Blue Heron

Last Thursday, we had the opportunity to work with a blue heron. The heron was found in a cold creek, and appeared very weak. It did not fly away when approached like a normal, healthy heron. The people that found the heron were able to use a towel to catch it and bring it in to us. While we worked with the heron, we had to make sure we had control of its beak at all times. Even a weak, injured heron could strike at us with its long beak. When we examined the heron, it was weak and underweight, but we did not find any injury or cause of the problem. Our next step was to do an x-ray of the bird. The x-ray showed some abnormalities in the lungs and air sacs (extensions of the lungs present in birds). We came to the conclusion that the heron most likely had a respiratory infection. We gave the bird an antibiotic shot and some fluids. The fluids were given underneath the skin (SQ fluids), just like fluids are often given in dogs and cats. The next day, the heron appeared more lively, so we sent the heron to a bird rehabber. There are two pictures of the heron below. The first picture is when we first examined the bird, and the second picture is from the next day when the heron was doing better. We will post any updates from the rehabber on how the blue heron is doing.