HOLMES BEACH — Two rescued baby blue herons are "doing fine and eating like pigs."
That was the observation Tuesday of Gail Straight of Wildlife Inc., who has been taking care of the chicks since their nest was displaced when the tree it was in was cut down.
"We found three," Straight said, "but one had a broken wing and internal injuries and died within a couple of hours."
The nest was in a stand of Australian pines being removed for improvement at the Kingfish Boat Ramp on the north side of Manatee Avenue at the western end of the Anna Maria Island Bridge.
Ed Straight, Gail's husband and partner in the 23-year-old animal rescue operation, said he got a call at about 10:15 a.m. Feb. 14 about the birds and sent a volunteer out to pick them up.
"When I got there, branches were scattered around and the tree trunk was cut and stacked," Straight said. "But the nest was sitting on the seawall where the neighbors said they found it when they called us."
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