Grebe Rescue!

Tender Heart and I birded Racine's harbor Saturday afternoon after a LONG day at the ER with my step-daughter (she's fine, a sprained knee). Things were happening there! I counted over 80 Greater Scuap floating in the water. Combined with a few Redheads, some Buffleheads, a couple of Ruddy Ducks and Common Goldeneyes. There were a few Common Mergarsers and Red Breasted Mergansers. A Mute Swan. Some Canada Geese flew in... Sorta like a paradise for waterfowl in the calm waters.

Out of the blue, a small duck like bird flew in and landed rough in the icy shore. I recognized it immediately as a Pied Billed Grebe. My first of the year! I thought it was odd having a grebe on ice, seeing that their legs are so far back on their bodies that they can't walk very good, more less take off from there.

Then I saw a young Hispanic woman walk out from behind her beat up van with, what appeared to me, was a bag a bread. I yelled out of my car window. "These guys eats fish!" She walked up to my car and told me that she had just released the grebe. With a towel in her hands, it made sense. She didn't know what kind of bird it was, but she had found it on the road by the airport. Definitely, the wrong place for it be! She had taken it to humane society, the animal shelter and even to the police. NO ONE would take it! I was SHOCKED! Perhaps no one knew how to take care of a fish eating grebe or the shelters were full...

Whatever the reason it was...The grebe somehow scampered off the ice and into the water. Safe and sound! It dove into the water and popped back up. It was fine. The grebe then looked back at us for a moment as if to say. "Thanks!" We watched it drift towards the flocks of waterfowl...

I applaud the efforts of this lady! She had made the right call to release this grebe here at the harbor (where there was open water) when all other options failed. This rescue made my day!