Central Park’s Urban Park Rangers are searching for a rare duck with a plastic ring wrapped around its beak and neck.
An Urban Park Ranger in a canoe has reached the Central Park Lake’s island to search for the COMMON MERGANSER hen. pic.twitter.com/eVhnntHrlH
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) February 24, 2020
The Common Merganser was photographed this weekend by Sandra Critelli. Critelli told Gothamist that the female duck will eventually die if the piece of plastic is not removed. She also advises people to “cut plastic rings [and rubber bands] before discarding them”.
Bird photographer Bradley Kane told The New York Times “It can’t close its throat, so when it dives, water rushes in and prevents it from feeding. It’s a wild bird — it’s not going to take bread from strangers.” Kane added that the bird’s condition would progressively worsen from not eating.
photo by Bradley Kane
With @tristanahigg of the @wildbirdfund we tried to get a boat to rescue the COMMON MERGANSER hen with the stuck plastic ring on the Central Park Lake, but only the @CentralParkNYC Rangers are allowed to do that. We hope they get it done Monday! pic.twitter.com/IsffD0bR2t
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) February 24, 2020
This video news report by @ScottRapoport of @CBSNewYork features us along with footage of the boat search on the Central Park Lake today for the Common Merganser—still not found despite best efforts. https://t.co/a04IPvzIAZ
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) February 26, 2020
If you see the duck, please call 311 or the Urban Park Rangers at (212) 360-2774.
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Mike Mishkin
Mike is a native Upper West Sider. He's lived in the Lincoln Center area, Morningside Heights, and pretty much everywhere in between. You can frequently find him eating through the many great restaurants of the Upper West Side or awkwardly taking photos with his iPhone. Following his success of turning iLovetheUpperWestSide.com into a household name, he decided to expand his digital empire by launching EastSideFeed.com, an Upper East Side news publication.
