THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607230127
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: 82 lines
When Wili Engel was surfing at Sandbridge last week, she noticed a bird, floundering and splashing in the water out beyond the fishing pier, that looked like it was tangled in a fishing line.
When she looked up at the fisherman on the pier, the man appeared to shrug his shoulders as though there was nothing he could do about his unusual catch.
The bird was trapped at least 100 yards beyond the end of the pier. Since Wili Engel suffers from asthma, she asked her husband Harry Engel to go on the rescue mission.
Engel got permission from the lifeguard to paddle his surfboard that far out in the ocean and then he set off. He thought he was on his way to save a sea gull.
``But when I got up to him, I noticed it was an osprey,'' Engel said. ``I could see that big bird coming at me, but he didn't. I kept thinking to myself, `This is really impressive. This bird is big!' ''
Engel bit through the fishing line with his teeth and grabbed the leader on the rig to pull the osprey to shore.
The three-pronged, or treble, hook was imbedded in the osprey's chest and in its leg. Fortunately both appeared to be superficial wounds, Engel said.
He figured the fisherman was fishing for mackerel with live bait and the osprey had dived on the bait thinking it was a meal. Mackerel fishermen use a weight known as a sliding weight, Engel explained. The reason why the fisherman shrugged his shoulders at Wili Engel was because the weight has a tendency to drag the hook under when the fisherman reels in the line.
The fisherman must have known that had he reeled in the big fish hawk, the bird would have been pulled under and drowned.
Engel began paddling to shore with one hand. With the other hand, he pulled the osprey along. ``The bird was flapping its wings a little bit to try and keep up,'' he said.
When Engel reached the offshore sand bar where he could stand up, he pushed the surfboard over close to the exhausted osprey. The bird jumped right up on the board.
``He was pretty worn out,'' Engel said. ``He spread his wings for balance and rode in on the board.
``That's something you don't see very often - a surfing osprey,'' he added.
Once on the beach, someone called Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge to report what had happened. Then Harry and Wili Engel covered the big bird's head with a towel to calm it down and removed the hooks. The hook imbedded in the chest had to have the barb cut off so it could be backed out of the wound.
``But there was just a little drop of blood,'' Engel said. ``It wasn't bad.''
Then the disheveled, water-logged bird stood on the beach with its wings stretched for support 15 minutes or so. Gradually it began to regain its strength, eventually tucking its wings back in place.
``Everyone stood back about 10 feet and watched,'' Engel said. ``It looked frozen at first. Then it shook a little bit and took off.''
Everyone on the beach cheered.
This is the second animal rescue this year for the Engels. Last winter the couple rescued a dog that had been dragged and then thrown loose from the back of a pickup truck. They took the dog to the vet, had it treated, cleaned it up, nursed it back to health and found it a good home.
The moral of this story for the animals is if you're going to get in trouble, do it when Wili and Harry Engel are near.
P.S. False Cape State Park is sponsoring a moonlight canoe trip on Back Bay from 7:45 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday. The cost is $5 a person. Call 426-7128.
THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE of the Blackwater and Pungo boroughs is the topic of a talk by Councilwoman Barbara Henley at a brown bag lunch at noon Tuesday in the conference room of the Agriculture Department at the Municipal Center. The program is sponsored by the Princess Anne County/Virginia Beach Historical Society.
W.T. COOKE ELEMENTARY School is looking for historical information about the school to be used in a display for the November celebration of the school's 90th anniversary. Call Lu Knapp at 437-4827 if you have information or photos about the good old days. 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. by CNB