Bye-Bye Duckie

Almost a month ago I received a call from Lynette at the Bird TLC Office. She received a call from a Lynden Transport truck driver (sorry, I forgot her name. But she was very nice) saying there was a duck in the freight receiving yard at Sam's Club and it won't fly. I was in the area, so I drove by to see what was up. It took us about 20 minutes to catch this little girl. She ran as fast as all get out, but wouldn't break ground. So off to the clinic we go.

Cindy examined it and found a 1 1/2 inch cut where the lower part of the left wing meets the body. We don't know how it got there. We just figured it collided with something. We also determined that it was a female Harlequin Duck. Cindy sewed it up and it recovered quite well. We had to give it a bath in Dawn a few times to help it get it's water proofing back. Now it was time to release it.

I told Cindy that if she didn't find someone to take it to Seward for release, Ruth and I would make the 2 1/2 hour drive. Little did we know that the first snow storm of the winter would hit that weekend. Oh well, off we went.

It was a gorgeous drive there for sure. We drove around for a bit before we found a spot in Millers Landing where we saw other Harlequins. She was unsure about coming out of the kennel, so she needed a little coaching. I put on nitrile gloves so the oil from my hands wouldn't upset its waterproofing and helped her out. Once out of the kennel she had no problem taking to the water.

She swam for a while and then headed towards shore about 50 yards from us. I walked down the beach to her to make sure all was OK. As I got within 5 feet of her she went back into the water and then flew off.

We went and had lunch at Christo's, our favorite restaurant in Seward and then we headed home.

Today was Ruth's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ruthie. I hope you enjoyed the day!

Also, Happy Veterans Day!

Click on pix's to enlarge

Photo Credit: Dave & Ruth Dorsey / Bird TLC