PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – In the aftermath of the recent storm, there was a successful bird rescue effort in Portsmouth.
Elizabeth River Project and Portsmouth Animal Control responded to the Lynn Shores neighborhood in Portsmouth and rescued dozens of egrets.
Gusty winds caused trees to sway. Around 40 young egrets, who aren’t the best at flying, fell out of the trees.
“The major wind event and with that, the nesting birds that cannot fly yet, (they) got knocked out of the nest,” said Casey Shaw, director of marketing and communications with the Elizabeth River Project. There were dozens of fatalities, unfortunately.”
One bird also had to be put down, but 16 young ones survived.
Lisa Barlow, the founder of Tidewater Rehabilitation and Environmental Education, said it happens around summer. She’ll get a call of one or two birds falling from a tree. It’s not often there are this many birds.
“Getting them in this large of number is not really common,” Barlow said.
The Lynn Shores neighborhood is an egret colony. It’s estimated that around 800 of them live in a six-property span.
It’s the hope that the young birds make it back to a similar area.
Barlow is nursing them back to health.
“It’s a lot of feeding and cleaning,” she said.
Some birds need surgery, so they’ll be with her for another six weeks.
“As far as their going back out into the wild, it’s pretty good,” Barlow said.
Others will need a couple more weeks of getting fed some fish before they go home.
“It looks really good, so far,” Barlow said. “They have started eating.”
