Rescue!

My daughter Stephanie took a break from working on her newest musical project and took a stroll down to the pond to cool out. Spotting a large white plastic bag sitting on the shore, she was about to pick it up when suddenly a large head with a big beak popped up. It turned out to be a Great Egret that was curled up on the bank in seemingly bad shape. Great Egret is a bird with a dagger-like beak; you don't want to mess with it -- even with a sick bird. A call went out to Animal Rescue in Hampton Bays and a young housewife in a jeep eventually showed up with a net, a blanket and a good-sized bin (covered with a perforated top). All efficiency, she tromped down to the pond with the idea of netting the bird. But the net was much too small for this big, gangly bird which promptly tried to escape by flopping into the pond. Ms Animal Rescue unhesitatingly wropped her arms around the creature and scooped it up; fortunately the bird and its dangerous bill were facing away. I ran up with the bin and she was able to tuck the bird inside and get the lid on. The bird spent the night in the Riverhead center and arrived at the Hampton Bays facility this morning. It is being kept calm and fed an easily digested diet. I'm hoping that it is not emaciated for lack of prey; a depleted food supply would be a serious problem far beyond the woes of one particular bird.

Strange to say, our dog Rimsky seemed to know that the bird was there. Although it did not appear to be visible from the house, he was barking, whimpering and straining to go down to the pond as if he knew something was not right; he suddenly stopped when it was taken away. Did he smell it or hear it?

More mammal notes: Saw my first bunny rabbit (is it an Eastern or New England Cottontail Rabbit?) of the year. I think our rabbits were hard hit by Sandy. Muskrats fared even more poorly; Sandy collapsed all of their burrows on the banks of the pond and I haven't seen a single one this year. Watched a young Raccoon hitching up a Tupelo at the head of the marsh; Raccoons seem to have survived just fine and I've seen several, somewhat untypically active in daylight.

I've been taking my granddaughter Juliette to swimming and volleyball at Tiana Beach and then lingering to look at the birds that hang out there. Hurricane Sandy overwashed just to the east of Tiana Beach and created some first-class waterbird habitat. This morning there were hundreds of terns -- mostly Commons with some Royals mixed -- plus many shorebirds. More on this shortly!

Eric Salzman