ML371817901
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Observation details
Sean Riley had texted me about a weird bird his boss had seen earlier in the afternoon and taken some cell phone pics of outside the new DCR offices and after sending those around we were all a bit mystified about what the bird in question was. It seemed to have a deformed bill, the plumage was all weird, but speculation based on a few field marks we could make out tended towards jaeger sp. so we went to try and track it down. It had been loafing on the water earlier but now had moved further up the beach towards Point of Pines and I picked it out sitting in the wrack line, dogs and joggers all around, and so we approached it and quickly realized that our jaeger was in fact a gannet that had gotten itself seriously tangled in some heavy-duty fish netting. (Jeremiah was the only one I think who suggested Gannet and so it proved to be). The bird's beak was essentially bound shut and some of the line had tangled around the bird's leg. Thankfully Lauren a) knew what she was doing and b) had some gear in the car. We were able to catch the bird and calm it using a towel and then spent 20+ minutes hacking away at the fish netting until finally we were able to remove all of it from the legs and bill. Lauren got a nice bite for her trouble and we were worried at stages that the bird might pass away due to stress. But after a couple minutes resting, it took off headed out straight to sea. Hopefully it managed to get some food, it was doubtless exhausted from its efforts to free itself. Obviously Lauren and I are owed some serious birding karma now.
Technical information
- Camera
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 30.52 MB