What’s the best way to rescue an osprey chick? The first thing to know is that it takes a village and a whole lot of brainstorming.
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This is a story about how a group of volunteers collaborated with experts to help save an osprey chick that fell out of its nest. The experience was incredible for those involved, but it is important to note that every step that was taken was carefully planned and executed in consultation with professionals.
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An osprey chick was found weak and dehydrated under its nest. Photo by Elaine Thousand
On July 5, an osprey chick was spotted on the ground at 6:30 am near the base of the osprey platform on the west side of Rock Lake in Korth Park, Lake Mills. A walker in the park noticed the chick on the ground and contacted John Crump, president of the Rock Lake Improvement Association to ask for help and guidance.
Then starts the phone tree. John went through his mental Rolodex of folks who know a lot about birds and contacted Sue Volenec, Madison Audubon member and volunteer who lives in Lake Mills. Sue called Brand Smith, coordinator of Madison Audubon’s Kestrel Nest Box Monitoring Program who was also involved in the rescue of the Great Horned Owl chick this spring. While Brand kept working the phones to figure out a plan, Sue went to Korth Park to keep people and dogs away from the chick.
The osprey nest on top of the platform at Korth Park. Photo by Elaine Thousand
Brand contacted Dianne Moller at Hoo’s Woods Raptor Center located near Milton and Whitewater, as well as Mark Martin at Madison Audubon’s Goose Pond Sanctuary. Both suggested that attaching a bushel basket to the platform was a good idea. This way the adults could still feed the young even in the new location. Sue’s husband Bob provided some metal for predator guard to protect the basket from raccoons, snakes, and other opportunists. Brand got a basket and started to head to Lake Mills from Madison.
Diane also contacted Kathy Deinlein, a volunteer of Hoo’s Woods that lives in Cambridge. Luckily, Kathy also assists in wildlife rehabilitation at the Dane County Wildlife Center, and she hurried to Korth Park to help.
Elaine Thousand, one of the passers-by who wanted to help, contacted her neighbor, Steve Lee, who had experience building outdoor zip line systems, to see if could help rig up the bushel basket to the pole. Steve dropped what he was doing, piled a huge ladder and a bunch of gear in his truck, and came to the scene.
Meanwhile, amongst all this mobilizing and hustling, Dianne called Brand to tell him she had been in contact with Pat Fisher from New London, WI. Pat is an experienced, licensed osprey bander who runs The Feather Wildlife Rehab/Education Center, and she recommended that we do not place the chick in the basket. If the chick were in the basket instead of a nest, the adults wouldn’t be able to shade it enough to prevent it from dying of heat stroke.
So… what now?
Upon Brand’s arrival there were several people around a vehicle. It turns out that Kathy already had the chick in a large box in the back of her SUV. The bird looked weak. After sending a photo of the chick to Pat, it was determined that we should try and re-hydrate the bird with some small fish pieces. Pat also mentioned that she was going out to band osprey chicks in several nests in her area, and this chick looked like a good candidate to re-nest in one of those osprey nests.
Steve Lee said he had some frozen walleye from Green Bay in his freezer, and returned home to thaw some out and returned to the park with the perfect “Osprey take-out.” Kathy cut up the fish in small pieces and tried to get the chick to eat them. Due to Kathy’s experience at the Wildlife Center, she patiently tried to get the chick to open its mouth and swallow the fish. After some time, the chick did eat several pieces of fish and started to look much stronger.
Kathy patiently coaxes the osprey chick into taking the fish pieces. Photo by Elaine Thousand
The osprey chick looks stronger already (and check out those huge feet!). Photo by Elaine Thousand
At this time Kathy volunteered to take the chick up to New London to Pat Fisher’s facility. Pat took over the care of the chick, and the chick hung out with Pat’s education adult osprey. The next day, the chick was re-nested by a WE Energy line crew in a new nest, where one of the chicks had died earlier in the season.
A WE Energy line worker learns how to safely hold the osprey chick to place it into the foster osprey nest. Photo by The Feather Wildlife Rehab/Education Center
This happy ending is a great example of how the power of bird-lovers and volunteers combine with the knowledge and resources of experienced professionals to save a bird.
Sometimes by natural processes, a nest is predated or a youngster falls out and doesn’t make it. Nature is messy — that’s the circle of life! But we try to help if possible and reasonable. If you find an injured bird, it is important to make sure the bird is in a safe place and then contact as many knowledgeable folks who can help as possible. It takes a village!
Thank you everyone involved for their help, patience, and expertise.
Some of the keystone volunteers in the effort, from left to right: Kathy Deinlein, Sue Volenec, Brand Smith, Steve Lee, Elaine Thousand (not pictured: Dan Thousand). Photo provided by Elaine Thousand
Written by Brand Smith, Madison Audubon volunteer, and Brenna Marsicek, Madison Audubon director of communications and outreach
