It’s bitter cold in Vermont and across the continent.

But we humans are not the only ones afflicted.

The heron in the photo below fell out of the sky in the forest behind my sister-in-law’s house two days ago.
Temperature- minus 5′, more or less.

The crumpled blob in the upper left hand corner is a Great Blue Heron that fell out of the sky two days ago.

When the beautiful bird couldn’t get back into the air, Gina called for help.
After calling VINS (the Vermont Institute of Natural Science) and a local animal clinic to no avail, she called me.
The heron was in great distress, unable to lift more than a few feet off the ground.

Together, we captured the bird. Wearing sunglasses to protect our eyes from that ferocious beak we caught it by covering it carefully with a blanket. Then we wrapped it up (again, very gently!) and carried it up a steep hill to the house. It weighed almost nothing. Gina already had a large cardboard box ready.

We placed the bird in the box. I checked for heartbeat and breath. Breath was barely perceptible. I couldn’t even feel a heart beat. Its eyes were open, though, and those piercing yellow eyes seemed to be tracking me as I unwound the blanket.

I thought it had about a 5% to 0% chance of living through the night, much less making it through the next morning. It makes me surprisingly silly-happy to report Gina called to say that that it seemed to have recovered overnight. She even had to secure the box that night because the bird was jostling it and trying to move around.

She delivered it to a VINS bird rescue representative in Montpelier that morning. It still seems unlikely that it could recover from such an ordeal but it’s nice to know that our efforts made a difference.

Heron with Red Osier Dogwood by liza myers Archival reproduction from original watercolor is available.

I’m not sure if it was starving, frozen or exhausted. Most likely all three. What was a great blue heron doing in 0° temperatures?

I have painted and drawn Great Blue Herons many times. They are compelling. Independent. Elegant.

The original painting that you see on the right has long since moved to a happy home, but limited edition archival prints, signed and numbered by the artist (me!) are available in two sizes.
18″ x 18″      or      11″ x 14″.

You can read more about them on the Great Blue Heron link on my website. Or order one below by clicking the pay pal button.

They’ll arrive safe and sound in a heavy duty shipping tube, ready to be matted or framed.