Today I was proud of my friends Rob Quinn and Doug Brown - a bird’s best friends.
Our adventure started with our evening ride on the RiverWalk. We usually ride from UTC out to the dam and back several times a week. It’s my way of getting much-needed exercise and I have several friends who push me along each week. Today’s ride was much the same as all others with one exception, when we got to the dam we stopped to enjoy the blue herons feeding down the steep bank on the river’s edge. Rob was very concerned that one particular heron seemed to be struggling. I didn’t give it much thought, but Rob was insistent that something wasn’t right.
If you have ever been to the south side of the dam, you know about the steep embankment covered in sharp riprap stretching 30 to 40 yards from the sidewalk down to the river’s edge. The riprap is there to stop erosion and anyone crazy enough to walk on it is just asking for an injury.
Well, wouldn’t you know it, the next thing I knew Rob and Doug were headed down that riprap to lend assistance to the blue heron. By now one of the more dominant herons had begun picking on the weaker apparently injured bird. Doug later told me they nicknamed the bully “Bart”. Why, I can’t imagine.
Upon close investigation, they discovered the heron was completely entangled in fishing line and was unable to move or fly. Rob was able to hold the bird’s long beak while Doug cut and peeled many yards of fishing line which had been strangling the bird. Finally the bird was released free to enjoy the fishing grounds with his fellow herons.
Rob and Doug aren’t heroes, just normal folks who took the time to do the right thing. How many of us would have risked injury in order to save a bird. Yes, today I’m proud of my friends Rob Quinn and Doug Brown.
Douglas M. Dyer