Todd Mains: Ken and the Peregrine

By Todd Mains


It was several years ago.  I was serving as a crewman on Ken Babick’s boat DEFIANT (OpFac 181173).  As usual, I was just trying hard to stay in my seat as 173 leapt from wavetop to wavetop on the Columbia, just below the Interstate 5 Bridge.  Suddenly we were making one of Ken’s patented 180 degree turns.  Usually one has to be in a fighter jet to experience G forces like this, but it happens on AUX 173 frequently.

I began to search everywhere trying to understand the reason for the turn.  I looked at all the deep drafts in the Vancouver Harbor.  I looked for people in the water.  I looked for oil on the water.  Nothing.  173 came to an abrupt stop and Ken moved forward and knelt on the deck.  I saw the juvenile peregrine falcon bobbing in the waves.

You could write a book about Ken Babick, and somebody should.  If you described him all day you would never use the word “delicate.”  Nevertheless, Ken cupped his hands and brought the bird onboard.  He tried to warm it; he tried to get water out of it. He even tried to blow fresh air into the bird’s beak.
All this time I was hoping I wouldn’t have to touch the bird.  I was always told that birds are yucky and you should leave them alone.   I wanted to say, “Come on, Ken, the bird is dead.  Let’s go.”  Ken kept working on the bird.  After many minutes with no sign of life he gave up.  The falcon had a band on its leg with an 800 number.  Ken called from his cell phone and an operator took his report.  The operator said that it is illegal to keep the bird or the band, and to put it back where we found it.  Reluctantly Ken gently put the falcon back in the water and we left the scene.

The next day Ken called to say that he heard from the avian expert who put the band on the bird.  The nest was high up on the Interstate Bridge.  He banded the bird because he knew it was soon to make it first flight.  First and last, as it turned out, Mother Nature can be cruel.

Years went by and I forgot about the hapless falcon.  Today I look at my email inbox and I have a message from Ken with the subject, “See…it coulda worked.”  Attached was an article about a veterinarian in Bend that performed successful mouth-to-beak resuscitation.  It is incredible to me that after all this time Ken still has not given up.  No baby falcon is going to die on his watch!  Many say they are dedicated to Maritime Environmental Protection, but how many back that up by doing the research to be ready – ALWAYS READY – to deliver on the water?

Awards aren’t presented for failing to revive drowned birds.  Yet, the oft used phrase from award citations comes to mind, “… in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.”