabber's first thought was that it had been shot — an all-too-common occurrence with these beautiful birds. While Emily was on the phone with the rehabber, she saw the heron take flight. Not very high off the ground, but definitely flying. The rehabber told Emily that it would be unlikely to catch the heron if it was flying, but stay in touch by phone if she needed help over the weekend. 

Ten minutes later Emily called back. The heron had hidden himself between a neighbor's house and the foundation bushes. Yes!! The rehabber was on site within 20 minutes. Emily, her mom, Dorothy, and the rehabber captured the heron quickly with no harm to it or them. The capture took less time than disposing of the twigs, spider webs and leaves from the rehabber's hair.

Upon examination, the wing was found to be badly bruised and the bird had a bacterial infection. The bird was a yearling and very thin. It is not known whether the problem was its hunting skills needed a bit of work or the bacterial problem caused the emaciated state.

After a few days of tube feeding and a course of antibiotics, the heron decided to eat on its own. If anyone had recently bought stock in the Capital Seafood Market, they would have noticed something, umm "fishy" — an income increase! The heron was eating almost $10.00 per day in fresh fish. And while the rehabber is still being teased by family members that news of the coming snow storm in January resulted in a mad scramble to the fish market — not the grocery store for milk and bread – the rehab effort was rewarded by a fantastic release.

The heron took flight within a second of the last human touch it will (hopefully) ever feel on its body. A few days later, a bird watcher living near the release pond reported seeing three great blues preening their feathers as they perched in a tree near the pond. Was one of them this heron? We hope, but we'll never know. The main job of a rehabber is to get an animal in the best possible condition and release it. The rest is up to the animal — and fate.

Nicknamed "Gilligan" because she is a survivor, this adorable Bobwhite quail eventually did grow into her feet! Turned in to the AfterHours Emergency Vet Clinic, this day-old chick was lucky. Her mom and siblings were killed by the rescuer's cat.

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