Four birds. In a 100 mile oil slick, stretching from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico,

at this time, four birds were captured for cleaning: a cattle egret, two ducks, a juvenile laughing gull, and one turtle. Oh, a snake was caught covered with oil, but it was tossed out by cleanup workers.

I attended a cleaning of three of the birds in Venice, Louisiana, about two hours outside of New Orleans towards the Gulf of Mexico. They use Dawn detergent, because it cuts grease. The Exxon- Valdez spill taught us that Dawn is effective.

Photos are by Julie Dermansky, who has been covering the spill from the beginning. I was lucky to stumble onto her.