Wounded Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Heron is common in North America and can be found along water habitats such as fresh and salt-water marshes, rivers, swamps, flooded meadows, lake edges, and shorelines. Their diet consists of small fish, which they spear with their long sharp beak. They are amazing creatures, able to fly at great speed from the air to the water to spear fish with powerful force.

The first time I saw one of them was beside a small creek. When it flew out in front of me up in the air screeching with its hoarse croaking squawk, I thought I had seen a long lost prehistoric pterodactyl! This bird looks tiny but is very large when in flight.

Walden’s Puddle is a wildlife refuge and rehabilitation center in Joelton,Tennessee, that takes in wildlife creatures that have been injured and helps them heal and be safely re-released into the wild. As interesting as this was to see, it was very sad to see such a magnificent creature slightly askew inside this box. However, even though it was still in the box, Elle-girl and I kept our distance. For this is a wild creature that does not understand the situation that it has been placed in.

Great Blue heron in flight

It was at this moment the lady that had brought this bird decided that his neck looked uncomfortable inside this box and decided to scoop him up like you would a small puppy so he could re adjust. Before I could warn her that she shouldn’t move him, it was too late. As she was holding him he raised his long neck focused on her face and struck her in the eye with his sharp beak.

She was stunned and tried to assure her children that were with her that she was okay, and then her eye began to bleed.

I took her inside the office at that time, where David began to administer First Aide. After cleaning the area and providing her with an eye patch he calmly instructed her to please go straight to the ER. He later explained to me that she had a small hole puncture the size of a nail in her eyeball, and would likely have severe trauma to her sight.

In the end, Walden’s Puddle was unable to contact us in time, for it was the weekend, and the Heron, did not make it through the day.

Heron, close-up

To my readers, especially those of you living near bodies of water, please, please, please, if you come in contact with an injured wild animal, birds included, do not move it. Try to contact the proper officials. Look online for a wildlife rehabilitation center near you to contact in case of something like this. A State Park, especially a Historic State Park, is not the one to handle such a situation. Though it might seem like the right thing to do, it is not. If you cannot find someone to properly remove the animal, as hard as this might sound, you should just let nature take its course.

The woman who was injured reported back to us that her vision was fine, but the bird did in fact peck a piece of her eyeball out, thankfully it missed the pupil.

Where wildlife animals are concerned please be careful!

On September 4, at 7:30 p.m., Dr. Andy Barrass, Department of Biology, Austin Peay State University, will present the Bat Recovery Program for Dunbar Cave. This program will be held at the APSU Sundquist Science center Complex D126 at 7:30 p.m.

Dr. Barrass will also host the October 2 program on the Mountain Top Removal Roadshow with Dave Cooper.This program is designed to educate the public about mountain top removal mining. The Mountaintop Removal Road Show includes a stunning 22-minute slide show about the impacts of mountaintop removal on coalfield residents, communities and the environment, and features traditional Appalachian mountain music and shocking aerial photos of decapitated Appalachian mountains.This program will start at 7:30 p.m.

The groups first annual potluck dinner will be held November 6 at Hilldale United Methodist in the Heritage Hall Room at the back of the church. 6:00 p.m.  The topic for the evening’s program will be Important Bird Areas and the Yucatan, presented by Scott Somershoe of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Sommershoe will give a brief update on the Important Bird Area (IBA) program status in Tennessee and share a recent trip to the Sian Ka’am Biosphere Reserve in the Yucatan peninsula.

“We are working on data collection important for the IBA program, i.e. wading bird surveys, eagle monitoring, etc. I will discuss status and results of statewide monitoring programs. I will also provide an introduction to the Watchable Wildlife Website that I am developing through TWRA. Finally, I will talk about a very recent trip to the Yucatan peninsula, specifically Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, to band birds for a research project.”

– Scott Sommershoe

On December 4, at 7:30 p.m., Richard Tippit of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will review the Corps’ Water Management in the Cumberland River basin.

The exhibit is small, confined to a single wall panel, but features wonderful mixed media drawings and paintings by young artists. The Duck Stamp exhibit is part of a statewide initiative to bring awareness to local wildlife and its ecosystems.

The Duck Stamp exhibit is located on the lower level of the Custom House Museum

All entries for this annual Tennessee art competition are due on March 15 each year. There are two key rules. First, the species of waterfowl you draw must be a native North American duck, goose, or swan. Second, all entries must be drawn horizontally and be 9″ high by 12″ wide.

Soon after the annual entry deadline, the artwork is judged by a panel of experts. The judges change each year, but the panel typically includes a combination of waterfowl biologists, artists, and natural resource professionals. The art is separated into four grade groups (K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12), and each group is judged independently. Once the first place winners for each group have been selected, they are viewed again to select a single Best of Show for the state.

The contest was sponsored by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in partnership with Tennessee Wildlife Federation, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Bass Pro Shops. Judges were Steve Middleton with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Julie Schuster of Bass Pro Shops, Sarah Welker past state coordinator of the Tennessee Jr. Duck Stamp program, Brian Elkins of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Matt Varino, Field Representative for Senator Alexander.

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