I need to do some educating about what to do if you find an osprey chick on the ground. First of all let me dispell some myths. The parents will NOT feed it on the ground. That is true of some other birds, but not ospreys. Fledging time is a precarious time and some birds do end up either falling out of a nest or having some mishap during the process of fledging and they do need help. Young ospreys who land on the ground during one of their first flights are sometimes unable to get lift off from the ground. They may not have developed enough strength or skill to do that. We are so lucky here that we do have some wonderful sources for help. First of all you can contact me! I check emails many times most days, and if you live near a nest that you visit regularly, please send me an email so I can give you my phone number in case you ever need it in the future. I need to have a team of people on the alert so if you wish to be a part of such a team, let me know! I am experienced at handling ospreys, and always have a box in my car.
If you cannot get a hold of me, the next source of help is the Raptor Center. Their phone number is 612-624-4745. They will usually advise you about how to pick the bird up and how to transport it to their clinic. Do not feed the bird or give it water. They do not drink, they get fluid from their fish. Put it in a box and put a towel over the box, or a top on the box. It will need some air (holes) but keeping the box in a dark cool place will keep the bird calmer. Get the bird to TRC as soon as possible...time matters. If you do take an osprey to TRC, please send me an email about it. I know that if you are reading this page, you care about ospreys, so let's not let them die uneccessarily. We lost a chick yesterday, perhaps because it did not get rescued quickly enough. Sadly, this may not reach the people who need to know what to do. Thanks to David, Joren, and Raquel for finally rescueing the chick and thanks to Paul for letting me know about it.