Hello VABirders,
I hope you don't mind me sharing a letter from a wildlife rehabilitator in
NC. I learned something new today and maybe you will, too. On Sept 13, I
rescued
a Great Black-backed Gull at Cape Point on Cape Hatteras and this is her
reply to my question as to the bird's status. Ms. Hanrahan is a wonderful lady
who
has helped many birds in need, including a weakened Common Loon and injured
Sandwich Tern I found last year on OBX.
*****************
Hi Laura,
Nice to hear from you. Sorry, though, that your vacation was so rudely
interrupted. Do hope that you all survived up in that DC area.
Sadly, the GBBG did not make it. It died that afternoon. Despite their
size and angry look they are very nice birds; almost as docile as pelicans.
Just a joy to work with. Much nicer than Herring Gulls. Your GBB was very
dehydrated, must have sat on the beach a long time before you were kind
enough to pick it up. I have a policy, anything that is not transferred to
the NC Museum of Natural Science, that I do not know what happened I
necropsy (autopsy on another species other than your own). The Gull was
full of Aspergialloais (sp). It is common in sea, water, wading birds. I
treat many, especially Loons and birds that do not stand, provincially-to
prevent it. In short, asper, is a fungus of the lungs. It is treated with
the same meds that people use for toenail fungus at about 1/10th the dose
daily.I'll attach a picture of a Cory's Shearwater that I did las week. It
will go to the Museum-they still want him.
Let's see. The storm..we did fine. Ocracoke did fine. Oh, there is lots
of stuff: hwy 12 wash out, pony pen destroyed. But overall, we were really
blessed. The authorities opened the island to property owners and visitors
last weekend. These are stoic people and we all did well.
Birding was good and very depressing. The beach moved as a result of the
storm. The storm caused the beach to "fold over itself." As a result there
were not the large numbers of dead birds on the beach such as Dennis.
Thousands of birds were probably 2 to 4 feet under the sand. Most all
dunes on the island were completely washed out. I found one shearwater and
one was brought in. The beach was full of oil slicks on the water and
litter, litter, trash. One shearwater was released. There were no other
birds on the beach side or sound side. The combination of beach & sound &
sand movement covered everything to a depth of 2-4 feet.
Elizabeth Hanrahan
Wildlife Rehabilitator
State & Federal Permits
Ocracoke, NC
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