Last Friday I got a call from Chara at the clinic. She said there was a loon at the lake on the end of 76th that had fishing line stuck to it. Would I go see if there is anything I could do. Sure, why not.I got there and had a lovely walk around the lake. The temps were around 70°F, there were swimmers in the lake, sun bathers on the side. It took about an hour before I found this guy. He was swimming along and doing some diving. The whole time he stayed about 10 feet from shore. Just far enough out of my reach.
The bobber was most visible. It was wrapped around it's left foot. The foot was unusable, but he pressed on. I couldn't see any fishing line, but it's designed to be invisible in the water.
Rick Sinnet from USF&W was able to recover the bird today and brought it into the Bird TLC clinic. He had a canoe and some help. Cindy took it straight to Pet Stop for x-rays after removing the bobber and the line and a hook. It had injested a different hook. We can just hope it passes (ouch) it.
I came by today and was told by Cindy to stay clear. This birds agressive and won't let me get close enough to get a good picture. OK, what do you think?
4 comments:
Absolutely beautiful bird and photo. Will it stay at the clinic for a little while to see if it successfully passes that other hook? Ouch. What a bummer.
Yes Robin, it will. We want to make sure there's no bleeding or anything before it's returned.
I'm so glad. That's a very lucky loon. I hope it all works out. Will you go with it when it's being released?
I picked up a bunch of fishing line while I walked around the lake Clare. It's one of the little habits I have now. We've recieved and lost too many birds to this type of littering.
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