Herb Houghton Offline Upload & Sell: On
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The latest on the rescued skimmer chick from several weeks ago:
Hi Herb,
Got your voicemail and wanted to let you know that I spoke to the rehabber and he was surprised (bc the bird was in pretty bad shape) and pleased to let me know that the chick made it and was released in the Barnegat Bay area. Great news!
Christina Davis
Endangered and Nongame Species Program
NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife
I encountered an unfortunate juvenile skimmer chick on Tuesday which had a bad limp, but it was healthy looking otherwise. It was being harassed and beaten up by several adult skimmers which chased it out of the nesting colony and they were planning to finish him off imo. I called the NJFWS which came to take it away to a rehabilitator. Hopefully it's leg heals and it's able to regroup with another skimmer flock before too long. No word yet from the FWS about it's present condition. There wasn't much skimmer predation by gulls/falcons this year either, just laughing gulls stealing the larger sized baitfish which are being flown in for the chicks. The fishing parties are coming and going with escorts nowadays and the flock never empties the beach completely as it has in the past seasons, leaving unfledged chicks vulnerable. Several adults are staying grounded with the chicks for added protection this season. Definitely, a new behavior for me to observe.
The first two shots show the last adult inflicted abuse on the chick. I stepped in at this point as the chick looked dehydrated and weak. It certainly wasn't being fed anymore. It actually limped to where I was kneeling and it lay next to my leg in the shade. I stayed with it like this until my wife brought a box to transport it to a rehabilitator.
Herb
#1-5 It was almost high noon with major heat waves, so I got way better shots with the iPhone than shooting across the hot sand with a long lens.
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#5 my wife Susan took this shot of me and the chick
Edited on Sep 02, 2014 at 07:57 PM · View previous versions
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