Ahhhh, the quiet days of summer! I don't think the phone rang but once today and it was for a bird 50 miles away! Luckily it was in another facility's "territory" so I simply gave the caller their number. I did tell him to be sure to leave them a message, they may be out on a rescue, but that if he doesn't get a response out of them to call me back in 15 minutes. The reason I do this is because I've talked to too many callers that get frustrated while trying to do "a good deed" and they get upset saying "Everyone keeps telling me to call someone else!" Once when this happened the caller said I was the 20th (or so) phone call he'd made. I said, "Really? You should have called me first, it would have saved you some time!" I was in a joking mood that day, but there are days when rehabbers are simply stressed to the max and have been known to be a little short with callers, myself included!
When the tenth call comes in for a "bird on the 7-Mile Bridge" the fearless rehabber thinks, "Gee, can't ANYONE stop for the bird before it becomes road pizza?" but the logical rehabber knows that it is a very dangerous situation and a call to the local sheriff's dispatcher for the nearest cruiser in the area to provide the experience rehabber with an escort is the better way to handle it. I once drove a few miles onto the 7-mile Bridge looking for a reportedly injured pelican with a good friend of mine who runs The Turtle Hospital in Marathon. They rehab sea turtles here in the Keys. When the call came in I was visiting him and he said "Let's take the ambulance!" The ambulance is just that, an ambulance for injured sea turtles! He said when we got there he'd turn on the rotating lights on the top of the ambulance (orange, not red and blue!) and he'd jump out and grab the bird while I went to the back of the van and threw the doors open to receive it. The plan was for him to quickly hand me the bird so we could resume driving and get off this rather narrow bridge. We saw the bird in the northbound lane, but since we were in the southbound lane he pulled the van over here and jumped out. He held his hand up to stop traffic. This allowed him to cross the lane and scoop up the bird. As he turned around the lady who had stopped for him had already resumed driving and almost flattened him. What would it have taken for her to wait a whole minute versus ten seconds so he could safely return to the ambulance?!
On this same bridge years later I got a call about a downed osprey. Here we go again, the 7-mile Bridge, but to boot it was a cloudy, rainy day! I grabbed a volunteer to go with me since it always helps to have someone know who I am if I get creamed by a restless driver! It will make the police work easier! Just kidding, sort of! Two sets of eyes looking for a bird on a long bridge like this comes in handy. When I saw the bird I was frustrated to see that "some idiot" had pulled up to the bird and was exactly where I would prefer to be pulling up for such a quick and dangerous rescue. Here I am, usually aggravated that no one stops and when someone does I feel like they're in my way! The person hadn't even exited their vehicle yet! I jumped out of mine (in the rain, remember!), ran past the first vehicle and tossed a towel over the bird in a flash. As I scooped up the bird and stood up I turned around to come face to face with the driver of the vehicle. "Kelly! I'm glad it's you," said the person. I couldn't help but smile, "Rick! I'm glad it's you!!!" I responded to our local sheriff Rick Roth! Rick and I have a history that has to do with ospreys and he's a known "bird magnet" -- someone who has rescued their share of injured birds. No more had to be said because both Rick and I knew that stopping on bridges was dangerous. "See ya!", I said to the sheriff. "Later!" he replied as we both hopped into our trucks and pulled back into traffic. I like friends like that! Those that can communicate without all the small talk!
Ahhhh, again, the quiet days of summer! I have lots of little stories to fill in quiet days like today! But it's been a long day and an oppressively hot one at that so hi ho, hi ho, off to home I go!
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