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 On 07/10/2013 at 08:08 AM by Ranger1 See More From This User » |
Friday evening we had a fierce thunderstorm that wreaked havoc in our area. I was, of course, ankle deep in water doing the weekly swab-down of the toilet building. After it was over, I mentally congratulated us for only having one giant pine tree explode and fall over a trail. Little did I know... Saturday afternoon, Andy, the park manager went down to the shore to take a swim after we cut up and removed the downed pine tree. I wasn't scheduled to have been in that morning but had gone in to get the tree taken care of and then went home for a nap and a shower before returning for closing duties. I got a phone call from Andy while I was still home telling me that the osprey nest on the island sanctuary had been blown down during the storm. There were three chicks in the nest and we pretty much wrote them off. Andy went out to the island once I returned to work, just in case any of the chicks had survived. And one healthy, uninjured chick was found. We were happy, because the chances of one surviving had been pretty low and it was nice to have one survivor when we didn't think we'd have any at all.
Andy called Avian Haven, a bird rehab facility, and they guided us through what we needed to do. As the chick was healthy and uninjured, and close to fledging, they felt that its best chance for survival was to return it to the parents as soon as we could. They told us what to do to keep it comfortable for the night, and how to build a platform in the tree where the nest had been. One of Andy's college friends is a retired arborist and still has all his climbing equipment. Andy called Paul and Paul agreed to come over the following day and get the platform into the tree and then get the chick onto the platform. I went to the local market to get fish. The guy behind the fish counter, when he found out what the fish was for, gave it to us. We got about a 1/4 of a pound of fish into the chick that night. Andy decided to stay at HQ for the night and keep an eye on our little survivor. First feeding was at 6 AM. I gave a second feeding at 11 AM while Andy was building a nesting platform. I am not nearly as adept at feeding as the mama osprey...
Paul arrived around 1:15 PM and he and Andy took Paul's canoe down to the shore. Andy saw movement, called me to bring down binoculars, and we discovered that the other two chicks were also alive. They had made their way down to the shore of the island and were being tended to by the parents. Andy and Paul paddled over to the island and Paul climbed the tree and wired the platform into place. He then wired sticks onto the platform to make it more natural for the osprey. After he finished getting the sticks wired into place, his daughter and Andy got the chicks into burlap bags and Paul hauled them one by one up the tree and placed them on the platform. The whole operation took about 4 1/2 hours.
By closing time, the male osprey had brought a fish to the platform, and the female returned and fed the chicks, spending most of the time feeding the one that we'd had in protective custody, probably re-establishing the bond.
Some days, the stars are aligned just right...
All the photos from the weekend are on my Flickr page here
that's pretty awesome, man. I'm always watching the birds here, which aren't quite as thrilling as yours. We have a big black raven that's the boss of the backyard. Whenever there's a coyote the raven (or ravens) make all this noise and one even kind of attacked one once when it was around. crazy.
I'm glad you could save the chicks. that must be really gratifying.
Wow. That is amazing, so glad you guys could save the chicks. Its pretty heartbreaking to see stuff like that happen, but heartwarming to see the parents continuing to feed the chicks despite the nest being blown down. We have some black bears in the area right now. They generally don't come around here so its fun to see them around. I havn't seen one yet but my Aunt did and took a picture that was shown on the news.
So here is a folky duo you might be interested in. They are called Loves It! from Austin. They came though town and played a free show in the park. The girl has a great voice.
That's incredible Tami! It's always good to see something positive come out of a negatively charged situation. I'm glad all the chicks are alive and well!
That's awesome! I'm glad that the chicks are all safe. Nature sure can be harsh sometimes. Although I probably don't need to tell you that lol. 
Nice story.
Nice! Glad they all got saved.
My work day was spent building children's playsets for around eleven hours straight. lol
Wow!! always love these updates from you Tami, Iooks like that chick has quite the appetite there, plus I couldn't help but laugh at the projectile poo it decorated the box with!
So glad you were able to save the one chick. Such incredible birds that it's a shame that some were lost. I think working with animals like that would be so rewarding. I may get to do a bit myself. My boss is considering having us do x-rays on small animals at a local veterinarian clinic once a week. I've done x-rays on dogs and cats before and it was very interesting.
Didn't know you folks were allowed to do such for wild animals. Las time i was out there it was literally a jailable crime to even approach such animals, even if they were in distress.
Looks like they fought off "the circle of life" on this one!
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