Today while roaming around Key Vista Nature Park just next to the Anclote Power Plant we stumbled upon an injured loon laying along the bank of Rocky Creek. The Loon is a type of waterfowl like the Anhinga. It appeared to be injured. Even after being tapped with the side of a fishing pole the bird didn’t move an inch.  It only rotated its head a bit.  It was hard to say what the cause of the injury was.  The obvious thing is the fishing line wrapped around its beak, but other injuries could be possible.  We decided it would be a good idea to identify an organization who could care for the bird so it could return to full health. The reason we couldn’t just take the bird to a vet is because many birds along the gulf coast of Florida are protected by federal and state laws. Only organizations who specialized in these protected species are permitted by law to handle such creatures. Owls Nest Sanctuary for Recovery told us today that they have the appropriate state and federal permits to rehabilitate protected bird species. We were also told that the bird was added to their ambulatory list of animals to pick up.  Hopefully the bird was picked up today.