Family on Vacation Protects ‘Rare and Important’ Bird Found Shivering in Cruise Ship Hot Tub

A family vacation aboard Princess Cruises’ Sky Princess came with an unexpected guest.

Charlene Halsey and her daughters were relaxing on the ship’s 16th deck when they spotted a small bird tucked beneath the step of a hot tub. The bird was shivering and clearly distressed, Halsey told the BBC.

The stowaway turned out to be a corn crake — a rare species listed as at risk of extinction by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. How it ended up on board isn’t certain, but experts think it may have landed on the ship while it was moving through the Mediterranean, then became stranded when heavy rain rolled in.

After alerting the crew, Halsey and her children kept checking on the bird as it sheltered near the hot tub. As the weather worsened and the bird seemed unable to fly, they brought it into their cabin overnight to warm up.

“It was raining quite hard, and the poor thing was shivering. We monitored it for a while, and it was wandering around, seemingly unable to fly,” Halsey said.

The family made the bird as comfortable as they could, wrapping it in a towel and even giving it a playful nickname: Aaron Burrd — a nod to Aaron Burr from the musical Hamilton. Halsey said the bird’s brief cabin stay included some amusing moments, like pecking at its reflection in the mirror and tossing hairbands into the air.

When the ship docked in Portland, England, the next day, the family wanted to make sure the bird received proper care. After researching what it was, they arranged for local bird rescuer and rehabilitator Derek Davey to meet them at the port, the Dorset Echo reported.

Davey later described the call as one of the more unusual ones he’d received. He noted that corn crakes spend summers in Scotland before migrating to Africa for winter — meaning this bird will need careful rehabilitation and a safe plan for release.

He said the situation presents a unique challenge, since the bird must overwinter somewhere secure and then be returned north when other corn crakes come back from migration.

For now, Aaron Burrd is being looked after while Davey works to find the right placement until it can be released.

“They are very elusive and not seen very often,” he said of corn crakes. “I feel very privileged to have seen one but also quite nervous with the responsibility of looking after it.”