Sea Duck Intake/Release

Sea Ducks
By Amy Titcomb

Every winter, the Center for Wildlife admits a few wayward seabirds that are found on land. Sometimes, these birds are emaciated, or have been tangled and fishing line, or otherwise injured. Fortunately, though, many of them are in absolutely perfect shape.

It starts like this: someone calls, and says there’s a beautiful and strange-looking bird they’ve never seen before in the road. It doesn’t look hurt, but it can’t seem to fly. They kindly catch the bird and bring it in to the Center, where the staff admires the bird and hunches over the bird books until we can figure out what it is… there are many seabirds who migrate past Maine or winter off-shore, but that we seldom see, and it is always an adventure identifying them! Once we know what the bird is, we set about trying to find what is wrong with it, but very often (if we and the bird are lucky) we can’t find a thing!

So what happened?

Seabirds have stout, rather heavy bodies, supported by relatively small legs that are set pretty far back on their body; this makes them good swimmers but a bit top-heavy and awkward when they walk – in fact, some can hardly walk at all. Therefore, most waterbirds are unable to run fast enough to take off: they can only take flight from the water (or from perches if they are perching birds, like cormorants). So, once these birds find themselves on land, they are in trouble. Sometimes they wash ashore in a particularly tough tide, but more often they are found in or near roads quite a ways from a beach… in these cases, they have accidentally landed on the road, mistaking the pavement for water!

These healthy but lost waterbirds are some of our favorite cases, as they come in and can usually be released within a day or two.

We still very much encourage people to bring in such birds. DO NOT simply return them to the ocean, because sometimes they do have other issues (lead poisoning or emaciation – skinny birds fluff up their feathers and often look fat, so don’t be fooled!). Please do not hesitate to give the Center a call if you see a confused and unusual bird waddling around unable to fly. Hopefully, we can check them out and send them off again, as we did with this winter’s Common Goldeneye and Oldsquaw!

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The Center tries to give much needed care but still allow the animals to be wild, with the intention of letting them go when they are ready to care for themselves. Too much "love" can result in a baby animal imprinting on the humans caring for it and that makes it difficult to release. If you find an animal that seems to be in need, keep an eye on it for while before you decide to take it in. Sometimes, Mom is right around the corner and will retrieve a baby in a short while. If you do decide to intervene, call the Center and get instructions on how to properly handle the animal or call the Animal Control officer in your town.