Just Another Day at the B[P]each: Oiled Birds, Dead Birds, & More!

I’ll let the Coast Guard’s own captions explain these pictures. You can find many more, as well as videos, at the Coast Guard site.

GRAND ISLE, La. – An oiled reddish egret walks along a beach in Grand Isle, La., May 20, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon/BP incident began washing up on beaches here exactly one month after the drilling unit exploded. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley. [100520-G-8744K-006]

BP’s Filthy Mess: Public Domain Images of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

If you are looking for public domain images of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the US Coast Guard’s photo gallery is worth a look. This post’s images, along with their captions, are courtesy of the Coast Guard.

NEW ORLEANS – Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon April 21, 2010. A Coast Guard MH-65C dolphin rescue helicopter and crew document the fire aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon, while searching for survivors April 21, 2010. Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to rescue the Deepwater Horizon’s 126 person crew. (100421-G-XXXXL- 003  U.S. Coast Guard photo)

More from Haiti

These images are in the public domain because they were taken by US military personnel to document relief efforts in Haiti. Captions are also taken from these sites; italics indicate that they are verbatim. Several are from the Coast Guard’s website; the others are from the Navy’s. These are just a tiny sampling of growing collections at both sites. 

Isn’t this amazing? Imagine being a rescue swimmer for the Coast Guard and finding yourself delivering a baby on a flight deck. Well done, guys. 

 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – An Air Station Clearwater, Fla., helicopter crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma assisted in the delivery of a male Haitian newborn on the cutter Jan. 16, 2010. A pregnant Haitian citizen went into labor on the flight deck as the helicopter was refueling aboard the cutter. The rescue swimmer from Coast Guard HH-60 helicopter CG6024 then delivered the five-pound newborn. The mother and child were taken to a hospital in Cap Haitien, Haiti for further medical treatment and were in good condition. Tahoma was transferring Haitian citizens to Cap Haitien from Port-au-Prince for medical assistance when the woman went into labor. U.S. Coast Guard photo. [100116-G-0000X-001 (top); 100115-G-0000X-002]