You may have to click on the photo above to see the unexpected guest we had walking the boardwalk this morning. Or you could look in the upper part of the photo to see one of it's cohorts flying around. That's right, a Least Tern decided that the boardwalk would be it's final resting spot. Actually I don't know if it decided or if some predator decided for it. There is a little bit of a mystery surrounding this bird.
From these photos you can see the blood on the feet. I knew that something had injured the tern but I didn't notice any wing damage. Oddly I did notice it had a black feather in its beak.
The tern stretched out its wings and jumped around a bit but mostly it just sat on the boards or occasionally it would walk around. Whatever was going on I knew that I had to move the bird.
So I scooped up the tern and moved it to the grassy ramp area into the wetlands. It was so calm once it realized I wasn't going to do any harm. The bird relaxed but I could still feel the thumping heart through my gloves. I sat it on the ground and it gave me a few more moments before flying off over the water. Of course while trying to land it hit the water, floated to a nearby island, and then climbed on shore. I doubt this bird will make it but our policy at Green Cay is that if it's not a man-caused incident we usually let nature take its course.
When I got my photos back to my office I did find the photo below that shows a puncture wound of some kind on the bird's belly. The blood on the foot was probably due to it dripping down. And that black feather in the mouth...well it may have come from the attacker.
The tern stretched out its wings and jumped around a bit but mostly it just sat on the boards or occasionally it would walk around. Whatever was going on I knew that I had to move the bird.
I picked up some gloves and made my attack. I didn't want to injure the little fellow any more than I had to but moving him was essential. We just have way too many people and this poor bird was going to get trampled. During the short time I was out there I had more than a dozen people pass by and two people almost stepped on the bird even with me standing guard trying to get their attention.
So I scooped up the tern and moved it to the grassy ramp area into the wetlands. It was so calm once it realized I wasn't going to do any harm. The bird relaxed but I could still feel the thumping heart through my gloves. I sat it on the ground and it gave me a few more moments before flying off over the water. Of course while trying to land it hit the water, floated to a nearby island, and then climbed on shore. I doubt this bird will make it but our policy at Green Cay is that if it's not a man-caused incident we usually let nature take its course.
When I got my photos back to my office I did find the photo below that shows a puncture wound of some kind on the bird's belly. The blood on the foot was probably due to it dripping down. And that black feather in the mouth...well it may have come from the attacker.
Whatever the cause of this bird's injuries, it was still amazing to see such a stunning bird in the hand. It took me back to the days of bird banding in college. Maybe if I have my way I will get some banding action done here at Green Cay in the next year...time will tell.
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