Ray Smuts
WHEN THE salvage tug John Ross returned with a tow to Cape Town last week she was carrying an unexpected VIP - Very Important Plumage - passenger, feeling rather poorly, I might add.
The rare feathered visitor to these strange shores was identified as a redbilled tropicbird usually restricted to the world's tropical terrain and certainly out of place in the area where he (or is it she?) was discovered; about 160-nautical miles northwest of Cape Town.
The John Ross, a familiar sight off the Mother City's Atlantic Seaboard, had gone to collect a crippled bulk carrier, Iran Ghafari, which was carrying iron ore from Brazil when she broke a crankshaft 500 miles north-west of Cape Town, and asked South African port authorities for a port of refuge.
While returning to port, electrician Albert Chipps was called to the bridge to look at a white, long-tailed bird flying close by, attempting to land before again ascending into a flurry of feathered shrapnel.
As Chipps was attempting to photograph the bird, he found it lying spreadeagled at his feet. He identified it from a field guide bird book, and after a drink of water squeezed into the beak with cotton wool, the new passenger settled down.
Once back in port, the SA National Foundation for the Conservation of Birds (Sanccob) collected the bird which was found to be weak and dehydrated, and put it on a liquid diet.
Port authorities say there is no risk of oil pollution from the Iran Ghafari which is being assessed for damage.
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