ROCKLAND – On July 27, neighbors of Pacific and Lawrence streets in Rockland spent several hours listening to the cry of a crow.

Crows are vocal in this neighborhood, having staked their claim in many a tree within the South End. So, at first, residents thought nothing of it.

But, the cry continued, and the longer the neighbors listened, the closer they came to realizing that the regular call of one young black bird to another was actually a treble of distress.

And so, a search party, three neighbors strong, found the bird wedged behind a propane tank attached to an apartment house.

Feisty, he was. It took two people, instead of the usual one, to get him into the box where he’d reside for the journey to Freedom and Avian Haven.

Vest is now his name, according to some of the neighbors who found him with fewer feathers on his wings and chest than he’d worn before the propane tank entrapment. Yet, healthy, he seemed to be, despite a few intestinal parasites that Haven treated. 

“That was the only particular treatment the bird received here,” Diane Winn of Avian Haven said. “He mainly had to finish maturing and grow some new feathers.”

Upon his return release, September 8, and while still in the travel box, an entourage turned a corner and walked a short distance to the very property where the bird had been found. As they did, three more crows were suddenly in attendance, perched atop a power line, welcoming Vest home.

Once out of the box, Vest didn’t stick around long enough to appreciate his rescuers, though he circled from above, excitingly revisiting and reacquainting with the neighborhood he’d missed for more than a month.

Read some of our previous articles about birds recovered and treated by Avian Haven

How to handle an injured bird or reptile

Rehabilitated gull establishes perch at Rockland Harbor spot where previously rescued

Knox County Sheriff's deputy, Avian Haven volunteers rescue bald eagle suffering from lead poisoning

Golden eagle’s three-month journey from near death to freedom a first in Maine’s history

Sarah Thompson can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com