Please recycle or cut up and dispose of fishing tackle. This juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron had both legs bound together with fishing line. He had the ability to fly and perch but was hobbled when walking. He was waiting for handouts on the pier. His wading and foraging ability will be seriously compromised unless someone can get him and cut him free. The line was also wrapped tight around his leg as you can see in this photo, another issue altogether.
Unlike the gull I was able to capture very close to this location, there was no way for me and Hugh to catch this heron with the bare rescue kit we had (no net, etc). We tried one stealth maneuver but he evaded us. We didn't want to push it and possibly scare him into a worse situation.
I notified a local wildlife rescue in the hopes that they'll continue checking Redondo Pier for these birds. There's a lot of interaction between wildlife, fishermen, and fishing gear in that area and I did not see any monofilament recycling areas or signs alerting fisher people to the issue.
Tags: birds tangled entangled fishing line fishing gear monofilament black-crowned night heron herons juvenile young caught injured foot redondo pier redondo beach southern california los angeles pacific ocean winter january 2014 olympus om-d e-m1 zuiko 50-200mm
A discarded backpack washed up after a storm, with a backdrop of an offshore petroleum rig (THUMS islands).
Tags: petroleum offshore drilling rig island long beach california southern california backpack manufacturing thums island san pedro bay east wilmington oil field astronaut islands
A dead ray and fish in Lake Merritt - From the ecological calamity at Lake Merritt in Oakland this morning ... images from the huge fish die-off, related to the algae bloom on SF Bay. We couldn't fully count the number of dead and dying fish, rays, and other aquatic animals that lined the lake's shore. It seemed endless.
A lot of what I see and photograph around wildlife isn't portrait-perfect. The already tough reality for wild animals is often made so much harsher by the environmental hazards we create or exacerbate. Bearing witness to these things can feel inconsolable at times. The scene today was utterly heart crushing.
According to a piece in the SF Chronicle today, this is the largest algal bloom we've seen in the region, "dominated by a harmful species known as Heterosigma akashiwo."
From the same article -- Ian Wren, a scientist with San Francisco Baykeeper says: "We’ve never seen this before and even the models that have been developed didn’t see this as being possible.”
Among the dead fish were those still living, which in turn drew a frenzy of pelicans, egrets, and cormorants to feed. I don't know if this bloom will impact the birds in any way this time. I'm hoping, of course, that they, at least, will be spared fully any negative outcomes.
❤️ to Lake Merritt and our beautiful SF Bay
Tags: 2022 august california bay area red tide Heterosigma akashiwo oakland bat ray fish kill die-off sf san francisco lake merritt algal bloom algae
First week in SoCal ... went for a short walk early in the morning, and came back with this [reluctant] person. Poor guy (Western Gull) was almost crippled by fishing monofilament and hooks. The fishing line was wrapped around his bill and embedded in his neck, then pulled tight around his wing joint. He had a barbed hook all the way through his foot, and another barbed hook buried under his wing.
I saw him up the beach and knew immediately something was wrong. He wasn't with the other gulls and he didn't move at all when a beach patrol vehicle nearly ran him over. I ran up to check out the situation and could see that he was in rough shape -- and just a foot away from the tire track. At that point, I couldn't see the extent of the injuries. I sidled up, hoping to distract him then throw my jacket over him to capture him, but he evaded me, despite being this debilitated.
I decided to wait around to see if another opportunity might arise. And sure enough, it did. I was taking a few photos of other birds and during that time, he was creeping toward the water ... but, he didn't have enough mobility to navigate the surf. I caught him in my periphery, just as a wave swept him out. By pure luck, I was able to grab him as another big wave came in.
Even more lucky for the gull -- a veterinarian just happened to be running by on her morning jog. She cut away the fishing line but couldn't remove the hooks because of the barbs.
So, I drove the gull to International Bird Rescue in San Pedro, California. I hope this bird was able to recover. In this shot, he was wrapped in my jacket and under my arm, biting me as we walked. He'd just regained use of his bill after being wrapped with the fishing line. Gull bites don't really hurt that much ... except when they get your face. :-)
Tags: gull seagull seabird monofilament fishing line gear fishing hooks hooks injury entanglement entangled redondo beach southern california international bird rescue western gull adult wildlife rescue
I've spent a lot of time on beaches photographing shorebirds, and it's astounding how much trash these birds have to navigate while foraging for food. Plastics litter the wrack line, fishing monofilament wraps around kelp. I've come upon washed up rodenticide traps, bubble wrap around driftwood, canisters of spray paint or other toxic products, loads of golf balls, yogurt cups, squeeze pouches, candy wrappers, plastic. We pick up the most egregious pieces (fishing line and hooks, entanglement hazards), but on the day I shot this image, the entire shore was littered with this type of plastic, impossible to remedy without a huge cleanup effort.
Tags: litter garbage wrack line bird wildlife shorebird sanderling plastic beach trash ocean trash san francisco bay bay beach ocean trash