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This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_PtRN6nWCh6uW/iWpC3GnFA) Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Laura and I took our evening walk along Sandy Cove Road, HRM, with no expectations of unusual sightings since birds have been scarce in the area. After we passed the rise in the road and started the downhill trudge towards Sandy Cove I spotted a bird on the road. I viewed the bird in my binoculars and low and behold if it wasn't my Harlequin Duck from this morning marching up the centreline of Sandy Cove Road. Clearly this bird was in trouble. As we approached the duck it took a right turn into a hunter's trail. I followed with my cardigan in hand prepared for an easy capture. Well this crafty bird ducked into the hollow formed by a fallen tree. It was impossible to get at so rather than rattle the bird further we decided to get the car and try again a little later. After returning to the scene of the duck's hidey hole I came to the conclusion that this bird would likely not survive the night since clearly it was unable to fly due to injury or fatigue. I used a stick as a motivator and out it came. After a short chase in the underbrush I captured it. With Laura holding the Harlequin Duck under my sweater we headed for the Spryfield Animal Hospital. Once there and after explaining the situation to the hospital staff Hope for Wildlife was contacted. A volunteer was available in the area for immediate pickup and transport of the bird. The Harlequin Duck was emaciated and also its lower mandible was hanging loose, either broken or a muscle tear. The poor bird was starving hence its odd dabbling behavior at Sandy Cove this morning. Its wings appeared undamaged so it was probably just too fatigued to fly. When last seen the Harlequin Duck was resting in a blanket lined box. I closed the lid and wrote on it the identify of the bird, my name and phone number, and the name we gave it, Sandy. We wish it well. Hans _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hans Toom Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada http://www.hanstoom.com/ --Boundary_(ID_PtRN6nWCh6uW/iWpC3GnFA) Content-type: text/html; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.6148" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Laura and I took our evening walk along Sandy Cove Road, HRM, with no expectations of unusual sightings since birds have been scarce in the area. After we passed the rise in the road and started the downhill trudge towards Sandy Cove I spotted a bird on the road. I viewed the bird in my binoculars and low and behold if it wasn't my <STRONG>Harlequin Duck</STRONG> from this morning marching up the centreline of Sandy Cove Road. Clearly this bird was in trouble.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As we approached the duck it took a right turn into a hunter's trail. I followed with my cardigan in hand prepared for an easy capture. Well this crafty bird ducked into the hollow formed by a fallen tree. It was impossible to get at so rather than rattle the bird further we decided to get the car and try again a little later.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>After returning to the scene of the duck's hidey hole I came to the conclusion that this bird would likely not survive the night since clearly it was unable to fly due to injury or fatigue. I used a stick as a motivator and out it came. After a short chase in the underbrush I captured it.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>With Laura holding the Harlequin Duck under my sweater we headed for the Spryfield Animal Hospital. Once there and after explaining the situation to the hospital staff Hope for Wildlife was contacted. A volunteer was available in the area for immediate pickup and transport of the bird. The Harlequin Duck was emaciated and also its lower mandible was hanging loose, either broken or a muscle tear. The poor bird was starving hence its odd dabbling behavior at Sandy Cove this morning. Its wings appeared undamaged so it was probably just too fatigued to fly.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When last seen the Harlequin Duck was resting in a blanket lined box. I closed the lid and wrote on it the identify of the bird, my name and phone number, and the name we gave it,<STRONG> Sandy</STRONG>.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We wish it well.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><BR>Hans<BR>_________________________________________________________________________________________________________<BR>Hans Toom<BR>Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada<BR><A href="http://www.hanstoom.com/">http://www.hanstoom.com/</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML> --Boundary_(ID_PtRN6nWCh6uW/iWpC3GnFA)--
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