Not great photographs, but a sad story to be shared

[Diane Miller]

I've been watching an osprey nest for several months now, and three gorgeous youngsters have just fledged -- two males and a female. Here is the female admiring one of her brothers practicing flying -- 4 days ago. (The first male started hopping above the nest 12 days ago.)



I hadn't seen the female fly -- she seemed to be a little slower in development than the two males -- but I could easily have missed it. Then yesterday I went back out early in the morning, to find her on the ground a couple of hundred feet from the nest. The property manager drove by shortly, and we decided if she hadn't flown in an hour I would call bird rescue and he would let them into the locked gate. In the meantime I got a better look at her as she slowly moved toward some shelter. I had the 600mm on the 7D2 so was able to get some shots without approaching her closely. She seemed alert and wasn't panting, but wasn't able to move well. Although I kept my distance, she didn't seem to be bothered by my presence. We both finally repositioned ourselves so I could get this picture. Sadly, she is looking at Mama here, who is perched in a nearby tree, looking back at her.





I called animal rescue and then I had to leave. Although it's a long drive for them, the manager told me they arrived within half an hour (maybe a more local volunteer). I checked with them several hours later and they said it was a broken wrist. The woman I spoke with went back to check on her and came back to report she had unexpectedly died.

She didn't have any damage to the feathers on her body, so I can't guess what might have happened -- I'm sure there are a lot of possibilities. I haven't seen even a hint of any fighting or any sort of dispute among the siblings. And I have a feeling she may have been hurt the day before, when I wasn't there.

I'm haunted by the fact that several days earlier I was there when I heard a strange buzzing and turned around to see a drone heading straight for the nest, very purposefully. It hovered about 10-15 ft above the nest for a while then went away, well out of sight.



I let the property manager know about it right away, and he has been trying to track down who it might have been. Fat chance. My husband says there is a bounty on them in Denver. The other day an air tanker working a fire near Los Angeles had to be grounded because one was flying in the vicinity of the fire!!!!