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This story is from Randy Inman.
After a grueling day of work, my wife Karen and I got an emergency call. It
was a man calling about a Great White Egret in apparent distress. So, we
gathered up our gear and headed for the location. Upon arriving, we noticed
the bird on the other side of the marsh. It appeared to be caught by
something that seemed to be pulling him down. It was apparent that the bird
had been struggling for a while; you could tell that the bird was extremely
tired and his beautiful white feathers were a dingy grey because of the
marsh mud. I stood there for a moment wondering how I was going to get to
the other side of the marsh to aid the bird. “I did not have a boat and it
was mid November and very cold that day.” I also wondered what had the bird!
Finally, I, realizing there was no alternative, climbed into the mud to find
out what was going on. While wadding to the other side of the marsh. I was
still uncertain about what might have this bird.
After finally
reaching the other side I grabbed the bird and lifted him up, only to find
that a large clam had attached itself to the bird’s beak. The clam was so
large and heavy, that the bird was unable to fly or even raise his head
above the water. The clam was carefully removed and set free.
As for the Egret, he was muddy
and tired from struggling to keep his head above water, and his beak was
bent upward, fortunately it was not broken. So, he was taken to our wildlife
facility, bathed, and rested. The bird’s beak was back in place the next
day. The bird was kept for a couple of days for observation, and later
released with no harm done to the bird or to the clam.
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Great White Egret full of
mud.
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