{"id":627,"date":"2010-08-27T18:49:25","date_gmt":"2010-08-28T00:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=627"},"modified":"2025-09-27T09:41:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T14:41:54","slug":"injured-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/08\/27\/injured-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Unfortunately, injured birds are not uncommon for me to find when I am out in the field. I&#8217;ve been rescuing injured birds for many years. I was only a teenager when I helped my first bird that had gotten into our dryer vent somehow.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-158112 size-full\" title=\"Sick Northern Gannet at Fort De Soto\u2019s north beach, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-gannet-sick-mia-mcpherson-4027.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-gannet-sick-mia-mcpherson-4027.jpg\" alt=\"Sick Northern Gannet at Fort De Soto\u2019s north beach, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"12855\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-gannet-sick-mia-mcpherson-4027-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-gannet-sick-mia-mcpherson-4027-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-gannet-sick-mia-mcpherson-4027-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-gannet-sick-mia-mcpherson-4027-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-gannet-sick-mia-mcpherson-4027-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-gannet-sick-mia-mcpherson-4027.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Immature Northern Gannet &#8211;\u00a0 D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/160, ISO 400, 80-400mm VR at 230mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">My friend Adrian Burke and I were photographing along the west coast of Florida in the Tampa Bay area when we came across this young Northern Gannet just outside of the reach of the incoming waves.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As a couple of beach walkers went past it we both found it odd that the gannet didn&#8217;t go into the water or fly away. Adrian went back to his vehicle to call the park supervisor while I kept an eye on the bird and a vehicle was sent to capture and take the gannet to a local seabird rescue group.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Unfortunately when we called the next day to see how the gannet was doing we were told that the bird didn&#8217;t make it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-144533 size-full\" title=\"Injured Cormorant, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-fishing-line-mia-mcpherson-9228.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-fishing-line-mia-mcpherson-9228.jpg\" alt=\"Injured Cormorant, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" width=\"621\" height=\"800\" data-id=\"11925\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27621%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20621%20800%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27621%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-fishing-line-mia-mcpherson-9228-200x258.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-fishing-line-mia-mcpherson-9228-400x515.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-fishing-line-mia-mcpherson-9228-600x773.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-fishing-line-mia-mcpherson-9228.jpg 621w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 621px) 100vw, 621px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Double-crested Cormorant with hook, line and sinker &#8211;\u00a0 D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 250, 80-400mm VR at 195mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I was photographing at the Gulf Pier of Fort De Soto county Park on Christmas Eve Day when I spotted this Double-crested Cormorant and noticed the hook, line and sinker that was embedded in the bird&#8217;s bill and hanging down its body.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I called the park supervisor, Jim Wilson and he sent a crew out to capture the cormorant while I stood by watching the bird from a distance. The cormorant was taken to\u00a0<span style=\"color: #333333;\">a local\u00a0sanctuary<\/span> where the hook was removed, the bird nursed back to health and later released.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I&#8217;d come across injured birds before and had put the contact numbers in my cell phone for the local parks that I photographed at. I also had put the number for the local bird rescue group in my contacts too.\u00a0 I still do that so I can call and get help for injured birds I come across.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Many people volunteer at bird rescue groups, donate time or money to help the injured birds. The rescue groups provide a safe haven for birds to recover before being released back into the wild. I applaud those groups.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I&#8217;m glad the Double-crested Cormorant survived to fly and fish again.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>See more of my bird photos in their galleries by clicking <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/birds\/\">here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many people volunteer at bird rescue groups, donate time or money to help the injured birds. The rescue groups provide a safe haven for birds to recover before being released back into the wild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,144,25,145],"tags":[5548,5200,149,7956,4310,37,4153,7953,7954,3815,7955,7952,4173,148,3980,146],"class_list":["post-627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-double-crested-cormorant","category-florida","category-northern-gannets","tag-cormorant","tag-cormorants","tag-double-crested-cormorant","tag-fishing-hook","tag-fishing-line","tag-florida-2","tag-fort-de-soto-county-park","tag-gannet","tag-gannets","tag-injured","tag-injured-birds","tag-morus-bassanus","tag-nannopterum-auritus","tag-northern-gannet","tag-pinellas-county","tag-rescue-groups"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-fishing-line-mia-mcpherson-9228.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-a7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49593,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/27\/double-crested-cormorant-after-surfacing\/","url_meta":{"origin":627,"position":0},"title":"Double-crested Cormorant After Surfacing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last December there were several Double-crested Cormorants hanging around my local pond here in northern Utah and I had a great time photographing them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Double-crested Cormorant after surfacing from a dive, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-surfacing-mia-mcpherson-2294.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-surfacing-mia-mcpherson-2294.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-surfacing-mia-mcpherson-2294.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-surfacing-mia-mcpherson-2294.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42340,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/01\/easter-the-eaglet-cover-photo\/","url_meta":{"origin":627,"position":1},"title":"Esther the Eaglet &#8211; Cover Photo","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I like that Esther the Eaglet is written with children in mind and that it might inspire the children who read it to become rehabilitators, biologists, ornithologists, nature lovers, birders, environmentalists or even bird photographers like myself.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bald Eagles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Bald Eagle portrait \u2013 Taken at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah in 2011","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6009.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6009.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6009.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6009.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55188,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/02\/immature-double-crested-cormorant-flight-in-golden-afternoon-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":627,"position":2},"title":"Immature Double-crested Cormorant Flight In Golden Afternoon Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the birds I took images of that afternoon was an immature Double-crested Cormorant that flew past me in that golden light just barely above the surface of the pond.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Double-crested Cormorant flight in golden light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-flight-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0456.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-flight-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0456.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-flight-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0456.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-flight-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0456.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40054,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/17\/resting-double-crested-cormorant-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":627,"position":3},"title":"Resting Double-crested Cormorant at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent the morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday and one of the birds I photographed the most was this resting Double-crested Cormorant.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Double-crested Cormorant resting on a stump, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-drying-mia-mcpherson-4892.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-drying-mia-mcpherson-4892.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-drying-mia-mcpherson-4892.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-drying-mia-mcpherson-4892.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64621,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/18\/puzzling-absence-of-double-crested-cormorants-this-winter-at-my-local-ponds\/","url_meta":{"origin":627,"position":4},"title":"Puzzling Absence Of Double-crested Cormorants This Winter At My Local Ponds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Every winter since I moved to northern Utah in 2009 I have found a few Double-crested Cormorants overwintering at my local ponds but this winter has been very different.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter Double-crested Cormorant, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/double-crested-cormorant-winter-mia-mcpherson-4676.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/double-crested-cormorant-winter-mia-mcpherson-4676.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/double-crested-cormorant-winter-mia-mcpherson-4676.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/double-crested-cormorant-winter-mia-mcpherson-4676.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100505,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/09\/four-double-crested-cormorants-resting-on-the-bank-of-the-bear-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":627,"position":5},"title":"Four Double-crested Cormorants Resting On The Bank Of The Bear River","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After driving the auto tour loop at Bear River MBR two days ago I stopped to photograph four Double-crested Cormorants resting on the bank of the Bear River.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Four Double-crested Cormorants next to the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/double-crested-cormorants-four-on-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-0074.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/double-crested-cormorants-four-on-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-0074.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/double-crested-cormorants-four-on-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-0074.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}