THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602270104
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
The day the lion lies down with the lamb may have arrived at Nan McClain's house.
I went to visit the wildlife rehabilitator to learn about a gull that had miraculously survived after it had been found with a dart piercing its head from top to bottom.
But that was the least of the animal stories I found at McClain's home where household pets and animals undergoing rehabilitation mix and mingle with ease.
Booboo, the pigeon, greeted me. It flew off the roof of McClain's house and onto the top of my car. The fearless bird then jumped off the car and rode ceremoniously into the house on my arm.
The beautiful white and black pigeon was found ill several months ago and brought to McClain for treatment. She cared for the bird in her back yard but when she released it, it flew right into her house and has chosen to stay around, both inside and out, ever since.
``He's obviously not a wild pigeon,'' McClain said.
She chose the name, Booboo, because it sounds like the cooing and chortling talk the pigeon makes as it struts across the back of the sofa, up on the counter and wherever else it chooses to go. McClain's five cats (all strays but one), four caged birds, also loose much of the time, and lively golden retriever, Ginger, take no notice.
Outside, Booboo has made himself at home up and down the cul-de-sac where the McClains live in the Redwing area. Fortunately the neighbors have gotten used to the friendly bird flying in and landing on their heads for a visit, McClain said.
When I sat down to talk about the gull with McClain and Nola Reed, also a wildlife rehabilitator with the Wildlife Society of Virginia, a big old orange cat immediately saw the opportunity to curl up in my lap. Ginger the dog was right by my side and the pigeon was on the sofa back.
Across the way, another cat was purring in Reed's lap. Reed, who lives in Ocean Lakes, was the one who found and captured the injured gull in her back yard. She was feeding the birds, among them a group of gulls, when she saw the dart protruding from one gull's head.
``I turned around and I couldn't believe my eyes,'' Reed said. ``It looked just like a hat pin, but it went from the upper left of its head, and came out down under its beak on the right side.''
The gull appeared to be acting normally, but she was able to quickly reach down and grab the bird. ``I knew it was now or never,'' Reed said.
The end of the dart was rusted which made her think the 9-inch projectile had been imbedded for a long time. Still there was no sign of infection. The two women took the bird to Beach Pet Hospital where the dart was removed. ``They said it pulled right out,'' McClain said.
The gull is wandering around McClain's yard now, looking none the worse for the cruel attack from a dart gun. A wing is wrapped so the bird won't fly away while McClain treats it with a preventative dose of antibiotics.
And even through one of the cats walked with us when we went to see the gull, McClain's back yard remained as peaceful as the inside of her home. The miracle gull is just one of four dozen or so ducks, geese, gulls and rabbits in some stage of rehabilitation that live there tranquilly.
The shared community was best symbolized that day by the large white bunny that was being followed around the yard, to no one's consternation, by 10 or so baby Muscovy ducks looking for a mama!
P.S. ``Taming the Natives'' is the topic of the South Hampton Roads Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Libby Oliver, of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and member of the peninsula's native plant society, will speak. The meeting is open to the public.
THE MID-ATLANTIC WILDFOWL AND WILDLIFE FESTIVAL takes place from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Pavilion. On Saturday, children's decoy painting begins at 10 a.m. and an auction at 5 p.m. More than 150 exhibitors will be selling decoys, decorative carvings, paintings and photography. Admission is $5, adults; $4, seniors; and children under 12 are free.
FEBRUARY IS NATIONAL BIRD FEEDING MONTH. More than 63 million Americans feed the birds and as a hobby. It is second only to gardening in the United States. Feed the birds year-round and you will discover a simple pastime that gives pleasure to all ages. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on Infoline, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MARY REID BARROW
Nola Reed, a rehabilitator with the Wildlife Society of Virginia,
found this seagull with a 9-inch dart imbedded in its head from top
to bottom. The projectile was removed and the gull seems to be OK.
by CNB