It was heartwarming to see how many of you care deeply about the welfare of Ash Creek’s osprey. The drama began unfolding last Monday, when dog walkers in Fairfield near the Ash Creek Open Space saw a large bird caught in a web of fishing line struggling and then hanging limp upside down from the large tree near the mouth of the marina and Ash Creek entrance from the Sound. The CT DEEP was notified and the Town of Fairfield sent a ladder truck. The bird was brought to Wildlife in Crisis. They were expecting an osprey from all the dog walker reports, but it was a red-tailed hawk. The red tailed hawk was treated and released back into the wild.
In the meantime, Milan Bull of CT Audubon, Melissa McDowell (the Ash Creek osprey warden), and ACCA tried to figure out what was happening as we had difficulty finding the osprey due to the weather and were not able to reach someone who had the full story until last Thursday. Thank you to everyone who helped by providing information. I know this was confusing and heartrending, but ultimately we obtained both the facts and good news!
The next step will be to protect our osprey from this fishing line scenario becoming a reality. We are looking into obtaining fishing line receptacles and lining up volunteers to empty them. We have been told by others that the receptacles get used more by passersby than by the fishermen themselves. The responsible fishermen take their fishing line back home and dispose of it and the others leave the line behind. We may not able able to change the behavior of fishermen, but we will now have a safe place to put the fishing line when we find it. The garbage cans are not safe because the gulls pull the lines out of the garbage cans. The label on the receptacle also serves as a reminder to fishermen to be responsible with their fishing lines.
Wildlife in Crisis is an amazing organization. I’ll provide their information here again in case you care to donate.
Wildlife in Crisis is a volunteer run, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to wildlife preservation and land conservation. WIC was founded in 1988 and each year WIC cares for
over 5,000 injured and orphaned wild animals. WIC relies entirely on donations to care for
debilitated wildlife. For more information about WIC and for answers to frequently asked
questions about wildlife visit www.wildlifeincrisis.org
You can can also visit their Facebook site at www.facebook.com/wildlifeincrisis or their Instagram site at or www.instagram.com/wildlifeincrisis.
Thank you, Wildlife in Crisis, for caring for our red-tailed hawk. Let’s hope we never need your services for our osprey!
The rescued red-tailed hawk. Photo sent to us by Wildlife in Crisis. This is the actual hawk that was rescued.
From the Audubon Osprey Cam in Greenwich:
Our osprey are probably doing something similar. The male feeds the female while she incubates the eggs. Did you know…
- The Osprey or fish hawk is found nearly worldwide.
- With their 5.5-foot wingspan, excellent vision, and sharp talons, they are very effective aerial hunters.
- Their food is almost entirely live fish such as menhaden (“bunker”), herring, and a variety of other species. Osprey hunt in both fresh and salt water.
- In Connecticut, they usually arrive in late March and lay eggs in April. The eggs (typically 3 per clutch) hatch in late April or early May.
- The male does most of the hunting with the female remaining at the nest to guard and care for the young until they are large enough to maintain their own body heat.
- The young fledge from the nest about 60 days after hatching, but continue to beg for food from their parents.
- The young gradually develop their fishing skills as they prepare to migrate south to the Caribbean and South America to spend their first 2 to 3 years of life before returning north to Connecticut to breed
To learn more about osprey visit…
http://ct.audubon.org/conservation/about-ospreys
