Capture numbers warmed up in June, even as the weather became decidedly cooler. I attended a total of 46 rescues for the month.
Most notable among these was the rescue of Jessica the darter. She had stocking caught on her beak and would have suffered a slow, agonizing death from starvation. It took me ten days to catch her; in fact I’m amazed she lasted so long without food. My big fear at the time of her release was that she may be too weak to hunt. However, I was relieved to get a report yesterday (10 days on) saying she was doing fine. Four nights ago I heard about another darter in Mermaid with something entangled on its beak. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to locate that bird.
Pelicans featured prominently in June with 9 birds attended. Most were caught and freed of hooks or entanglements. A few are still out there but none with life threatening injuries that I know of. Two peli’s spent a number of weeks in hospital with fatal hookings in the leg. Both survived.
Last week I caught two cormorants at The Spit. The first bird was very lethargic; so much so that I was able to sneak up and grab it by hand. I rushed the creature to SeaWorld where it received immediate treatment. Sadly it died during administration of fluids. Necropsy revealed a soft plastic fishing lure in the gut blocking food. The poor thing had starved. Six days later, in almost the same spot, I netted another cormorant that looked unwell. The fact that I was able to net the bird confirmed something was very wrong. It was late, so I held the creature in my capture box overnight. When I took it out of the box at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital next morning it had disgorged 3 soft plastic fishing lures, one still with a hook! X-rays revealed nothing more in the bird’s gut. Hopefully it will survive. I don’t need to tell you these discoveries auger very poorly for the survival of cormorants and other fishing birds. There’s probably only half a dozen cormorants that regularly fish at The Spit. That being the case, it means I rescued a third of the local population in one week and one of them is dead; a casualty of ‘Australia’s favourite sport’.
Typically birds of magpie size and above tend to become entangled in fishing line. With smaller birds the entangling
material is nearly always cotton. It’s amazing how strong a couple of wraps of cotton can be. Last week I received calls from several people who were concerned about a little pee wee (mudlark) that was hopping around Harbourtown shopping centre unable to put any weight on its right foot. Shopping centres, in school holidays, are not favourite capture destinations, in fact I was unable to catch the last pee wee called in from Harbourtown, mainly because of crowds. This latest bird was quickly located in the middle of a busy forecourt and, with a bit of crowd control, quickly secured. I took the creature out to my car in the parking lot and set about freeing it. The poor thing had a deep entanglement around its left foot. Less obvious were the wraps of black cotton cutting off its right foot. Two different strands of cotton and several wraps of human hair are a fatal combination for a small bird. It took me twenty minutes to remove the cotton and hair. I released the pee wee
immediately but she looked very ill and traumatised by the experience. It was touch and go for a while. Toxins released from swollen toes and joints run straight up the legs and into the body, overloading vital organs. After some rest and rehab she appears to be doing OK and will, no doubt, be a great deal more comfortable.
I’m pleased to report that Cornelius, the giant petrel I rescued at Main Beach last month, and who has been recuperating at ASR in Ballina, has just been released. His flat mate Gazza is still in care. Shortly into his stay at ASR Gazza threw up several pieces of balloon. No wonder he was feeling crook! Balloons, in fact all small plastics, are now a huge problem for seabirds.
Cornelius released very well, but Gazza was reluctant to go. Can’t blame him. Nice people; three square meals a day; what’s to complain about! Personally I would have chucked him straight off the nearest cliff, but the ASR girls see things differently and so Gazza will remain in luxury for a while longer.
Preliminary results are in for my fishing line survey at The Spit (Gold Coast Seaway). After 3 months (13 weeks) I’ve
picked up a total of 1664 meters of fishing line that had been dropped on the ground along a stretch of land averaging only 4 meters wide and 500 meters long. That’s more than one and a half k’s of line! It means that on average, fishers had carelessly dropped 128 meters of fishing line every week. God knows how many local birds would have become entangled in that lot had it not been removed. The pic shows my nephew Dave, who is a keen fisher, but also environmentally aware, helping me collect line last week. Together we picked up 246 meters of line in less than an hour.
Even more impressive is the pic of Fiona Byres’ kids holding a huge bundle of broken off fishing line that she collected at
Creek over the past eleven weeks. What an extraordinary effort. If that doesn’t illustrate the extent of the problem I don’t know what does. I must say I’m a bit surprised that, after months of publicising this problem on Facebook, Fiona is the only person who really grabbed the baton and ran with line collecting. But I’m optimistic that more people are now aware of the problem and are keeping their eyes peeled.
There were dozens of other positive stories from June. I wish I could tell more. On the financial front I ended the year a couple of thousand dollars in the red. This is not what I’d hoped for but it’s many times better than previous years. I want to thank all those who support Wild Bird Rescues. Your help makes my work possible.
Rowley