Last Thursday afternoon National Parks Trust Planning Coordinator Nancy Pascoe 
was delicately cutting fishing line from the foot of a frigate bird that had gotten tangled up while in its nest on Great Tobago.
“Does anyone have an earring?” she asked.
She needed the piece of jewellery to wedge between the fishing line and the bird’s leg to avoid injuring it with scissors. The bird twitched slightly, but remained calm through most of the process because its head was covered with a red handkerchief. Other NPT personnel held the bird firmly to the ground until it was untangled and set free.
However, the rescue efforts appeared to be dashed when the bird took flight and fell into the rough seas. Once in the water, it flapped its wings vigorously, but was unable to take flight again.
NPT officials watched helplessly from shore as the bird struggled. But it eventually drifted close enough to the rocky coastline to be rescued again, and it was returned safely to its nest.
“It was a 100 percent dead if we would have left it,” Ms. Pascoe said.
But not all birds get a second chance on Great Tobago.
Nearby, NPT Programme Coordinator Ronald Massicott was cutting down a dead frigate bird hanging from fishing line in a tree. It was at least the second dead bird he had removed from a tree that day. And locating other dead birds was as easy as following the rancid scent that wafted in the air.
See the June 28, 2012 edition for full coverage.
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