Rescuers fly to the aid of frostbitten fowl in Virginia Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH

It was almost lunchtime, and Lisa Barlow crouched on a sidewalk surrounded by smelly dead fish.

Every 15 seconds or so, a second woman, Trish Bargo, tossed another smelt a few feet from Barlow.

Barlow, who heads animal rehabilitator Wildlife Response Inc., used a golf commentator's hushed voice to narrate for the media. It's become an annual winter event in Virginia Beach: rounding up frost bitten brown pelicans.

"See this one on the left," Barlow said. "When he opens his mouth, those red streaks, that's bleeding."

The wildlife rehabilitators looked over the birds from a distance, trying to spot ones with signs of frostbite: a food pouch that sags, blisters, cracks or bleeding around the webbed feet.

A hundred feet past Barlow, on a dock off a condo building at Rudee Inlet, 60 or more pelicans crowded onto the platform. Brown pelicans began wintering in coastal Virginia 10 or 15 years ago, Barlow said, and Wildlife Response has rehabbed more than 400 since then.

When Bargo began tossing food, half a dozen pelicans walked down a long pier, up a wooden ramp and down a sidewalk to snap up the fish. But they'd only get within five feet.

Barlow stood and inched closer to a sick one.

"I'll see if I can draw him up the sidewalk," Bargo said.

She tossed more fish, one by one, farther up the sidewalk.

The yearling snatched a fish, then backed up. Five reporters and photographers stood off to the side. The pelican turned to look at them watching him.

The bird trembled.

"Usually, that means they're either cold or scared," Barlow said.

Gulls shrieked and swooped in, trying to beat the pelicans to the food.

The odor of rotting fish hung in the air.

"Hey, Trish," Barlow said softly, "try to lure them past where that fence is, then I can walk in behind them."

A net - like a triple-size crab net - lay on the ground, so it wasn't clear what Barlow planned.

Bargo tossed more fish.

Barlow took another half step. The pelican turned to look.

Bargo grabbed the net and in one half-circle movement flung it over the bird. Barlow had been a decoy.

The women hauled the pelican out of the net and looked it over. The bird had lost a toenail to frostbite. They opened its mouth and pointed to the inside of the pouch.

"You see where it's all pink? That's bruising," Barlow said. "This guy probably weighs about 3 pounds, and he should weigh 8 to 10."

That guy will get medication to help the blood return to his feet and pouch, as well as a round of antibiotics and pain medication.

Two others caught Thursday also will be rehabbed, then released near Sandbridge.

The two women will come back to check on the dozens of other pelicans, but so far, it looks like the birds survived another winter.

Lon Wagner, (757) 222-5119. lon.wagner@pilotonline.com