Birdie – Saved!
Mon ,15/11/2010Good deed of the day – DONE. We were headed home on Aurora Ave. today, just barely crossing the bridge northbound, in the right lane, when we noticed the traffic slowing a bit in our lane and swerving left a bit at the same time. When we got to that spot, we saw to our dismay, there was a medium-sized bird, apparently trapped down next to the (now very high with barrier) curb. It looked like it had a broken wing, probably why it couldn’t fly up over the barrier to the sidewalk and get out of traffic. We both immediately decided we had to help the bird somehow, so we got off at the north end of the bridge, and I jumped out and ran back onto the bridge, while Kerewin circled around to drive back south on the bridge.
I started out running back up there, but soon slowed down (out of shape) but also didn’t want to startle the bird back into getting hit if I came running up. The poor thing was trying to walk/scuttle south – I slowly walked behind it (I’m up on the sidewalk, safe from traffic unlike the poor bird) and it slowly kept scooting south – but then it stopped and just huddled against the curb and stopped moving, probably too scared to do anything else (plus maybe about to give up? not sure).
Our crazy scheme was for kerewin to circle around at the south end of the bridge (there is a way you can get off, go under, and come back around to go northbound) across the bridge VERY SLOWLY to block out traffic in that lane, while I leaped over the railing (onto the road, NOT off the bridge!) and grabbed the bird, then jump into the car with the bird when she got to me. Probably a minute or so before she appeared on the south end of the bridge, a cop showed up (I realized someone driving by had likely called the situation in on their cell via 911) and she quickly pulled up and blocked 2/3 of the lanes, so the traffic died down to a crawl as the cars made their way around us. I talked to the cop, very nice woman, and she pulled some bags out of the trunk and we were able to get the bird in a bag and off the road – although he perked up and tried to bite a couple times – so we used the other bag gently to head that off (no pun intended).
They had apparently called Animal Control too – I wanted initially to take the bird up to PAWS in Lynnwood, because they have a wild animal rehab center there and they could likely treat the broken wing (or whatever was wrong with the bird). But the AC woman (who had just arrived right about when we corraled the bird) said they have a PAWS volunteer that comes to pick up wild animals in cases like this at their center. So, that was a relief, they weren’t just going to euthanize the bird and we didn’t need to haul it north too.
So, hoping to put in a call to them tomorrow to see what happened, but I think things will work out for the poor birdie! After we got home we looked up some bird pics and determined this was likely a Cormorant, like the one in this pic (not actual bird). Pretty good sized bird, about the size of a duck at least, but a bit more lanky than a duck (definitely longer neck and beak!).
Hooray for the bird! It was crazy out on that bridge, the cars and BIG trucks/buses were whipping by and I was just praying the bird stayed put until we could get him off the road. It was also really windy – thankfully not raining at that point – and yes, if you aren’t familiar with this particular bridge – it’s the one most often used for suicides in this town – VERY high up. I was very nervous (not a fan of heights **at all** in walking back to the north end of the bridge after the bird was out of harm’s way – forgot how high up that thing is – doh!
candybowl
