Rescue

It’s been a busy few days....dealing with unexpected situations. Maybe you will find it interesting....

Monday morning I got a message from someone who lives in the UK, but is active on my page....Hazel. She saw a post on the page that Tiger Mozone runs from a man in Minnesota asking what to do about chicks that blew out of a nest that he erected during a storm. She suggested that I contact him. He posted his phone number asking for help so I called him. I was already way out in a western county to check nests so I suggested that he pick up the chicks, put them in a box and get them to The Raptor Center to be sure they were OK. There were several phone calls with him, and several suggestions made about how to get the chicks back in the nest. I kept checking nests and came upon a nest with two live chicks and one dead one, and no adults anywhere. I waited for three hours. Every time an Osprey flew over they food begged loudly. No ospreys stopped. I started to suspect these chicks were in trouble and started making phone calls regarding a rescue for these chicks. Sadly, in this state, there aren’t many options other than letting them die. After many hours, a male who was not the father circled around and then landed forcefully on a chicks back in a very aggressive manner. Then a female came flying in and chased him away. I was somewhat relieved to see an adult defend these chicks, but I suspect this is a single parent situation , with a female who has to leave to get food and is struggling to provide for her offspring. I am hoping for the best, but my phone calls did not result in a permit to move them to another nest. In the process of exploring options for that family, I talked with The Raptor Center and we had a great discussion about both situations, Osprey behaviors, and possible solutions. I was told that the chicks that had blown out of their nest in the storm were both in good shape. As the day went on, we had a few more emails and phone calls, and the next morning plans came together to renest those chicks. I agreed happily to help, so, although this nest was outside of my normal study area, I drove up and met the gentleman who put the nest up and rescued the chicks, and a volunteer from TRC and we got those two chicks back in their nest. They had been out of the nest for several days, so there was concern that the Adults parental instincts might have turned off. But we thought this was the best option. So the man who rescued them got a tall enough ladder to access the nest, and he went up as we placed the chicks in a bag and sent them up to their nest. We also left a lot of fish up there for them. It all went perfectly. As we pulled away in the pontoon boat, the Mom was back in her usual perch below the nest, looking up at her chicks! I stayed all afternoon to watch the behaviors, as I always learn. The chicks were eating those fish, and at 3:30 in the afternoon, the male finally came to the nest, walked around, and stole a fish, went to a nearby perch to eat. All is well! Woo hoo! Thanks to Ritchie Ronning, The rescuer, Terri Headley from TRC, and Gail Buhl at TRC who coordinated it all, and of course, Hazel who connected us at the start. I was so happy to be able to help. It’s such a wonderful feeling when a rescue goes this well! Here are some photos.