Cuddles With A Cormorant

Lovely afternoon for my walk around Seventy Acres Lake. I had a nice chat with a fisherman about wildlife and a kingfisher flashed past as we were talking. A man, who I have seen lots of times before with his beautifully behaved GSD appeared and we discussed doggie matters. Shortly after that dog-walking-man and his disparate charges arrived. How lovely to see the cavalcade of canine fun.

As I approached the bridge I focused on a gorgeous pointer running down the hill. It stopped in its tracks and entered the undergrowth. When I got to that point I could see a cormorant at the base of a tree croaking at the dog. The dog's owner arrived and she called the dog off but it took no notice. I tried to entice the dog away and it momentarily approached me but then went back to taunting the bird. The owner was struggling unsuccessfully to get the dog's lead on. The woman said she was scared of birds. I didn't want the dog to harm the cormorant so I grabbed it and the dog tried to take it from me. At one point I had the bird by its neck held above my head.

Eventually the woman got the dog's lead on and left me cuddling the cormorant. I didn't know what to do. It's making me sad to think of its scared blue eye inches away staring into mine.

I walked over the bridge with the bird cuddled close to me, holding its neck so that it couldn't peck me again. I thought about trying to contact a Lee Valley Park ranger and asked a couple of people I met if they could find out if one was in the area. No luck. The bird was injured and I decided to leave it in some undergrowth by the water's edge to its fate. :(