The Two Rescues of Boomer, the Great Blue Heron.

Summer, 2007
July 26th, 2007, was one of the saddest days we have experienced as a staff. It was the day we had to say good-bye to Rudy, one of our clinic cats.

Rudy had cancer of the throat and mouth and this illness had gone undetected until that morning. The cancer was discovered while staff members were preparing to anesthetize him to clean his teeth. Dealing with death and euthanasia is never easy. It is a difficult part of our job. But this was our Rudy. This was incredibly heartbreaking.

Those of us who were not working that day made a mad dash to the clinic to be with Rudy as we all said good-bye. Many tears were shed and such a void was created in our little “family”.

We received many cards and flower arrangements from clients and donations were made to various animal related organizations in Rudy’s memory.

I took a couple of pictures of all of Rudy’s flowers and cards and sent one of them to my mom. She said, “Many people don’t receive that kind of tribute when they die.”

I happened to be one of the staff members who had the day off. As I was preparing to leave the clinic, a call came in regarding an injured heron. The man I spoke to described his observations to me. The bird had apparently been flying low and had crashed right into the side of the building that houses his business. He watched the bird for awhile to see if it would fly away or if it needed assistance. The bird was able to fly up onto a piece of machinery but it was very unstable. He decided to capture the bird and bring it to the clinic. I was glad to have a new bird to learn about, and also to have a distraction from thinking about the loss of Rudy.

Even in it’s somewhat debilitated condition, the bird was quite intimidating. It stood almost as tall as me and had a very long, pointed beak that could have easily put out an eye. At first I thought it was very underweight. It weighed only 5 pounds. Later that day while researching the species, I learned that the average weight is just over 5 pounds. They are very tall, slender birds. It was a young bird.

Why had it flown into the building? Why was it so ataxic? Perhaps the bird was stunned from the impact with the building. The x-rays we took ruled out heavy metal toxicity and fractures. Blood work offered no explanation for his condition. Had it become dehydrated and overheated? It was a very hot day that day. Was it weak due to a shortage of proper nutrition?

The heron stayed at the clinic until later that day. I went home and prepared my big flight cage for his arrival. This cage was never meant to be a permanent structure. It was constructed several years ago when I had 6 crows. It was meant to be taken down when it was no longer needed. But since it’s construction, it has been “home“ to many different birds and animals.

Since it seems to be a much needed cage, this spring it is going to be modified and made to be a more sound structure, offering more protection from wind, rain and the hot sun. It really wasn’t a big enough enclosure for a bird as large as the heron. But since he was weak and not likely to be doing a lot of flying around anyway, it would do.

For the first 3 days I had to hand feed the heron. Small minnows were placed down his throat, past his trachea, using a very long forceps. He was fed like this 3 times a day. On day 4 I was so pleasantly surprised when I saw him feeding himself from the tub of water that I had put minnows in. From this point on, he fed himself.

The heron seemed to be growing stronger every day. He began flying up onto a ledge in the cage. I would also see him perching on one of the branches attached to the sides of the cage. He looked so out of place perching on this branch. After dark I would see just the silhouette of him outlined against the tarp that covers two sides of the cage. I thought he was magnificent.

I had a nagging feeling about this release. He didn’t fly and that bothered me. I didn’t have that feeling of elation that comes with a perfect release. Only time would tell us whether this was a successful release or not. Dr. Mortimer and others in this “community in the woods” would be on the lookout for our heron.

One week later Dr. Mortimer called me from his cabin. The heron had been found in a neighbor’s yard and was very weak and unsteady. Dr. Mortimer didn’t think the bird would survive the night so a flying trip was made to retrieve the heron. I took a small supply of minnows with me so I could feed him when I got there. What had gone wrong? It had seemed like the perfect place for him to be released.

The heron was so thin and so very weak. I was glad I had thought to take minnows with me and decided to feed him a few before we left the cabin. When I opened his mouth to feed him I discovered a large number of liver-colored parasites attached to the mucosa under his tongue. They were not there the first time I had the heron. Dr. Mortimer thought we should send some of the parasites in to the state lab to see what they were.

I made a spot for the heron in a smaller, more protected enclosure. He was going to need daily doses of an antiparasitic medication for 5-7 days and he was going to require hand feeding once again. I felt so bad for the bird and decided to try to get in touch with someone who had experience rehabilitating this species. Fortunately, Jamie, a rehabilitator in California, responded to my email and we had an on-going correspondence until the second release of the heron.

We did send a sample of the parasites to the state lab. I described where they were found and estimated the number of them. Each day I removed more of the parasites and each day there were fewer and fewer of them. Thankfully the medication was working. The lab identified them as adult trematodes. These parasites cycle first through freshwater snails, then frogs and fish, and finally herons and bitterns. They do not feed on blood or fluids. They feed on small amounts of tissue over time. The report also said that heavy infections such as in this case are not common. My California friend, Jamie, said that they are seen commonly in very small numbers, and in a case where you have an ill and/or compromised bird they will just take over.

The heron had lost nearly half of his weight. He now weighed only 2.9 pounds. He had little breast muscle left and his keel bone protruded like the edge of a knife. I was worried that he would not survive. I was afraid of feeding him too much too soon so I fed him frequent small meals. After about 4 days of this he once again began to feed himself.

The heron went to work with me once a week to be weighed. He was slowly gaining his weight back. Each week he was a little bit more difficult to handle. This was a good sign. A bird that will just sit on the scale and not move is a sick bird. Feistiness is a good sign.

I stayed in contact with Jamie, giving him frequent updates on the heron. I asked him about release sites and described two areas I had in mind. I didn’t think it would be wise to return him to the first release site since he obviously had not done well there. Jamie told me that there will usually be a dominant heron and if newcomers don’t get along well with the dominant one, they are chased off. Is this what happened to my heron?

One of the areas that I was considering for release was a small lake. I like to go kayaking there and had seen a heron there recently. This one was an adult heron and so big and beautiful. You wouldn’t expect to see them perching in the pine trees but at certain times of the day that’s where you would find this one.

After about a month, the heron was back up to 4 pounds, was eating over 13 dozen minnows per day and once again was very unhappy at being confined. It was time for Boomer to go. I had given him the name Boomer, short for boomerang, because he came back!! I emailed Jamie with this update on Boomer and he said he thought it sounded like it was time for Boomer to go. So, on September 6 th, after being at my house for over a month this time, I released Boomer.

Here is what Jamie wrote: “Hi Mickie. From what I know, this is the perfect release. They check out their environment, then take flight. This can last up to 30 minutes. But if they fly away with grace and control, it’s their time. Good job being a heron mother! I find they are often a misunderstood species. Lucky for them, you are learning their needs. Thanks for sharing this experience with me.

Don’t be disappointed if you don’t see your guy. A young heron usually takes off for “greener pastures”, so to speak. Thanks again for this great journey. These guys are really worth it.”

Thank you to Jamie for all of his help and encouragement, for always being so positive and for welcoming all of my questions. I am anxious to return to the little lake where Boomer was released. I am so hoping to see some herons. I will have no way of knowing whether any of them are Boomer or not, but I can hope. Does Boomer remember the time spent at my house? What kind of memory does a heron have? Would the sight of me and the sound of my voice ignite any little spark of recognition? I like to think so. I like to think that Boomer would recognize me. I like to think that upon hearing my voice, Boomer would take flight and say, “Look at me, Mickie, look at me!!”