On Saturday, we received a call from a family in Samsula. They found a young Anhinga sitting on their picnic table with something caught around the end of its beak. When I got there, I found a large ball of something similar to velcro hanging from its beak, with just a few strings wrapped around the very end of its beak. It could not open its mouth, and therefore, had probably not been able to eat for some time.
Anhingas have serrated edges to their beaks, to aid in catching fish, and whatever this stuff was, it was strong and could not be pulled apart, or pulled off because of the serrated edges, so I used scissors on a Swiss Army Knife. It took me 10 minutes to cut all of the material away from its beak, and all the while, this young bird just sat there quietly, not struggling, waiting to be freed.
Because he was still strong, we took him back to the creek and set him down, he quietly waddled over to the edge and jumped in, quickly diving into the cool water. When he popped up, he turned around for just a moment, and then he was gone.
Another great day! And another great use for Swiss Army Knives!
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