The red, white, and great blue

For the last three years I have conducted bird counts throughout Lincoln Park, Chicago to compare to historic records collected over one hundred years ago. Last year I came across this great blue heron with an American flag caught around its beak for about one week. While this species is quite common to Lincoln Park both historically and today, the city itself has changed considerably. This has been to the benefit of some species, but not all, and this image truly illustrates some of the costs associated to human-dominated habitats. I never did find out what exactly happened to this bird.