Rescue

 What a roller coaster ride it’s been the last few days…..on Thursday I learned about a heroic rescue of an osprey that was caught in fishing line, hanging from a tree. The fire dept climbed the tree and cut the limb so they could get that osprey the help he needed. I have seen and participated in so many of these kinds of rescues…..with an osprey hanging from either baling twine or fishing line. The injuries are usually very severe. It’s so beautiful when humans work so hard to rescue a bird, and sadly, the outcome is often not what we hope for. This case was no different. I learned about the rescue on Thursday, had to set that aside to meet with the new monitor and check a new nest on Friday, but when I got home I received an email from the Raptor Center that they had to euthanize this poor osprey. So many people tried so hard and yet, the injuries were not treatable. But then my concern turned to the possible mate and chicks that might be on their own. The site of the rescue was very near a few nests I knew about ….so today I was up and out the door early to see what I could figure out. I went to the nest closest to the rescue site first. I waited and watched for about an hour, collecting clues….her nares are not salty, she does not look dehydrated. The chick pooped, so it has eaten fairly recently and then a male arrived with a fish….no unusual reaction from the female so I knew it was her mate. Whew! This nest is ok. On to the next closest nest. Another long wait….watching mom and one chick on the nest. Collecting clues again…..and then a male arrived with a fish! Whew. These guys are ok too! The next closest nest was not very close….but I went there anyway. Waited a long time. Got worried when a visiting male stopped near this nest, mom was chirping and food begging….chirping signals an unknown osprey….and sometimes females in distress do a kind of desperate food begging….different than the way they talk to their mate. That visiting male finally took off. And as the know in my stomach started to grow….a male arrived with a fish, no fanfare, no unusual reaction from the female….she just took the fish and fed the chicks. So all was well at this nest too. All this was a relief. But still, who was the male who was so seriously injured that he had to be euthanized. There may be nests I don’t know about, and we continue to hope people will report them to us. But it’s Lao possible that beautiful bird was a “floater”, a young male without a mate or territory. I still grieve for every single osprey we lose, especially like that. He suffered. And the cause was humans leaving fishing line out where it can cause so much harm. But it appears that there isn’t a huge ripple affect to a family of ospreys. My heart still hurts. Thanks to TRC for trying their best to help him, and to the Fire Dept guys who mounted that rescue. 

So now, dear readers, go out and pickup baling twine, fishing line, landscape netting, and any other manmade materials that are left where it can harm wildlife….do it to honor that beautiful osprey! 

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