By Sharon Mirzai

Aren’t we lucky to live in a community so generously blessed with such an abundance of diverse wildlife?  Especially notable are the variety of birds that keep us entertained and mesmerized. As I walk along the lakes several times a day, I see many of this flying eye candy; ducks, herons, egrets and ahingas to name a few.   Some of these birds are even named by neighborhood children and their grandparents.

This story was going to be about fun facts like bird nesting habits, flight patterns and intelligence, but instead it is taking a more serious note.  

Many of these beautiful birds get their beaks tangled and mouths closed shut  in various ways.  These are all caused by human carelessness.

Mohammed and I recently rescued one such poor bird.  It’s beak was terribly tied up with some sort of sticky fabric.  Jeanette Lindeman had tried to catch it and save it. Eventually she pointed it out to me. We tried several times to approach this distressed bird.  We even called outside services with no luck. We finally, after trying for several days, were able to use a fishing net to catch him/her and with great care cut the fabric from his beak. Once free, I could have sworn he looked back and smiled! 

This, unfortunately, is not the first water bird that this has happened to.  Several years ago, for many weeks, I walked Mello, my yellow lab, past this bird with a pink something around its beak, it was so sad to see. I talked to the bird everyday until he got used to my voice. And I was able to  finally approach the bird one day, catch it and remove the pink tie from its beak. It was a child’s ponytail tie.

A few years back, Lenny Klinck, used to bring his dog Inga to the park for her noon walk.  As Lenny approached, an anhinga would immediately fly to the gazebo.  Lenny would feed the turtles and the bird would dine heavily on the fish.  This particular bird  showed up one day with its beak all  “tied up”. We all tried to capture the bird to save it.  Lenny found an organization that came out and undid the mess the poor bird had gotten himself into.

So who to call for these situations? The person to call is Karen Lynch at Noah’s Ark,  904 679-1533.  She has volunteers that come out and help all distressed/ injured birds.  You may see her around the lake outside the north gate caring for the rehabbing birds.  She told me it may take a week or two to capture the bird. The reason is that the bird must become too weak and reluctant to fly away. This makes catching them much easier.

So, please put this number in your address book and use it when you see a bird in crisis. And, most importantly, lets be good neighbors to our fine feathered friends by being aware of any debris  that can entangle and otherwise harm them in any way.