Quote:
Originally Posted by Itsed65
Kind of sad news. One of two baby Osprey the whole bay area has been following on a live web cam feed was killed while trying to learn the finer points of diving for fish. He/she was pulled alive out of the water, but died a couple of days later. https://goldengateaudubon.org/expire...nest-cam-news/ |
It can be cruel. You hesitate, you die, kind of reality.
Last year, I watched two great blue heron nests, 20-feet from each other. There were four chicks in each nest. The first one to attempt to fledge, somehow crashed on its very first flight, 60-feet up in a tree, it tumbled down maybe ten-feet, caught and broke a wing and and hung there dying for several days. It was in a swampy area, so bird rescue people couldn't even put it out of its misery.
In the other nest, one did something similar and was hung up 20-feet from the top, then, while I was there, fell the remaining 40-feet, with a loud thunk. It seemed dazed, but alive, but then it disappeared over night. Maybe a coyote got it, or it flew off, but I never could account for it after that.
Here's the first chick that I described. This was the first day and you can see the compound fracture of the left wing and imagine the blood curtling scream it's letting out as I took the shot:
Sad news, chick has broken wing 4 by
David Stephens, on Flickr