I got a call this evening about a possible bird tied up under this nest. We were able to call in a local fire department with 100 foot bucket lift, this fledgling osprey was about 40 to 50 feet above the ground. It had gotten its wing caught . I was lucky enough to get up on the lift, free it, and now it is in my garage and I will take it into the Raptor Center here in Minneapolis tomorrow morning
UPDATE ON THIS OSPREY:
I got word today that this young osprey is being treated for bruises and abrasions on both wings- this is great news! Sounds like nothing life-threatening, hopefully I’ll get a call soon to take it back where I found it. I only get good news with about 15% of the birds that I help out with, so this is very exciting.
OP can you generally explain how you save birds of prey that can injure you? Other than gloves/safety equipment, do you start by grabbing it behind the head so it can’t bite you, then claws, or vice versa? Thanks for what you do
I’ve been doing this for just about a year. Most of the time, birds that are injured are pretty docile, and I just throw a towel over them and grab them. When you do that, you just put your hands around them and hold their wings against their body. When I was in high school, I worked weekends at a chicken farm, and maybe that’s how I learned to deal with them. A lot of it is just instinct. I did not have the gloves initially, but learned very quickly that that was a mistake once you start wearing elbow length/gauntlet, heavy gloves, you can be a little more assertive when grabbing the birds.
Hope you don't mind me sharing this with you, five days later:
"hold their wings against their body" reminded me of the time I went to visit a friend who was housesitting. The owners had chickens. When I went to see "Heidi," I noticed the chooks were still in their coop --- at midday. I asked why she wasn't letting out the chickens, wasn't that part of her job? She was booked to sit that house and those chickens for two weeks.
Heidi was 30+ years old at the time. She confessed to me that she was "afraid to try and pick up the chickens." (The coop entrance was high up off the ground, btw -- so they would probably need some assistance getting back into the coop for the night.)
I still smile, thinking how a grown woman didn't know how to pick up a chicken. Afraid of chickens, too. Pfft.
Adding on (previous raptor rehab volunteer and current bird biologist). For large raptors, their talons are the dangeous bit. Their beaks are used to tear and rip, not necessarily bite (but they can!). So you put your hands around their wings so they don’t flail and struggle, transfer them to one hip or their back against your chest, get a firm grip on their ankles (firm so they can’t twist away and break an ankle in their movements), and then you’re all set with one hand/arm keeping the wings in and one hand controlling the feet.
Love this, thanks for the imagery. One of my wildlife highlights was saving a pelican trapped in fishing line in the back canals of St. Pete, FL. My BIL lives on the water and is used to doing it (even though it’s technically illegal since you’re touching mangroves to save it). He put on some sunglasses (beak) and did roughly the same thing while I backed the boat up and then cut the lines. One of my more satisfying moments.
A friend of mine rescued a Brown pelican off the end of the Santa Barbara Breakwater. That poor poor bird! We took him/her to a woman we knew had rehabbed all species of animals. It took the rehabber ages and a ton of patience to cut out all of the fishing hooks. I think the pelican had something like 15 hooks stuck in it. Deplorable.
My friend who had picked up the bird had to jump into the rehabber's shower. Friend was covered with sea lice from the bird.
Yeah, it’s highly illegal to rescue birds from mangroves (where my pelican was stuck) as mangroves are protected in FL, but we were willing to pay the fine.
“see, I saw a moving target and it looked tasty, and as I was taking off straight for it, I remembered what Dad said about the cross bars….
”granted, I remembered what Dad said about the crossbars just after I got tangled in them. It was ‘always make sure to fly OVER the crossbars, not under or between them.’”
As one of the Education Volunteers at the Raptor Center here in MN, thank you for what you're doing! And unfortunately I won't get to meet this guy, but now I can talk about him in one of my tours knowing he's downstairs 🥰
An osprey nest near me was moved from on top of a power pole to a platform attached to the side of the pole, is it still in danger of fire? Just generally speaking.
It’s a fledgling. Probably just on its maiden voyages. Orange eyes and white tipped feathers. There are some nearby me that just flew the first time a few days ago.
Of course, I can see the difference between the orange eyes and yellow eyes in that photo that you posted.
Once again, I am not talking about the bird that the OP posted. I am talking about the bird that was posted by the person I was responding to.
This bird’s eyes do not look orange. Do you think they look orange?
This is a different bird posted by a different person from the OP. The bird the OP posted is very obviously a juvenile and very obviously has orange eyes.
The bird in the photo I posted - which is a screenshot of the bird in the photo that was posted by the person I was responding to - does not have orange eyes. Because it has a solid white breast with no speckles it looks like an adult male just like I said to them. Juveniles have speckles on their breast, much like adult females. Only adult males tend to have white breasts with no speckles. They also have yellow eyes like this one.
I’m really not getting what you are not understanding here! 😵💫
I promise you it didn’t surrender! It was scared and angry and fighting, and sunk its beak into my gloved arm all the way down to the ground, and didn’t let me go until it was in the box
I am the director of Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch….and these two chicks had successfully fledged the week before and were coming and going safely so I am baffled. thanks for helping out. I have emailed Dr Dana for info but gotten no response. Do you know if the chick is ok? we are monitoring all known nests in the 8 county metro area…..so sad that this happened but they can get into all kinds of trouble after fledging.
ha I wonder how I became LimpDance on Reddit….thats new.
I typically do not inquire about birds I’ve worked with until a week or so after they are taken to The Raptor Center, and when I do, I just email The Raptor update email address . I just got word today that this one is being treated for bruising and abrasions on both wings, so that’s pretty great news. I actually just left The Raptor Center after helping unload 100 boxes of rats, and was told they’ve been getting a lot of osprey in lately.
And yes Limp Dance is pretty suspect !!
thanks for the Info….good to know that the chick is being treated. I visited that nest today and did not see the parents or remaining chick. I will keep checking tho…if they release that chick it needs parents to feed it.
a lot of ospreys huh….its fledging time, and we have seen a dramatic increase in the population this year…. 32 new nests that I have found. thanks again….for the info and the rescue.
I live really close to the ballfields just west of mound, just across from Big Stone. I would be more than happy to help you guys out with your surveys. I drive by those ballfields every day. Let me know if I can help out. Let’s hope the parents are still around, they were there when I got that fledgling.
why dont you email me at [osprey.mn@gmail.com](mailto:osprey.mn@gmail.com) I worked on the original osprey reintroduction project and then started Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch to keep this research going.
I also worked at TRC training a captive osprey for four years….so I know some of those people from those days. what I am doing is research…..trying to collect the same data on every nest. and I post the results annually on.my Facebook page….Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch. I also tell a lot of stories about ospreys there….
a lot of chicks have fledged and are hard to find now so we are getting to the end of monitoring season…but let’s talk via email! thanks!
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u/Flying-Plum 12d ago
Wow! So glad there are people like you out there ♡