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CAPE WILDLIFE CENTER ©2007
Female osprey raising her wings after preening. |
Mothers all over the world will tell you stories of having a “nesting instinct,” a compelling need to get the nursery ready and the house in order for the arrival of a new baby. For a female osprey on Cape Cod, this spring’s ritual nesting activity was interrupted and threatened by a devastating storm that inflicted injury and uncertainty to this magnificent raptor. Thanks to quick action on the part of two storm watchers and their life saving rescue, subsequent treatment at the Cape Wildlife Center occurred, allowing nature to return to its pre-storm balance, where mating—and hatching will likely happen.
About Ospreys
Ospreys, raptors which feed exclusively on fish, are large birds. They grow to be two feet long and have a wingspan of four and a half to six feet wide. Osprey feathers are dark brown on top, white below, and they have a white head with a prominent dark eye stripe. Closely related to hawks and eagles, ospreys are unique raptors with owl-like feet and wings that bend in flight like a gull’s. Adults weigh between two and a half to four pounds, with females being slightly larger than males.
Ospreys form life-long breeding pairs and return to the same nests every year, enhancing the nest size and breadth. Some of these lovingly and carefully crafted nests have even been used for 70 years. Made of masses of sticks with inner linings of moss, bark, or grass, their nests are quite large, measuring over three feet deep by five feet wide and weighing almost 400 pounds, approximately the weight of a medium-sized motorcycle. While they appear small to the eye on the ground, these behemoth platforms provide a comfortable and stable home. These raptors fly back to Cape Cod annually each March, after a winter in Central or South America. Upon returning, their first priority is to re-build and refurbish their nest, in preparation for their spring courtship and the subsequent five-month job of raising any young. Osprey nests on the Cape are frequently built on man-made platforms erected specifically for these birds, as many trees have been removed to make way for large-scale buildings. Osprey observers note that the female is the one to place most of the new sticks, and the male acts as the “gopher” for the materials.
Storm Damages Nest—and Osprey
On April 16th a powerful nor’easter hit Cape Cod. This storm unleashed a deluge of torrential rain, and the hurricane-force winds violently shook down trees and power lines… and an osprey nest. Visitors to a local beach checking out the extreme high tides and storm damage in the midst of this tempest found more than they bargained for: they found an osprey nest upside down on the sandy shore. Concerned about the possibility of eggs or young in the nest, the rescuers pushed the large portion of the nest aside and frantically started digging. What they found was not eggs or youngsters but an adult osprey, headfirst in the sand. After calling called the Yarmouth Natural Resources division for assistance, the damp, thoroughly sand-covered raptor was brought to the Cape Wildlife Center for treatment.
Despite the calamity, the Cape Wildlife Center’s veterinarian found that the female adult osprey had no apparent fractures, wounds or lesions. She was able to flap her wings, grasp with her talons and bite—all appropriate threatening postures for a captive raptor. The osprey was given medicine for possible pain and inflammation, and she was placed in the intensive care ward with a heat lamp to alleviate possible hypothermia. She was fed live fish and closely monitored, by the Center’s caring staff and volunteers, for signs of injury.
On her second day in the clinic the osprey was checked for any eye injuries, which might have been caused by the blunt impact of hitting the shore, or the inevitable embed sand fragments. Thankfully, no eye problems or vision loss were found. The medical assessment was that she simply needed time to preen and remove the lodged sand from her wings and feathers. This storm survivor was then moved to an outside flight cage where her ability to fly and perch could easily be assessed. Although she did not appear to be physically injured, she was stressed and not eating. However, the fact that ospreys do not do well in captivity might have been a factor. The center’s staff needed to quickly determine if it was medically sound to return her to the wild.
On the morning of her third day, the osprey let the staff know what to do next. She was found in her outside flight cage, standing in a tub of water, half-submerged, shivering and soaked through and though, with a fish in her talons. Ospreys in the wild normally get their feathers wet when they dive and submerge to catch fish. Unfortunately this osprey could not shake off the heavy damp sand, and it seemed that the soiled condition of her feathers made her unable to keep warm. She was brought back inside and placed under a heat lamp, as she apparently needed more time to preen and remove the sand. For their own benefit and future survival, wildlife rehabilitators handle recovering species minimally. The job of preening and her ultimate recovery would need to be done, for the most part, on her own.
The next day the osprey emerged active and energetic. Placed back outside in the flight cage, she flew the full length and perched on a tree trunk. She was watched throughout the morning and was active and flying well. She was ready to be released.
Flying Free in the Cape Cod Sky
That afternoon the osprey was released on the same beach where she was found. Her mate had remained there, working on rebuilding the portion of the nest that remained on the platform. It was an amazing sight to see him flying overhead and enthusiastically greet her as she was released. She immediately joined him, and they flew down the length of the beach together in unison.
The questions her rehabilitators were wondering as they witnessed this reunion was whether or not the couple would stay at the nest and continue to rebuild it, and furthermore, had this pair missed the opportunity to mate and raise their young this season? Our osprey monitors in the area report that the couple is indeed back at the nest, working on its repair. The nesting instinct remains strong. If all goes well within a few weeks, the observers will report seeing eggs and later, baby ospreys being incubated by their mother. This lucky osprey’s beach combing rescuers are all thinking of her as Mother’s Day approaches.
Posted May 8, 2007
