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[at-l] My Amazing River Trip
I've been too busy to post many thoughts, recently. The Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is committed to raising $500,000 before September 30, and our local town land trust needs $50,000 this month.
But I do wish to say that the two posts I've most enjoyed most in recent days is Steve A's political insights, and of course Jan's incredible experience with the blue heron.
Weary
> ------------Original Message------------
> From: Jim Bullard <jbullar1@twcny.rr.com>
> To: "Jan Leitschuh" <janl2@mindspring.com>, "AT-List" <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
> Date: Sun, Jul-11-2004 10:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [at-l] My Amazing River Trip
>
> 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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