Three young children and their babysitter playing on the grounds of the Ridgeville Park District Community House on Tuesday morning got to witness a dramatic bird rescue, and received a lesson in ecology and environmentalism, too.
Daisy Hernandez, the babysitter, who lives in Chicago, and the children she was caring for – Barak McKay, 5, Brook McKay, 4, and Brylee McKay, 2, all from Evanston – were playing on the front lawn of the park district’s Community House when Barak called attention to a small bird dangling from the entrance of a small birdhouse on the park district lawn.
Hernandez’ mother, Reyna Ocampo, also from Chicago, had just joined the group, bringing her son Leo Hernandez, 7, to the park. She was going to spend part of the time with her daughter and son in the playground behind the Community House.
The bird’s “little leg was tied to a string,” Ocampo said. The string was attached to something inside the birdhouse that was preventing the bird, with tufted hair and barely three inches from tail to yellow beak, from breaking free, she said.
The group enlisted the help of Anna Christina Nelson, Ridgeville’s office manager and secretary, who had just arrived for work, at around 9:40 a.m.
When Nelson pulled up, she saw the concerned group waiting for her, she said. Her boss, Brian Rosinski, Ridgeville’s parks and recreation director, had suggested she get maintenance, she said, but Nelson, with some previous experience rescuing animals, joined the group first to see what she could do.
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Ocampo, using the flashlight on her iPhone, peered inside the bird house where the bird had retreated.
She tried clearing the debris inside, but the box was so jam-packed, Nelson said, that Nelson volunteered to run back into the community house and bring out some tools.
She brought out two sets of tweezers, manicure scissors and also some plastic gloves. Besides an animal rescue, the situation presented a teaching moment, she said.
“You don’t grab wild animals, we have to put on gloves. We’re very careful,” Nelson emphasized.
Even with the tools, Ocampo worked carefully.
“If we pulled too much at a time, it would kill him or hurt him more. So we were very gentle,” she said.
When she was finally able to free the bird, “his little leg was tied to a string attached to a bunch of debris,” she said.
Nelson and Ocampo made sure the children looked at the tangle of plastic bags and debris, which birds had picked up to put in their nest.
“This is litter … birds find on the street,” Ocampo said.
The bird, taking little sips of water from her, chirped and appeared to be in good condition.
“He’s a happy guy right now,” said Ocampo, still cradling him.
Entanglement “has a serious and tragic effect on birds of all kinds in the urban environment,” said Annette Prince, director of Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, a conservation group dedicated to the protection of migratory birds. “Responsible disposal of materials and clean-ups of lands and waterways are critical to protecting wildlife.”
Prince said in an email that “young birds often get tangled in nest materials – more so, if the parents have built nests using materials such as plastic, string, fishing line or netting.
Describing birds as opportunists, Prince said some man-made materials might be attractive to birds because of their durability, but can also be harmful to their young.
“We’ve seen young birds that got tangled with each other or some that were hanging by their legs from nests,” she said.
In such cases, “it is always best to get any bird (adult or young) captured after cutting the entangling material loose. [Ideally], they should go to a wildlife rehabilitation center such as Willowbrook Wildlife in Glen Ellen, to be evaluated for any injuries – nerve damage, fractures, lacerations – that occurred while they were entangled,” Prince said.
With a clean bill of health, they can be returned to where they came from or be kept for further care as needed, she said.
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