ISLAND OBSERVER
Round and round the bay we go
TONY AMOS

I learned a lesson about life today. It has been a difficult day with two separate journeys to the Packery Channel area and two complete circumnavigations of Corpus Christi Bay to get birds in distress.

First, there was the white pelican with a shattered wing that led me on a chase in the marshy flats and channels of Dead Man's Hole. Then, no sooner had that bird been dealt with at the ARK when we got calls about "One of those big birds that always hangs around while you're fishing - but this one cannot fly" near the bridge on State Hwy. 361, a duck on the beach at Zahn Road and a bird in a box in Corpus Christi that I was trying to get the finders to meet me somewhere nearby to save yet another trip to CC.

The big bird was a great blue heron, also with a shattered wing; the duck was a female ruddy duck that was exhausted after migrating across the Gulf of Mexico; and the bird in a box turned out to be a broken wing pigeon that I had to go to Port and Agnes streets to get as the folks couldn't afford to drive to meet me. By then it was closer to go home via the ferry, as I knew that the wait would be minimal going that way on a Sunday afternoon.

Birds of different feathers flocking together Brown pelicans are joined by gulls on an undisturbed beach.

The duck was on the passenger seat, quietly quacking, the pigeon was on the floor fidgeting in its box, the heron was in the carrier in the back, and I decided a visit to Dairy Queen might revive my flagging spirits.

Back home, the day was winding down to a close when the call came about a pelican on the Holiday Inn Shoreline beach that had a hurt foot and could barely fly. The hotel guest had called "everywhere and everybody" before finding us, the first actual people to answer the phone. I explained how difficult it usually was to capture a pelican that could still fly and still go into the sea, while I could certainly not do the former, and was not as experienced as the pelican at the latter feat, but agreed to come and get the bird.

On the way, a disturbing incident did nothing to elevate my flagging spirits. A pickup truck had passed me on Shoreline Boulevard, and in the back was a large dog. Now I know little about dogs, but noted that this one looked nervous and came to the conclusion that the dog did not like it back there in the truck bed. Not five minutes later the dog came flying out of the truck bed and landed on its back on the road in front of me. We were going 45 mph at the time. Miraculously, the dog got up and started running in the road. I put on my flashers to warn traffic behind me and slowed down as the truck driver eventually realized what had happened and came to a stop. A cyclist was in front of me and was able to steer the dog onto the grass of one of those bayside parks where the owner eventually got the dog to come to him.

With a pounding heart, I resumed the journey when it seemed that the dog had survived the fall and the owner would take it to a vet.

Once at the beach, I saw the young pelican huddled at the shore by a concrete pier and capturing was quite easy without testing my wading in Corpus Christi Bay skills.

My real lesson in life came when I met the husband of the woman who called me about the pelican. He had been "in a wreck", as she put it, but I found out that the Humvee "wreck" he was in was caused by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in Iraq. His injuries were extensive and disfiguring, but his spirits were high and, despite their circumstances (the couple had moved from Pennsylvania to San Antonio to be near the Brooke Army Medical Center), they insisted on contributing to the ARK to help our work with the animals.

The pelican they named "Perry", unlike most of the birds I dealt with today, will survive to be released as viaible, and I came away from the experience with a better understanding of the incredible sacrifices our troops and their families are making in the wars we're fighting.

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The ARK will hold its Annual Beach Treasures Garage Sale on Saturday, Oct. 14, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Community Center. One of the items to be auctioned is the privilege to open this message in a bottle I recently found on the beach. I have not opened it and have no idea what it says. The bottle has a metal lid with inscription in Spanish and has been in the sea for a long time. Next week: More treasures.

Many thanks to Ed Zieglar and Rick Tornquist at Ed's Moby Dick's Restaurant and to all the participants for the ARK benefit. It was a real help to all of us at the ARK. Tony Amos is a research fellow at The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas.