[at-l] My Amazing River Trip

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

Awesome Jan. I once had the privilege of seeing a heron at very close 
range, about 5-6 feet from me. I had started it while running and it took 
off just in front of me. The memory of that bird is burned into my brain as 
I'm sure this experience is in yours. You did a good deed for which I'm 
certain the experience was more than adequate recompense. Cherish that memory.

At 05:33 PM 7/11/2004 -0400, Jan Leitschuh wrote:

>A really awesome thing happened on the river, yesterday. I've just got to 
>tell SOMEBODY!
>
>This weekend, we were kayaking on a Sierra club overnight on the lower 
>Lumber river, a humid, swampy, Spanish-mossy area, where the Lumber 
>crosses the North Carolina state line into South Carolina. It's a great 
>trip, large white sandbars to camp on, cypress knees, beavers, catfish, 
>the odd, adventurous northern alligator, much birdlife - Great Blue 
>Herons, owls, ahingas, pileated woodpeckers, kingfishers, prothonotary 
>warblers, egrets and more.
>
>I was in the lead at the time, and had just drifted around a bend when a 
>Great Blue Heron on shore became startled and lifted off into flight. It 
>went only a couple feet though, and then it snapped back to the ground.
>
>  I peered against the background shadows saw the large bird was attached 
> to the tree by a line in its beak. The line was fishing line, hung in a 
> river birch limb; and it looked like the bird had swallowed a fish hook 
> down it's throat. Damn!
>
>I was stricken, and just couldn't leave the magnificent creature. My hope 
>was the hook was just snagged on a corner of it's beak. I called back for 
>pliers.
>
>I managed to drift quietly close without further startling the big, blue 
>bird. I just kept murmuring to it, stepping from my kayak into the swamp 
>muck and tying the bow rope from another limb.
>
>I've worked in a zoo with a variety of species, and also caught geese and 
>chickens before, and so knew how to approach from behind to pin its wings 
>gently to its body. I got behind it as the other kayaks and canoes 
>approached, diverting it. Its eye was this startling circle of primary 
>yellow, with a black dot in the middle. Unblinking. I wasn't entirely 
>certain what I would do once I caught it, but I couldn't just drift on 
>past, oblivious.
>
>I was a little nervous as I approached this large, wild bird, as it wasn't 
>all that much shorter than me, a chest-height adult with a six-foot 
>wingspan. I managed to encircle  and cradle it in my arms. surprisingly 
>light! As I picked it up, I saw that there was no hook at all! Hooray! We 
>could fix this.
>The twine had just wound itself tightly along the bird's upper beak, a 
>death sentence without intervention.
>
>I also noticed that, as I lifted the creature and the tension came off the 
>twine, the bird reared it's long, blue neck back to defend itself; it's 
>long, spiky beak clacked once, making a very loud, hollow sound. 
>"careful!" said one of the women. "That beak is like scissors!"
>
>I didn't know if that was true or not, but it sure does a number on the 
>frogs. I will say it didn't take me but a nanosecond to react! I freed an 
>arm and encircled the bird's neck behind it's head, gently, using no 
>pressure. It rested then quietly in my arm and did not struggle. I learned 
>later that these birds are hard to wrangle, and experienced wildlife 
>handlers wear goggles to protect their eyes! Luckily, the twine situation 
>I could feel its heart beat, and it not unduly rapid, as one would expect. 
>I think it was just exhausted from its futile struggles, and resigned to 
>its fate.
>
>By now one of the guys on the trip had gotten out a knife and come up. He 
>was able to delicately saw the twine off without cutting the beak. But 
>when he removed the upper windings, the lower wad of twine stayed in place 
>- apparently these birds have some sort of "upper palate" "baleen," or 
>backwards-slanting "teeth" that help them capture and swallow wriggling 
>fish. So, wedging in a thumb, I pried the base of its beak open, and he 
>removed the foreign wad.
>
>Finally, I released the bird which only flapped a short ways before 
>landing in a cypress grove and making it's way into the swamp tangle on 
>foot. There, it drank deeply, and then disappeared deeper into the 
>darkness of the swamp.
>
>Here are some G.B. heron pictures:
>http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/adv/kidspage/kidquiz/wbirds/bluehero.htm
>http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i1940id.html
>http://www.nature-wildlife.com/blueh.html
>
>It was a huge thrill to have held this large wild bird in my arms. I felt 
>so privileged. What a rare gift! It was so majorly cool. The highlight of 
>my week.
>
>BirdShoe of Alcatraz
>--
>========================================
>         AT Journal:
>         http://www.trailjournals.com/Liteshoe/
>         Jan Leitschuh Sporthorses Ltd.
>         http://www.mindspring.com/~janl2/index.html
>
>========================================
>
>
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