Last Sunday Betty
received a call from Australian Seabird Rescue team member Shari, to say there
were a bunch of pelicans at Greenwell Point covered in oil. So a scramble was
on to get there asap. Betty and Kathryn took the ASR van with Kirsten and Jeff
following close behind. Betty and Kathryn thought they were only 5 minutes from
their destination when low and behold they rounded a corner and came across a
herd of cows crossing the road heading for their afternoon milking (not sure
what "Mr Cow" was doing amongst them!).
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| We had to wait for a herd of cows to cross the road! They were very interested in us. |
After waiting patiently for
them all to cross (we didn't have much choice did we!) we continued on our way.
Shari and Sean were waiting for us when we arrived at Greenwell Point along
with Judy from WIRES who had come along to help. Shari and Sean had already
captured one pelican. This one not only had oil on his feathers but had a bad
wound on his back. The nooses were set and Shari and Sean managed to capture
another of the oily pelicans while Jeff snagged one using the beak grab method.
By this time the birds had become rather wary and while still hanging around
hoping for a free feed, they were not coming close enough to capture. So unfortunately
this left at least 3 more oily birds out there.
The least affected of
the pelicans was taken to Judy's for treatment and overnight care in an
enclosure usually reserved for wombats! Betty and Kathryn took the other 2 back
to Wollongong in the van, with the birds protesting all the way.
We stopped at the
Berkeley fish shop to pick up supplies for the birds dinner and Betty noticed a sick pelican in the
wetlands. Jeff had attempted to catch this bird in the morning but at that
stage she still had enough energy to continuously keep out of his reach. So no
rest for Kirsten and Jeff as they were called on their way home from Greenwell
Point and using the kayak successfully picked up the now very sick bird. She
has botulism, which is very prevalent at this time of year. With a few days of
TLC, many of these birds are able to make a full recovery. Meanwhile, the two
oily birds were installed in their new home. Their bath would wait til the next
day as it was so wet and miserably cold by this time.
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| The oily pelicans are washed and given antibiotics. |
It has been a busy
period for ASR and Betty has had a lot of birds come into care. We don't know
how the Greenwell Point birds became covered with oil so the worry is how many
and what other wildlife are affected.
Many thanks to Shari,
Sean, Judy, Betty, Kirsten, and Jeff for their help in the successful capture
of 3 oily birds and also thanks to the member of the public who first noticed and
reported them.
Kathryn
