Hello all,

I was in Cape May this past weekend trying to spot some hawks. I
had delusions of another 500+ Merlin flight followed by a kettle of these
crazy Swainson's that seem to be popping up along the East Coast. The
flight was undramatic but not diappointing. Some sharp-shins, good
osprey looks, etc. The most dramatic event was a regular laughing gull.

When we arrived at the hawk watch platform at about 10:30 we set up
our scope and began looking around the ponds and in the sky. The lady
next to us had her scope set up and was watching a gull in the middle of
one of the ponds--the pond right in fron of the platform. She was
fretting about a laughing gull that looked like it was pulling on some
fishing line in the pond. She told us that it had been struggling for a
while and that she thought that there was a hook stuck in the birds
mouth. We took a look throughour scope and I saw a hook but I thought
that the line was just wrapped around the birds bill. I felt bad for the
bird but figured that it would eventually get loose.

About 3 minutes later, I noticed that the lady was very anxious. I
looked at the gull and it was now stuck head first in the water--looked
like a feeding duck. It was obvious that it was loosing the battle and
that it was going under the water. Every 15 or 20 seconds the bird
would, with tremendous effort, pull its head and body out of the water
for a few seconds, obviously struggling to breathe. I'm sure that if it
was a hawk of some sort(actually anything but a gull), half of the
platform would have jumped in to save the bird.

I felt helpless watching this gull die an obviously torturous
death. Several of us considered going in after the bird but it was
halfway out in the pond and we didn't know waht was in there or how deep
the water was or anything. I also considered the fact that I didn't have
a change of clothes with me and that I would have to drive 2 1/2 hours
home right after I saved this gull. Selfish, I know, but I did think
about it.

Anyway, the lady next to me had had enough and she couldn't watch it
anymore. She went down to the pond(not easy--lots of Fragmites, grasses,
etc.)and began wading out to the bird. She had to kind of
half-swim/half-crawl becasue the water wasn't that deep(maybe 4 feet)but
the mud was very deep. I took off my jacket and untied my boots just in
case this "crazy" lady got stuck and needed someone to save her.

After about 2 or 3 minutes, she reached the gull. It was obviously
spooked by her but it was so tired that it didn't put up much of a
fight. There were many gull circling over the woman's head--very eerie
and added to the mood. She was able to stand up in the water and gently
wrapped the bird close to her chest. She worked on the hook and line and
freed the bird. She let it calm down for a few seconds then let it go.
It flew away quickly although I noticed that one of its legs was hanging
down and flapping--probably broken on the fishing line that was wrapped
around it.

The entire platform applauded. Her husband, obviously proud of her
but also thinking she was a little nuts, was waiting at the shore with a
towel/blanket. She walked back up to the platform and showed us the
fishing line that had trapped the bird. It was a large 3-pronged deep
sea hook attached to a very strong line(at least 20 lb line)and a very
large pyramid lead weight. I though the line was heavy, I couldn't
imagine the bird. No wonder the line pulled in under.

I am sure that this woman saved this bird. There is no doubt in my
mind that we were watching its last struggles when we arrived. I just
wanted everyone on birdchat to know what this woman did. I am sure that
everone else on that platform felt as guilty as me that we didn't want to
risk ourselves--mostly risk loosing a good day of birding--to save this
bird. We all stood there and watched. "It is just a gull" was heard a
lot(I even thought that way, too). Mostly we didn't know what to do;
somebody should save the bird but who? It reminded me of
congress--everyone agreed something should be done but no one was willing
to act. No one excpet for this unidentified woman. I keep telling
myself that I would have gone in if she had not; I would have gone in to
help her. I also wonder if I would have decided in time for the bird. I
want to thank that woman for not only saving that bird but for also
showing me what it means to be a birder. I will never again even think
twice about loosing a day of birding or muddying my clothes to save an
animal regardless of the animal. I certainly hope that everyone else on
that platform spent as much time as myself thinking about that woman's
heroic and noble act of compassion to save "just a gull".

William Klein
Univ. of Delaware
Dept. of Entomology and Applied Ecology
klein at bach.udel.edu