Baby blue jay rescued from Bethel Park sewer
Days after Bethel Park police rescued a chicken found wandering along a roadway, emergency crews were once again called to rescue another bird in distress: a baby blue jay stuck in the sewer.
Stuck in the muck of the sewer system, KDKA-TV's Megan Shinn said she and her toddler noticed the bird, stopping around 3:30 p.m. Monday along Bluestone Drive.
The Bethel Park Volunteer Fire Department was soon notified.
Within 15 minutes, two volunteer firefighters arrived, tools in hand, but despite their best efforts, the grate covering the sewer would not budge.
The firefighters chipped away carefully, fearing rocks would drop onto the bird. The grate was too narrow to reach down, and the blue jay was only a fledgling, meaning it was unable to fly.
They needed reinforcements. Those reinforcements came in droves.
The two-man crew was joined by fire trucks, one fire chief, and about a dozen other firefighters.
Eventually, part of the road was removed.
Neighbors came outside to watch the rescue unfold, hoping the baby bird would survive. Some nearby residents even brought their own tools for the department to use.
This kind of rescue is familiar to the department.
"This happened to be our second one in the period of two months," Bethel Park Volunteer Fire Chief Russ Beeson said. "Something with birds in Bethel Park and drains."
Nearly an hour after the rescue effort began, the big moment came when the sewer grate lifted.
"Every life matters, every living thing matters. That's what we're here for, that's what we do," Beeson said. "Hopefully, mom comes back and guides him back to the nest, and everybody's good."
Firefighters don't know why baby birds keep getting stuck in sewer drains within the municipality, but they say they will continue to respond to rescue those big and small.
"We are a 100% volunteer agency, and we respond to 100% of the calls. We're just happy to be of service for our community," said Beeson.
KDKA-TV also reached out to the National Aviary to see why birds may be getting stuck in sewer grates.
National Aviary ornithologist Robert Mullvihill says he's seen it more lately, too.
"When birds like blue jays fledge, robins, blue jays, all songbirds, when they fledge, they're not yet flighted. They don't develop flight until their wing feathers grow out. And that takes a week or two after they leave the nest. So in that period of time, they're hopping around trying to move from where the nest was to a safe spot, so they can wait for the parent to come feed them."
He says it's also possible that birds, especially ducks, which have often been seen getting stuck in storm drains across the region, are simply becoming more comfortable around humans.
