This
year's updates
April
18: The first juvenile pelican arrived at
the seabird pond today from Coal Oil Point in Santa
Barbara. Sadly, he was so emaciated, that he did not
survive. Another juvenile was reported at Jalama Beach,
perhaps from a nest on Santa Rosa Island?, but by
the time a rescue volunteer got there, 45 miles away,
this one, too, did not survive. This is unusually
early for juveniles to be arriving on the mainland.
April
15: No newly injured pelicans have come recently to
the SBWCN seabird pond, but Karen Hughes,
a SBWCN volunteer in Ventura, reports that she continues
to receive oiled grebes (and transports them to IBRRC
in San Pedro). Karen writes, "Yesterday, however,
I rescued a second year female (pelican) who was nothing
but bones and feathers. She died about ten minutes
after I got her here. If..... the people who had originally
spotted her in a parking lot at the harbor the day
before had not waited a whole day to let me know,
possibly I could have saved her," adding wonderment
that people would see a pelican in a parking lot and
do nothing/make no calls about it. According to Karen,
IBRRC also has been receiving emaciated pelicans.
≈
On
January 13, an oil
spill of as yet undetermined origin brings
grebes and a pelican to the SBWCN seabird pond.
From there, the grebes were transported by ferry,
the Condor
Express, to
Ventura, 101, the main road route to Los Angeles,
still closed. At Ventura, they were met for transport
to the OWCN
San Pedro cleanup, where they will be washed and,
hopefully, released to cleaner waters. (Click on the
pix for better images.)
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Our
2 rescued grebes heading to Ventura, watched over
by SBWCN volunteer, Dana, onboard that day by chance.
The sad pelican will travel south on the 14th. He's
lost feathers on his back from the oil, as well as
on his head; it will be a long recuperation. (1/14:
he didn't survive, probably from having ingested oil.) |
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January
14: More
than 500 birds (scroll to January 14 for
the news article) have been found oiled, apparently
as a result of the landslide in the La Conchita area.
For general information, images of the west coast
storm, click
here. For a description of the work being
done by UC Davis specialists, Veterinarians Dr. Michael
Ziccardi and Dr. Greg Massey and IBRRC
workers, please
click here.
On Saturday, June received 14 oiled grebes, which
traveled (by road) to Ventura, to be transferred for
transport to San Pedro; more came in on Sunday. Considerably
more were picked up and brought south by Ventura volunteers.
January 17, LA
Times: approximately 900 oiled sea birds,
mostly grebes, have been brought to San Pedro, with
more than 644 surviving; no cause of the oiling has
yet been determined. The OWCN
hot line to report an oiled seabird is (562) 342-7222. |
Christmas
Eve, 2004: Karen Hughes with her mom, visiting from
Michigan, picked up in Summerland a pelican rescued
on the Ventura wharf by another volunteer, Helene.
The bird has grievous injuries, a fishing hook hole
in her pouch, which can be fixed, and what may have
been a pellet or other shot wound by her tail. First
steps are to weigh and stabilize her. She weighed
2.45 kg, received an injection of baytril and eagerly
gobbled down some fish. ...Later that evening, June
received a Gadwall duck and a Pelagic Cormorant; what
an exhaustingly busy day it was! |
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On December 23, a young pelican was picked up at
Stearns Wharf and brought to the pond. There seems
to be nothing wrong with her, what a relief!, except
hunger. Fed, eating copious quantities of fish,
she'll be released soon.
12/26:
Today, she is flying free again.
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On
December 11, SBWCN volunteers Bill and Sheila Blackmore
picked up a young male pelican with a very deep
wound on his chest that must have been caused by
a fishing hook.
Had the fisherman cut the line, we could have removed
the hook carefully. Instead, he must have ripped
it out.
At
first, the good vets at Santa Barbara's Cat &
Bird Clinic thought it would heal by itself.
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Daily, June treated the wound but it wasn't healing.
And the young bird was unhappy at being isolated
from the other pelicans.
Back
he went to Cat & Bird on the 17th for stitches.
Success!
A
sweet-tempered young pelican, he flexes his wings
on December 23, preparing for life back in the world.
On January 31, fully healed, he flew in freedom
at Goleta Beach. |
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Double-Blue flies
away... and returns!
Early
on Saturday, August 21, Double-Blue flew away from the seabird
pond. It was a clear morning after days of overcast, and
the ocean, about 2.5 miles away as a pelican would fly,
was visible, an enticing rich blue, from the Goleta foothills.
Young pelicans, recovered from whatever caused them to be
rescued, often "self-release," not waiting for
the net and the carrying case, which can't help but be traumatic.
(Other pelicans seeing one of the group captured apparently
assume the worst. They get very nervous, rush about, band
together, vomit up recently consumed fish.)
Blue
had been doing little test flights for the week preceding.
Her wings are strong. However, it is questionable whether
she will be able to survive, fishing with but one eye. A
volunteer is searching the beach areas, especially peopled
fishing areas, for her, just in case she has not been able
to find fish on her own. On the positive side, over the
last months, she has become proficient at catching fish
and also getting them in shallow water, so there's hope.
Left
behind was her friend, Blue-Orange. Anyone who doubts that
wild birds and not just human-connected parrots, for instance,
feel "human" emotions such as concern and sorrow,
would change his mind after watching the friend left behind.
She climbed on the waterfall, flexed her wings (her left
has some sort of injury), leaped into water, pathetically,
as Double-Blue has been doing, and walked outside the enclosure,
looking around, as the two of them used to do.
By
late afternoon, she had sided up to "Flipper,"
a very gentle male. Some months ago his friend died
and since then he's been alone. Maybe a new connection
has begun. |
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Blue,
seen! Friday afternoon, August 27, East Beach, Santa Barbara:
August
31. A call came to the
SBWCN HelpLine last evening that there was a pelican at
the Goleta Valley Community Hospital, seemingly wanting
admittance. It was Blue apparently seeking her way back
"home" to the seabird pond in the Goleta foothills.
The call was relayed to June Taylor early this morning.
The
hospital is about a mile direct line from the Pond and
June went and picked up the wandering Blue, thinner, with
a torn foot, probably from a fish hook — an injury
she did not have on Friday. She's "home" now,
hungry and tired.
The
other pelicans, including Blue-Orange, paid her no attention
and life at the pond has gone on as though she did not
have her adventure. A sad little story: it's unlikely
that with one eye she was able to catch many if any fish
for herself. We hope that the nearly 10 days of freedom
were happy ones.
September
6. Blue and Blue-Orange, playing, as though
nothing changed, which, in effect, is so. They seem content.
Her wings are trimmed to prevent other flights to a freedom
she can not survive with but one eye.
Notes:
The
pelican
shown with the fishing line-injured foot had
to be euthanized. The wound was so deep and the nerve damage
so great that the IBRRC in San Pedro where she went for
specialized care decided that she would lose her foot and
therefore would not be able to hunt, would not survive in
the wild.
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