An older man was taking his routine walk through Massapequa Park in New York when a strange sound broke through the usual quiet of the woods. It was not the typical chirping of birds or the wind moving through branches. Instead, a deep, unfamiliar call echoed around him.

The noise almost sounded prehistoric, something closer to a creature from another era than any bird he had ever heard.

Unsure of what could be making such a sound, he followed it through the trees. What he found was both surprising and heartbreaking: a large wild bird caught in thick vegetation and crying out in pain.

A Cry That Couldn’t Be Ignored

Entangled in heavy vines and thorny undergrowth was a great blue heron, one of the tallest and most recognizable wading birds in North and Central America.

The helpless her

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