By Doug and Barbara O’Connor

On a warm Saturday afternoon in September, we were heading out to the pool for a swim.  No sooner had we opened the glass slider, a sizable bird flew full speed into one of the other slider panels and fell to the ground.  When the bird got its bearings, he took off, trying to find an escape to the outdoors, repeatedly slamming into the screen panels and dropping down to the floor in each attempt.

Our first reaction was, “How did this bird get into our cage?”  We thought it might be a large Woodpecker or maybe a Kingfisher.  Not sure we’ve ever seen a Kingfisher except in a Florida Waterbird book, but we thought maybe?  We searched the screen panels and no openings were evident where the invader might have gotten in.  Then we came up with a theory that may have been the answer – we had just had impact windows installed  earlier in the week and for convenience, the installers had left the screen doors open to bring in the windows and supplies.

What do we do on a Saturday afternoon to rescue this little rascal?  We attempted to get close enough to pick the bird up with a bath towel but he was so fidgety and his 3” beak was quite intimidating so we gave up on that attempt. 

We called Animal Control; they suggested we call the non-emergency police.  They advised us to call a trapper, however, we didn’t like that option thinking the poor bird wouldn’t be cared for appropriately.  We asked about ‘The Ark’ on Mizell Road by the reservoir; we couldn’t find a phone number.  They shared that Karen Lynch, the lead volunteer at the Ark (an injured animal sanctuary) might be able to help us out.  

Karen responded to our SOS text and came out within the hour.  She was very skilled retrieving the bird from our Bird of Paradise and was able to get the now confirmed, Kingfisher, in her grasp and calm him down.  We took pictures of the escapade and asked if she would give us an update on “Kooper”, the Kingfisher, after a few days. 

We heard from her the following week  and were informed he was doing well and ready to be released into the wild. 

A happy ending to the story!  The Ark is a wonderful resource should you ever have a similar situation.