Grand Ol' Osprey

That is the headline in the most recent issue of the Cody Enterprise. Now that the article has been printed, I'm able to share the photos of the baby osprey rescued after her parents were murdered. In a post over a month ago is the story of two baby osprey whose rescue was necessary after the loss of the adults.

Thanks to a lot of people the surviving chick was fostered into a nest with two resident chicks. That fostering has been a great success all around.

RMTN lineman, John Berry, and I tried to put the chick into one nest but the resident baby was a couple weeks younger so that wouldn't work as it might put the life of the younger bird in jeopardy. Our chick is wearing a hood to keep her quiet.

The second try at fostering was a huge success. As you can see tho, it took some ingenuity to make it happen. Foreman Steve Lassiter suggested a 6" x 6' tube to help transfer the baby to the nest as the bucket was not quite close enough. Lineman John Berry and I talked it over while 55' up in the bucket and decided to go for it even tho this, as far as I know, has never been done before. John stretched out as far as he could holding the tube. I put the chick, head first, into the tube and then gently pushed her with a padded pole to the nest. She plopped easily into the nest just as planned.

Here is the final result, our chick standing in her new home with the other babies hunkered down as they'd been taught. Dee Oudin has checked the nest often and reports that all three babies are doing well, the adults are feeding them and they should fledge soon.

Cody Enterprise story written by Buzzy Hassrick, photos by Dee Oudin, John Berry and Steve Lassiter. The rescue wouldn't have happened without the nest monitoring by Dee Oudin and her noting the loss of the parents.