The other afternoon I arrived home after work, changed into civvies
and settled down on the veranda, cold beer in hand, to enjoy that period when
the sun starts to set & the water turns to glass. Everything is still
except the chatter of the birds.
So here I am sitting there chatting to Button (she now
visits me daily at this time), and I could hear my Pee Wees making a commotion and
repeatedly flying behind the mangroves next door.
Now what caught their attention now had mine.
A bird was flapping in the water. I thought a Pee Wee that
had tried to move into the territory had been driven into the water by my
resident pair (Pernicious & Pedro).
However it happened, I had no choice. Unfortunately for me
was where the bird was.
The mud here, you sink with each step. Now your shoeless
foot sinks thru 18” of mud. Just to add to the experience & thanks to the
local kids throwing ½ bricks and rocks at the ducks, it was like walking thru a
mine field. With every step, as I sink thru the quagmire, I might hit one of
these oyster covered gems.
So, GoPro mounted on head off I trudge. When I got closer I
saw that it wasn’t a Pee Wee, but a Magpie that was caught up in fishing line,
hanging upside down in the water.
Getting there without losing a toe, I was presented with a
pissed off Magpie. Great, now the prospect of losing a finger.
OK, so he’s wrapped himself up in line that’s been strung
between 2 mangroves.
Fault in the plan – well at this point there were 2 &
they happened at the same time.
1st/ Dragging 1 very pissed off & noisy bird
3’ or 4’ behind me and forgetting to cut the other end of the line.
2nd/ when that pulled tight, I was in the middle
of the mine field mid-stride. Here I was faced with 2 choices, lose a toe or
possibly lose a wing. Self-preservation is a powerful instinct. Lucky for the
bird neither of us lost an appendage. Neither reality were going to end well
for the bird J
So back to terra firma, I could now take time and look at
that I was faced with.
Seemed he had the line wrapped around this wing a number of
times. My main concern was if he had broken his wing. What happened next amazed
me. I laid him on his back & he just laid there. Letting me inspect him.
Now I believe that is a defence mechanism to play dead when
predated on, but that’s not the case here. He was watching my every move.
So, successfully released from his bond, he still needed the
wing looked at.
This is when things went a little pear shaped. He took
umbrage at being man handled and proceed to tell me that, in no uncertain terms
(I’m sure he didn’t miss any of my fingers, BTW, they bite way harder than a
kookaburra).
Released, he flies a few meters, I check I still have all my
fingers, and then he flies off.
I saw him 2 days later & he was OK. Yeah, thanks for
asking, the swelling in my fingers was also slowly going down at this stage.
For the full rescue, check out the video