An injured great blue heron took flight Friday morning from St. Thomas to St. Croix, but not on his own power; he was sent by a small group of concerned folk via Seaborne Airlines for rehabilitation at the St. Croix Avian Sanctuary.
It turned out help was too little, too late; the bird did not live out the day, but he left a small legacy of community care in his brief sojourn in the Virgin Islands.
Jill Anderson and Doug Metzger, managers of Villa Olga in Frenchtown and a few neighbors had been aware of the injured bird, but no one had been close enough to capture him until Thursday afternoon.
"We’d seen him for the last four or five days in the bush," Metzger said. "but he would disappear. I was afraid he’d never make it, the cats around here would get him, but Tom, who runs the property’s restaurant told me he’d seen him by the pool, so I called Judy Pierce at Fish and Wildlife and she told me to try and catch him."
And the drama started.
Metzger got fisherman Ralph Turbe who cast his sprat net into the bush, netting the bird on the second try, and the two scrambled across a catchment and retrieved the fully grown and thoroughly traumatized creature.
Calming the bird, cradling him gently in his arms, while keeping firm hold on his beak, Metzger said, "He’s another one of God’s creatures, and he needs help."
And he got it. Metzger found a large animal carrier and, on instructions from Pierce, placed the bird there for the night, until Pierce could pick him up in the morning.
Meantime, she had contacted Seaborne and bird rehabilitator Toni Lance on St. Croix who agreed to meet the flight.
Pierce said Friday morning, "Generally, a broken wing is very had to fix. It’s called a non-releaseable wildlife. We don’t have any bird rehab on St. Thomas. There’s one on St. John, and we’re trying to get something here working with the Humane Society. We have a small staff, and we’re not funded to do this. We charge it to a special project. It’s lots of extra work, but if it helps, it’s worth it."
Speaking early Friday, Lance said she was shocked at the bird’s condition.
"I have never seen a bird this thin. He’s almost as big as a pelican and his breastbone looks as it he’d been filleted. It’s unbelievable."
Still, early in the day, Lance hoped for a small miracle.
"I’m giving him liquids, pedialyte, to hydrate him, and he’s not thrown that back up, so that’s a good sign," she said. "It’s thrilling if you do everything right, space out the fluids properly. I’m watching him closely. It’s a testament to his strength after what he’s been through if he makes it."
Lance’s concern makes it appear as though this is her first avian rescue, though she has been at it for years and has helped thousands of birds. She is well-known in the Caribbean and the ornithological community.
That care, it turned out wasn’t enough.
Speaking Friday afternoon, Lance, obviously dejected, said, "The sadness to me is people aren’t as in tune with wildlife as I am. I heard someone saw children throwing rocks at him. If he could have been picked up a little earlier, certainly a couple of weeks, he might have even been releaseable."
"That wing break was five or six weeks old. I’ve never seen such starvation. It’s unbelievable he struggled as long as he did. He was a remarkable bird, so strong."
And Lance said, someone is waiting for him.
"He was a migrating bird," she said. "There’s a mate in the north waiting for him."
So, it’s no drama, after all. No hats and horns and a miraculous recovery. Just a small but significant slice of life; people coming together to help a fellow critter.
Lance urges people to watch out for our feathered folk.
"If you can approach a bird, I guarantee you it’s got a problem. Birds in the wild are very shy."
Lance said she is always available to help. Anyone can call her at at the St. Croix Avian Sanctuary 773-1839, or email at lance.antonia@gmail.com
Both Pierce and Lance lauded Seaborne Airline’s community spirit.
"They are always there to help us. They have been for years," Pierce said. "And they never charge us."
