Laurin has been gone two weeks now, cleaning birds from the Gulf spill, and just got her first day off yesterday. As her team members predicted, she reveled in getting to sleep in (usually she’s up at 5:45 am and at work by 6:30), going to a movie, and watching some tube … but she couldn’t resist calling in to the Pensacola Oiled Bird Rehabilitation Center, where she’s worked for the last week, to see what she missed. The team of rehabilitators stationed there is now up to six, but they are losing one on Friday.
The facility is finally hooked up to a nearby fire hydrant and has adequate water … now they can wash a bird, fill a pool, and use the bathroom at the same time! It is a little overwhelming just how much water they go through, Laurin said – they started to try to figure it out, but it was too scarey, with all the overflow pools going 24 hrs/day (the pools must constantly overflow in order to keep feces and oils from the fish fed to the birds, now clean, from soiling their feathers again). All the wash water and anything contaminated by oil goes into a hazardous waste containment system.
They have new contractors coming today, with diverse jobs on their agenda. One of the critical ones is rearranging the set-up so that the washing basins are closer to the water heater (or vice versa), as it’s been difficult to keep the water right at the 104ºF (well, between 103º and 105º) that the birds need, as it cools too much as it circulates through the pipes from heater to wash station.
Laurin also wanted to mention a special person who works with TIGER, a group that provides security and other facility assistance: Bob Evans. He’s become like the teams’ concierge, providing amazing smoothies (much better than the inedible breakfasts that have been provided by the caterer, who is also being replaced this week), and doing their personal laundry three times a week.
A media day was scheduled while she was gone, with 20 CNN and other media people converging on the facility. The staff was anxiously doing evaluations on three oiled gannets to see which would be strong enough to survive the ordeal of not only the wash but being in the middle of the camera firestorm. It takes three people to wash a bird – one to wash, one to restrain the head (unlike with raptors, the head is the business end for seabirds), and one to restrain the body.
Just being in captivity is, of course, very stressful to the birds and the goal is to move them back out to the wild as soon as their health and the situation allows. The Pensacola facility has birds lined up for release, but the process to identify a release site, get permission, and make arrangements for transport takes at least a week, not to mention the final release evaluation of blood draws, weight, and final weather-proofing assessment. So as soon as a bird turns the corner, they add him to the release list, knowing they can always take him off at the last minute, if necessary. The latest batch of pelicans released from the Lake Jackson, LA, facility were flown to the Atlantic coast of Georgia. Laurin has no idea where their birds will go. All the gannets they have are juveniles, who take several years to mature, and could be released probably anywhere along the Gulf or Atlantic coast (the adults should be way up north at breeding colonies at this time of the year). Same really with the loons, which will be the non-breeding one- and two-year olds who often stay on the ocean wintering grounds until they reach sexual maturity.
Laurin loves both the birds and the people. There is a strong camaraderie that underlies everything they do – everyone is working long hours, with such dedication to the well-being of these birds, and they all share a wildlife rehabilitation background that allows them to get attached to the birds but also to let go. People roll with the punches of the losses and deal with everything else with humor. Laurin reports that it’s dangerous to eat or drink because someone will often say something to make her laugh, with indelicate results!
There is also a culture of superstition … you will be shushed if you blurt out your relief that there’s ‘only three more birds to go’ – as then more will definitely come in! You don’t say ‘this bird is handling it well’ – as then it will probably crash. (I’ve seen this in general rehab, as well – sure as anything if I say a surgery to pin a wing is going well, something will go wrong!)
The birds also have idiosyncracies and case oddities, by both species but within species. A Royal tern developed what looked like blood blisters during the rinse, and its skin was very white, even though it did well through the wash and the water was not very hot (they test it constantly). They are still perplexed by that. A loon had some kind of non-oil-related adhesive on its crown and the back of its head that they have yet to figure out how to remove safely – most adhesive solvents being too toxic for the bird or its feathers. Another loon ended up slightly orange from the oil staining its lighter feathers and became known as the ‘Goth girl loon distressed that her dye job was fading’ … the distress calls the loons make, in the wash and afterwards, are often upsetting. Humor helps.
Even the pens of birds take on personalities. While tubing all the birds in the pens, Laurin has tagged one group of gannets ‘the EMO pen’ and another ‘the THUG pen.’ The latter stick together, are strong and fight back, with No. 107 standing on top of them all and No. 111, the second in command, protecting 107′s back… The thugs do better than the emos, who mope, go in for drama and are very sensitive. The stress of captivity takes a toll on both, but it’s more obvious with the emos.
Laurin has been amazed at just how many oil spills there are, constantly, all over. There are two more right now that Tri-State is dealing with, along with the Deep Horizon – so they are staffing three spills at once. One is a diesel spill and the other a ‘black oil.’ To Tri-State, a ‘little spill’ is 100 birds. She is also learning the shorthand, like RP for Responsible Party. In California, where IBRRC is headquartered and has two fully functional permanent facilities, there is a law that is envied by other responders: the RP is responsible, financially, for all costs. Period. So IBRRC just gets what it needs and then bills the RP. If there is no RP, then there is a state fund to cover costs – the same fund that has outfitted facilities throughout California to be ready to respond to a spill – via a tax on refineries. Of course, IBRRC works all over the world as well, where things may not be as clear cut.
On Monday, Laurin was in and out of the facility all day, moving birds in, then back out, in a constant pouring rain. She first tried to stay dry by wearing a clean Tyvek suit, but it was so hot that she was getting just as wet from her own perspiration. So she gave it up and just stayed soaking wet all day. When I spoke with her last night, she couldn’t wait to get back to her 15-hour days. The facility had admitted a Coopers hawk while she was off, their second raptor – like the osprey, not oiled, but something is wrong. His tail feathers are a mess, with much of the white stripes eaten out and only the shafts remaining – from her description it sounded like a poodle cut for birds!
Her last word was that since she wasn’t supposed to be taking pictures of the birds, she’s been documenting her bruises instead …
Louise Shimmel
PS Laurin mentioned that if anyone is interested in sending anything down, they could really use Starbucks gift certificates! By the time they eat lunch, they’ve been working for over 6 hours, and after they eat, they all get very sleepy … a daily trip to a nearby Starbucks has become a necessity to fight off the sleepies! Contact me at Louise@eRaptors.org for her mailing address.
