Firefighters help young osprey gets back to nest
It took three attempts, a raw fish as bait and — crucially — Kevlar gloves, but Ottawa firefighters helped a wayward, not-quite-fledged osprey home Thursday morning.
“I’d never been that close to an osprey before,” said Ottawa Fire public information officer Danielle Cardinal. “The talons were opening and closing, but apart from that it was surprisingly calm.”
It’s not the osprey nest’s first time in the spotlight. Last summer, landowner Dave Craig accidentally toppled the old and rotting osprey platform he had installed on his Rideau River property in the mid1980s. One of two osprey chicks was killed in the mishap. Craig erected a new 16-metre platform last August and the osprey pair returned this spring as usual, raising two young.
Craig found one of the young birds had fallen from the nest earlier this week and spent three days hand-feeding it fish. Firefighters from Station 91 in Metcalfe arrived to lift it back in place Thursday.
Though bird rescues aren’t a regular part of the job, the fire service responded as a matter of public safety, Cardinal said.
“We’re trying to prevent injury. We know that people are passionate and in this case they’ve worked very hard and established this relationship with the bird. We didn’t want them to try climbing that perch,” she said.
“And it keeps the skill set of firefighters diversified. It’s always good practice. Just getting the ladder up there, it has to be done very precisely. It’s good training for the firefighters.”
On the first two attempts, the bird just leapt out of the nest and plummeted to the ground again. Then rescuers had the idea of tossing a fish in the nest as bait to keep the bird interested. The third time was a charm. The parents, who had flown off when the fire truck arrived, returned.
“Once we got the fish in there and the ladder lowered, the mom swooped in to see what was going on. It was the juvenile that was eating most of the fish.”
Rescuers watched for about 20 minutes to ensure the bird stayed. A second juvenile had already successfully flown the nest.