THUNDER BAY — A juvenile Purple Gallinule that strayed into the remote reaches of northwestern Ontario last week has died.
The bird's closest natural habitat is the extreme southeastern U.S., but on Nov. 19 it turned up at Neskantaga First Nation, 430 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.
Community members sheltered it and reached out for help.
On Nov. 21, they turned it over to the care of Jenn Salo at ThunderBird Wildlife Rescue in Thunder Bay, who took it to a city veterinary clinic for assessment on Friday.
"I did my best, but it was just too far gone," Salo told Tbnewswatch.
It turned out that the dehydrated and malnourished bird had also developed pneumonia.
"Between that and its lower body condition, and all the stress it had gone through, it was just too much for it," Salo said.
The Cornell Lab's All About Birds website notes that Purple Gallinules "are remarkable fliers and turn up far out of their normal range surprisingly often. They’ve even shown up in Iceland, Switzerland, South Georgia island, the Galápagos, and South Africa."
A study has found that in years with severe drought in the Gallinules' normal range, they are more likely to wander far in search of food.
Salo thanked Neskantaga for its efforts to keep the bird alive.
"The fact that they tried to save it...I incredibly appreciate that," she said, adding that she planned to speak directly on Monday with Neskantaga council member Gary Quisess.
Salo said anyone finding a bird in distress should place it in a warm, quiet and dark place, and contact her as soon as possible before feeding it.
