Syracuse, N.Y. — A baby bird has life, liberty and the ability to pursue happiness this Fourth of July thanks to an observant and persistent Syracuse woman, with an assist from the city Public Works department.
The baby killdeer was discovered trapped in a storm drain Saturday morning at the Central New York Regional Market on the city’s North Side. It won its freedom after more than eight hours in the drain, with its frantic parents fluttering about and issuing distress calls during the entire ordeal.
Luckily for the small bird and its family, Anne Marie Higgins was shopping at the market Saturday morning, She is an avid bird-watcher and enthusiast whose special interest is hawks.
It was the commotion caused by the chick’s family that first attracted Higgins’ attention, at around 10 a.m. Saturday.
“I noticed adult Killdeers vocalizing loudly and flying around the market and across the road dodging cars,” Higgins wrote in an email to syracuse.com. “I saw an adult land on a storm grate in the road and look down. I walked over to the grate, heard a loud distress call coming from within and saw a baby kildeer trapped in the bottom!!”
Killdeer are fairly common shore birds in Central New York, often seen near the ground on lawns and parking lots, although Higgins notes their numbers have been dwindling. This baby killdeer was trapped in a storm drain near a parking lot and next to the road leading from the market to the nearby Regional Transportation Center.
Higgins was armed with some knowledge of birds, but with no way to pry the grate open on her own. She started making calls, first to the State Department of Environmental Conservation. Getting no answer there, she called the Syracuse Police non-emergency line. She was told a bulletin would be issued but that it might take a while since it was a holiday weekend.
She left her number with the woman in the communications office and asked to be called when help arrived.
“I went home and went about my day but no one ever called,” Higgins said. “I drove back around 5:30 pm and the chick was still in the drain with the parents helplessly looking down into the drain and flying around still avoiding the cars.”
Higgins said she was concerned and called back to the police non-emergency office. They told her they couldn’t send anyone. She asked who else she might call, and was told to try the city Department of Public Works.
That’s when she got through to a woman named Lisa at the DPW.
“It was going on 6 pm but Lisa said she would take care of it,” Higgins said. “About 30 minutes later, Tony arrived from the DPW and after much effort was able to pull up the grate and rescue the baby killdeer.”
Higgins said she doesn’t know Lisa’s or Tony’s full names, but said they were “extremely lovely and helpful.”
A Syracuse Public Works worker named Tony pries open a storm drain near the CNY Regional Market to rescue a trapped baby bird on July 3. Photo courtesy Anne Marie Higgins
As a bird enthusiast, Higgins had some experience is rescuing ill and injured birds.
“I put on my gloves and examined the bird,” she said in her email. “It didn’t seem injured and when I put it down, it was able to walk but I called local wildlife rehabber and friend, Cindy Page, to discuss the situation.
“Once we both felt the chick was going to be okay,” Higgins continued, “I released it under the regional market fence where the parents where calling from and where it would be away from the road and as soon as the chick started calling, the parent swooped in, they were reunited and all went well!!”
And that’s the story of a baby bird whose rescue came in the course of human events.
A baby killdeer walks free behind one of its parents after its rescue from a storm drain July 3 at the CNY Regional Market. Photo courtesy Anne Marie Higgins.
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
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Rescuers give trapped baby bird its freedom on July 4th weekend at Syracuse market - syracuse.com
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