The Heron

On my way out to the barn to do chores the other night I caught sight of something strange out the corner of my eye. It was about dark:thirty, that time of evening when I have the most trouble seeing and I had to squint to make it out. A darker shape under the evergreen tree at the end of the water garden that seemed out of place. As I keened my eyes it moved ever so slightly so I crept up silently to see what it was. At first I thought it was one of the chickens trying to roost out in the wild rather than in with the rest in the barn, but it was too tall and lean for a chicken. The head turned in profile and I saw it had a very long slender beak and seemed more graceful than any chicken. Deep humming sounds and ruffling feathers piqued meant it was some kind of bird. I slowly reached my hands towards it but it did not flee which was odd. I realized it must be injured so I started talking low and quiet to sooth its fears. Getting my arms around its body and holding its wings tight, I finally realized it was a Great Blue Heron that was obviously in distress. These birds are known to keep a safe distance from humans and this one would have if it could. Being careful of its 8 inch long beak which could easily poke me in the eye, I picked it up while crooning low chicken sounds, which is the only bird talk I ever practice much. The poor thing weighed almost nothing, way less than any of my laying hens, even though they usually look so imposing when you see them along the river banks. I stood up and carried him to the barn where I keep a wire pen for raising bitties each year. He did not fight me at all, only laid his head against me and relaxed. After gently placing the obviously exhausted bird in the coop and getting some scratch grain and water for him, which he did not seem interested in, I started investigating what the problem might be. I felt all down his body and his legs without finding any tender spots or obvious injuries and then started to unfold one of his wings. This greatly agitated him and he scrambled to get away. After calming him down again, by stroking his neck and talking to him in chicken, I felt the elbow joint midway down his left wing and found the problem. It was all torn up and bleeding and not moving properly. I figured it was broken, a major calamity for a flying bird, and almost impossible to splint. I left him alone in the box where he was safe from predators and he would have the horses and chickens to keep him company and went to Google “caring for an injured heron”. On Google I was, of course, able to find all kinds of information relating to our heron and his problem. Fortunately, there was a Vet experienced with wild birds in Frederick, about 35 miles away and right down the road from where I work. This being a Sunday night I had low expectations of actually getting them on the phone but they answered on the 3^rd ring. I set up an appointment to bring him in first thing in the morning on my way to work.

When I got to the Vet’s office at 7 am they took him and said they would take z-rays to ascertain the extent of his injuries and let me know the outcome by phone later that morning. I gave them a one hundred dollar donation to help cover the costs, as they did wild animals pro bono. When they finally called around 10 o’clock they told me they had put him down! I was really upset at this and asked why they had not consulted with me first and they told me that “there is a MD state law that will not let them prolong the life of a wild bird if it will never be able to fly again” and that I would not have been allowed to keep it anyway. Apparently, someone had shot the heron while it was flying and totally shattered the bones in his wing and there was no possibility it would ever heal well enough to allow him to fly. I was devastated. He came to me for help and all I did was get him killed. He could have lived at my place. I would have protected him and he could have stayed at the water garden and fished. I could have built a protective fence around the pond to keep out the raccoons and foxes that might come after him. I felt so bad for letting him down. It is not legal for just anyone to keep a  wild animal, and I sort of get that, since you would probably have people penning up animals that would be way better off on their own. What I don’t get is not allowing a rescue place the opportunity to keep him? Next time I find an injured wild animal that I think I could help I will deal with it myself, at least they will have a chance. Now every time I walk by the pond I think of him and how I let him down.

Check out this site for Bird Rescues and such:

http://juliezickefoose.blogspot.com/2011/09/helping-great-blue-heron.html

-Wendy Maddox

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