Razorbill saga - chapter 2 of 3

Woke the next morning. To be accurate I was awoken by a strange squawking. The bird had obviously survived the night.
So having got frozen mackerel in the freezer I thought I'd defrost it, cut it into slivers and see if the Razorbill would dine. Yes it did.
But I had to go to work so the bird was to spend the day in the fireside box till I returned. I was working for NEI Projects at the time on the Rihand Power Station Project. So those nearby in the office had the story so far related in detail.
Back home in the evening we had another cleaning operation and were encouraged by the success in removing more oil. I was surprised that the bird never went into attack mode with that substantial bill, and for that we were grateful, more mackerel finished that evening off.
With another day at work done and the updating of the tale told I was ready for another cleaning session which we felt was going well. After another feed the question came into my head, " do seabirds drink water?".
Then a flash of brilliance - I know we'll fill the bath, put the bird in, and if it wants a drink, it can have as much as it wants. There were no objections to the plan.
So upstairs with the bird, and placed it in a pretty full bath.
Well we just stood in amazement as the bird swam back and forward and then as it settled started its normal washing procedure. There was water everywhere.
After about twenty minutes the washing procedure stopped, the bird went to one end of the bath, turned around and attempted a take off down the bath. Fortunately unsuccessful, so I made a grab for it.
Without its natural oils due to the cleaning procedures the feathers were soaking wet and it looked a bit of a sorry sight so we sought out a hair dryer.
I kid you not, the bird just relaxed, and allowed us to get it dried out before placing it back in its box for the night.
Having seen the first attempt at escape I started to think about how do I release the bird back into the wild. I did not know whether it would be able to take off from a water surface, and the only other method of a cliff top release just could not be contemplated. I decided that after another couple of days, as long as the bird continued to feed, I would take it down to the sea.
To be cont'd...