The Great Egret — A Small Miracle

This beautiful bird should by all accounts be dead by now.  Found with a nasty compound wing fracture, the chances of recovery for this fragile and shy Great Egret were slim.  The first surgery to pin the broken bone failed and so did the second one. The bone had splintered more and everyone had just about given up when the fracture finally began to heal. Against all odds the egret began to recover.

When the wing was finally unwrapped (but by no means fully healed) the eager and anxious bird climbed out of the open pond setting and - to our great dismay -disappeared.

But a few hours later we spotted him on a high rafter nearby, and another hour later he had come back on his own and remained here of his own free will until he had finished his recovery several weeks later.

He utilized the surrounding trees to strengthen his flight skills.  Then one day, when he was ready, he left. This picture shows him on the fence ready to take off.

He visited once, calling to us from the tallest pine tree nearby - then he was gone again. But that was not the end. Like a mirage two weeks later he showed up where the egret's caretaker was working - a pond in the beautiful garden of one of our supporters 10 miles away.

There again he stayed around for several days gracing his ex-caretaker with his presence before he left again. He has been spotted several times more since then.