Bird Board
Green Cay Shoveler - injured?
The shoveler was still around this past weekend at Green Cay. I first spotted it in the large pond in the center of the park, closer to the NE end of the park. It spent quite a bit of time feeding around there - and I noticed the entire time it always seemed to have the left leg canted up much farther than the right, and the tail and left wing feathers always held up in the air. I was happy to see after 20 minutes when it flew - it looked strong enough and normal in flight, as it moved towards the south end of the park and landed again - but even in flight, that left leg stayed much farther up than the right.
Would an injury have prevented it from making its normal migration north at the end of winter, and it's just been sticking around various watery spots in S. Florida since? I've attached a photo - it was very far away so I was shooting at 600mm on an APS-C camera and then cropped further, from a good 400 feet away...but enough that you can see the rear foot and feathers up. I've seen ducks dabbling around with the back feet held up against the body like this, but rarely quite so high, and only the left leg went this far up and stayed there, even when he was using the right to paddle.
Comments
I'm sorry to hear about this, Justin. The shoveler kept his left side away from us when we sent to see him.
When I saw the bird, an experienced birder nearby suggested it might be an old individual, not in good enough condition to migrate. This made a lot of sense to me; what better things does a shoveler have to do other than going North and mating? It's consistent with the leg too; older individuals like me have had more time to pick up nagging injuries.
Sorry you and the Shoveler won't be winging it north due to those nagging injuries,
Colin, because it sure is hot and buggy around here! S;-)
Good point Colin. You tend to forget sometimes animals just get old too!
A few weeks back I picked up a dead anhinga at Wakodahatchee - it had been gasping a few last breaths according to people who passed it, and then stopped breathing. No apparent injuries - lots of grey and faded feathers - while it could have been poisoned or choked, I came to the conclusion it just might have been old and was time to go. It felt wrong letting it just lie on the boardwalk with everyone passing it, so I grabbed the tail and lowered it into the water - the turtles, fish, and gators would recycle it back again.
Which is perhaps why I was thinking about nature and mortality yesterday, Justin. Species develop mortality rates which probably help them survive. Species like ours which benefit from experience perhaps therefore live longer, and others like the Shoveler which need to change genetically to adjust to shifts in the environment have shorter life spans.
There would be no change in organisms if there were no death, and therefore life would not be able to adjust to inevitable environmental changes, and therefore there would be no life.
Conversely, death allows species to flower into their beautiful diversity.
I was looking at my younger son while thinking of this. Eventually his old man will move on, and I guess it's a terrible / beautiful thing.
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