Stranded Babies
leslie st spit - july 31, 2022
I was at Leslie St Spit at the crack of dawn to cover some last-minute cormorant shots I needed for Devil Bird Part Two. It turned into an eventful morning, with two instances of discovering young animals in distress.
First was a pair of robin fledglings who had jumped the nest too soon and were sitting helplessly in the middle of the path. When pressed they could hop, but not much more. As soon as I started ushering them off the path and into the underbrush they started crying and mom and dad were right there to try and fight me off. I got them into cover while getting dive-bombed but relieved to know their parents knew they were there.
Later, I saw what I thought was an eastern cottontail ahead on the path. They’re quite a common sight at the Spit in the early mornings. But its shape was wrong as I approached, and I realized it was a young raccoon. He seemed weirdly out of place there and his parents were nowhere to be seen. I filmed him as he ambled off the path, and it was only when I was able to see the footage on my monitor at home that I realized he was missing a back leg! It didn’t look fresh but I wondered if he’d been separated from his family in an attack. A google search made me feel marginally better: apparently raccoons can get by with three legs if they have to. Hope the little guy is OK.
And I did get the cormorant shots I needed - sort of. I got a shot in my head, to see the swarm of them pouring out of their nesting site with the Toronto skyline in the background. I was positioned perfectly for it but my timing was off and I never quite got it.