In the case of “Arvy,” the brown pelican rescued from the icy Connecticut River, a 12-hour plan ride meants he landed safely at his new home in sunny Florida, where he is recovering from pneumonia.
The waterbird is on the mend at the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary where he undergoing nebulizing treatments and fluid therapy.
“Arvy looks good!” said Busch Wildlife Hospital Director Stephanie Franczak.
“His frostbite is minimal, but he has some wicked pneumonia from the cold. We will be providing fluid therapy, nebulizing treatments, and supportive care while he is with us,” Franczak said. “We are optimistic about his recovery.”
Arvy had spent nearly a week in Connecticut’s winter, before being greeted by sunshine and balmy temps in the 70s.
The bird, rescued by the Connecticut Audubon Society and the state Department of Environmental Protection, was believed to have been blown north from Virginia Beach during a storm at sea.
For nearly a week, the southern bird was recuperating at A Place Called Hope in Killingworth, a bird sanctuary/rehab center, before special arrangements were made to fly him south Feb. 4.
“He is a Southern bird, he is not supposed to be north of the Carolinas and Virginia,” said Carolina Young, spokesperson for the Florida sanctuary. “I’m sure he was in shock when he was in that river.”
In one of the earliest photos of his arrival in Florida, Arvy is seen hanging out in the bathtub in the hospital director’s home that evening, due to the late hour.
The hand-off from the plane took place shortly after it touched down around 6 p.m. when the director and volunteers met the pilots.
“Our hospital director Stephanie has been on the go with this,” Young said.
The wildlife sanctuary and hospital there will care for Arvy until he is strong enough to release him back in the wild.
“The ultimate endgame is to send them out into the wild,” Young said.
Pelicans normally make their home near beaches and lagoons.
It's been a long, strange trip for the bird, who was named Arvy by the pilots because they were flying an RV12 plane.
In Connecticut, Christine Cummings, co-founder of A Place Called Hope got up before dawn 4 a.m. Thursday last week to put the shorebird on the small, private plane that flew out of Meriden Markham Municipal Airport at 6 a.m.
Members of Spirit of Meriden Flight Club, mother-daughter team pilots, Laurie and Ariana Strand, flew the plane. While the bird did not fly first class, it was housed in a soft crate, with plate warmers underneath and “surrounded in fleece,” Cummings said. The pilots, who volunteered for this trio, wore T-shirts that read, “Arvy Flying South CT-FL.”
Cummings cared for the lone pelican nearly around the clock for about a week — feeding him warm fluids and food every three hours. The shorebird had consumed some 4 pounds of fish daily with its 11-inch bill.
The bird was suffering from hypothermia and the early stages of frostbite when it was found.
Arvy’s saga began when DEEP officers rescued the stranded bird Jan. 27 after Andy Griswold of Connecticut Audubon Society Eco-Travel tracked it down, going from cove to cove in Essex, and finally found it listing against a dock in the wintry river. Griswold first learned about the unusual pelican sighting from a Facebook post.
Once the bird was found, Audubon Society Executive Director Patrick Comins coordinated the rescue with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and contacted A Place Called Hope.
For more information about Busch Wildlife Sanctuary visit www.buschwildlife.org.
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Frostbitten bird plucked from icy CT river flies south - this time in a plane - New Haven Register
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