Gallatin County

VIDEO: Stranded bird rescued from frozen pond in Belgrade

Posted: Nov 28, 2012 2:34 PM by KBZK Media Center with Chet Layman reporting
Updated: Nov 28, 2012 2:34 PM

BELGRADE - Maybe you've heard stories about firemen rescuing cats that are stuck in trees, but how about search and rescue saving a bird that is stuck on thin ice?

That's what happened at the pond in the River Rock Subdivision in Belgrade this morning.

Responders with Gallatin County Search and Rescue and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks went to the pond to help a grebe that became stranded on the ice.

"We had what was called in as a duck that was frozen in the ice and we got out here and it's not. It's a Western Grebe," said Deputy Paul Griffin of the Gallatin County Sheriff's Department.

The long-beaked bird needs open water to take off. Since the pond was frozen, the bird was stuck. Search and rescue responded with a pontoon boat and retrieved the bird.

"They require a length of open water to get better traction to actually get up in the air. He can't get any traction on the ice," Joe Knarr from Fish, Wildlife and Parks said.

The bird will now be taken by Fish, Wildlife and Parks to a local veterinarian for evaluation then it will be released.

According to search and rescue, the decision was made to retrieve the bird in order to prevent people from taking the matter into their own hands and venturing out onto the ice to help the bird themselves.

"Rather than risk having somebody try to save it and break through the ice and then we have a real rescue, we called search and rescue to get the grebe off the ice," Griffin said.

On its website, Encyclopedia Britannica describes the grebe as a foot-propelled diving bird.