Bird

Consider this the Southern California version of a cat-in-a-tree rescue. About 300 people gathered at the Newport Pier on Sunday to watch firefighters remove a seagull from a palm tree after it got caught in string, said Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz. Firefighters were called to the pier about 6:26 p.m. after the seagull was seen dangling from its feet about 20 feet above the ground, according to a Fire Department news release. "[The onlookers] were very concerned for the bird's safety," said Capt.

Editor's note: This adds the fifth through seventh paragraphs. BALBOA ISLAND — The street was empty Tuesday as James Palmer went back to the last place where his 6-year-old daughter's pet bird was seen. Walking down a sunny Garnet Avenue toward South Bay Front just before noon, Palmer pointed to different trees that Banana Split — a bright, ice blue-colored Pacific parrotlet — liked to frequent. During the stroll, he also signaled toward neighbors' houses the tiny bird enjoyed visiting.

Deepa Bharath It was pretty much a booby trap for the injured bird that virtually limped her way into Big Corona beach with a fish hook lodged in her stomach. Experts say the rare marine bird that probably followed a fishing boat from La Jolla to Big Corona on Saturday evening is a masked booby -- a close cousin of the blue-footed booby, a species commonly found in the Galapagos Islands. The birds migrate north when it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Many space enthusiasts are anxious to watch the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour as it flies over many Southern Californian landmarks Friday, including Huntington Beach and Disneyland. Many of you will likely snap a picture or two of this historic occasion and we at the Daily Pilot would love to see your shots of Endeavour on its final voyage. Send us your picture, along with a caption, your name, address and phone number to dailypilot@latimes.com . You can also tweet them to us via our Twitter, @TheDailyPilot.

When Brenda Chandler saw a dead crow near her neighbor’s backyard two weeks ago, she noticed that it looked as though it were asleep. The Eastside Costa Mesa resident said she found the crow’s peaceful appearance alarming; it showed no signs of distress. It hadn’t been in a fight or attacked by a cat — but something killed it. A week later, an investigation by Orange County Vector Control revealed the bird was infected with West Nile Virus. “It bothers me. You never think it’s going to get to you, get that close,” Chandler said.

Marisa O'Neil This is not a good week for turkeys. Apart from the couple of lucky birds who got a presidential pardon, most will end up on someone's dinner table. With that in mind, students in Tara Anderson's fifth-grade class at Newport Heights Elementary School took a walk in the turkeys' shoes -- or feet, as the case may be -- to get ready for Thanksgiving. Anderson started off the lesson by reading "'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving" by Dav Pilkey, a story about a group of children who visit old Farmer McNugget's turkey farm on a school trip and liberate the livestock.

Deepa Bharath A 53-year-old Costa Mesa man on Tuesday was convicted of punching his pet macaw and slamming him against his boat. Anthony James Ellis, a member of the Newport Beach Elks Club, faces up to three years in state prison. He was found guilty on two felony counts of animal cruelty and animal abuse. Several Elks Club members saw Ellis hit the bird on his boat, which was docked at the club, officials said. Ellis grabbed the bird named Johnny by the legs, held him upside down and struck him repeatedly with a closed fist, according to the police report.

Mathis Winkler NEWPORT HARBOR -- Balboa resident Rick Jones first saw the great blue heron Sunday morning as she walked up and down his East Edgewater dock. When the bird, standing about 3 feet tall, still lingered about an hour later, he took a closer look. "I could walk right up to her and she wouldn't move," Jones said Wednesday, adding that he called the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach to ask if anything was wrong with the animal.

Deepa Bharath A 52-year-old Newport Beach man is facing two felony counts of animal cruelty and up to three years in state prison for allegedly smashing a parrot against a boat, breaking its beak and leg, officials said Tuesday. A pretrial hearing is set for Monday in the case against Anthony James Ellis. The Orange County district attorney filed animal cruelty and animal abuse charges against Ellis on March 13. Officials said Ellis deliberately hurt a Macaw he had owned for 11 years.

Chuck Cassity So somebody from the County forgot to "mow" the bottom of the Santa Ana River channel between the Adams Bridge and Gisler Avenue and now there are trees growing in the river bottom higher than the bridge itself. A veritable forest has shot up while nobody was looking, least of all the County, whose job it is to make sure this doesn't happen. So why don't the nice county folks just go in there and remove this unwanted and unnecessary foliage before the rains come?

Two Newport Beach newcomers are being guaranteed the high quality of life for which the city is known. They already had a great view, and now city officials are making sure the temperature is just right - nothing's too good for these coastal birds. City staff plans to disconnect the lightbulbs on a sports field light at Bonita Creek Park where an osprey nest was built earlier this month . This is being done "out of an abundance of caution," Laura Detweiler, recreation and senior services director for the city, wrote in an email.

The Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee on Wednesday approved three suggestions for additions to the park, based on ideas the group generated earlier this year. A majority of the nine-member committee favored adding a community garden, information kiosks with pamphlets, and a nature center with bird-watching platforms within the 208-acre park's northwest quadrant. The three suggestions will be brought to city staff, who will research the feasibility of each before the committee's next meeting, scheduled for February.

Half a dozen visually impaired teenagers and a group of guides listened in silence in the middle of a tight trail at Crystal Cove State Park. Some cupped their ears or turned their heads to hear the different bird calls they were trying to count. "I got 10," said Nick Avalos, 16. He and his classmates from the Braille Institute in Los Angeles were at Moro Canyon in Laguna Beach on Thursday. There they participated in a pilot project of sorts with Crystal Cove Alliance, a nonprofit partner of the state park.

Rock stars usually headline the Pacific Amphitheatre, but on Wednesday evening fairgrounds administrators took center stage. During an open house, officials showed off the venue's dramatic changes, part of a $13.8-million renovation effort aimed at creating a more intimate setting at the Orange County Fair & Event Center. More than 150 visitors got a chance to walk onstage and backstage and alongside what's left of the venue's outer dirt berm. "It's a good opportunity to let our neighbors know what's going on," Fair Board Chairman Douglas La Belle said.

If Chip Michael's orchestra ever plays a massive concert hall, the members may need an hour before curtain time to get acquainted with each other. For that matter, they may need to say hello to their conductor, too. Michael, the web coordinator for the Pacific Symphony, launched a project last March that brings musicians together through social media. The campaign, known as TwtrSymphony, initially sought a makeshift orchestra to play a composition of Michael's — and it succeeded, as more than 300 musicians answered the call.

Cormorants were released back into the wild from the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach Monday afternoon. The black sea birds have been rescued in the past from fishing lines, as in a late September incident during which surfers wrestled two cormorants ashore near Newport Pier and called animal control. One of the birds had been snagged by a hook and the other had been weighed down by a fishing sinker. Newport Beach Animal Control officers drove the birds to the center.

Surfers rescued two sea birds tangled in fishing lines off Newport Pier on Thursday morning. A witness said that two surfers wrestled the cormorants ashore after one was snagged by a hook, and the other weighed down by a fishing sinker. Lori McDonald was in the pier parking lot when she saw one of the black birds on the sand, which is unusual. A group of people encircled it so it wouldn't try to escape with a lead weight attached to its claw. One local surfer was hugging the other bird, she said, trying to keep it calm after a hook nearly caught its eye. "It was a tussle," McDonald said, for the surfers bring the two birds from the surf spot Blackies onto the sand.

Many space enthusiasts are anxious to watch the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour as it flies over many Southern Californian landmarks Friday, including Huntington Beach and Disneyland. Many of you will likely snap a picture or two of this historic occasion and we at the Daily Pilot would love to see your shots of Endeavour on its final voyage. Send us your picture, along with a caption, your name, address and phone number to dailypilot@latimes.com . You can also tweet them to us via our Twitter, @TheDailyPilot.

Months ago, a pelican was spotted in Irvine tangled in fishing line, hooks and a lure. Rescuers said the bird was wrapped like a pretzel as they worked for days to free and treat her. This week, after surgeries to rebuild her beak and mend fractures, Nigel the pelican - or Nigelina, as some began calling the bird after he was discovered to be a female - was released into the wild. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version incorrectly identified Nigel, or Nigelina to some, as a male pelican.

While beachgoers lounging on the shore can typically see pelicans plunge into the water for fish, it was Newport Beach's Animal Control officers who did the hunting for about 40 hungry birds last weekend. Animal Control brought 200 pounds of fish to the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center, which was close to running out of food after being inundated with young, injured and starving pelicans this season, said Wildlife Director Debbie McGuire. Storms in Mexico and warmer water can drive fish favored by the birds into deeper, cooler waters, where only more skilled hunters can scoop them up, she said.