Nature Miramichi

Hi All,

There was a rescue today of a bird in difficulty near the Quarryville Bridge. Club member Anne Assaff became involved and I asked her if she could recount the event. There was a happy ending.

Anne:

“Someone had contacted Pam Novak at Atlantic Wildlife Institute that there was a loon in need of help next to the Quarryville Bridge. She wondered if I knew of anyone who could check it out. …..

Pam soon messaged me that Robert Shorthall from the Richibucto area was on his way. I was able to take a drive out to Quarryville and met up with the young man named Cameron who found the loon (I didn’t get his last name) and his grandmother, Lori Donahue. He had managed to get the immature loon into a rubbermaid container. With Pam Novak on the phone guiding us, Cameron held the loon’s head and I checked its wings. It was feisty, flapping its wings, and didn’t appear to have any injuries. She suspected it had just gotten itself stranded on wet pavement (thinking it was a waterway).

(Loons must take off from water due to the position of their legs I understand, Peter)

When Robert arrived, he concurred that it seemed healthy. He got it into a pet carrier and took it down to open water near his home in Richibucto.

Here are a few photos I took. Robert may have taken some of its release.

In the group photo are Robert Shorthall, Cameron and his grandmother, Lori. (It looks like me in the photo, but it’s Lori )

A happy ending!”

Anne