I received a call from HQ today

[Billy68]

Beats my 2 blue tits on the feeder

[mendiplogs]

So I am at HQ and I received a call from Kim. Seems that A Bald Eagle had landed in our back yard. Under normal circumstances this may not seem odd except it was not actually a Bald Eagle, it was instead a Osprey which is smaller and also in the Fish Eagle Family, AKA a fish hawk. It seems that this time of year with Red Tide, a naturally occurring Alga Bloom found in the Gulf of Mexico birds of prey can and will eat infected fish and their toxicity levels spike leaving these really beautiful birds in a very bad way or worse with out a little help from Man.

Rodger, the man in the Picture holding Free bird, named by Kim works as a volunteer for The Wildlife Center of Venice. The rescue went well and so far Free Bird is recovering with antibiotics and lots of fresh uncontaminated fish to eat. I hope to post a video of his release in our back yard shortly hoping that he makes a full recovery. FYI Free Bird is a Young adult, The American Bald Eagle is Twice the size of the Osprey pictured.

easy-lift guy

Hi TED well done mate saving it mate looks massive bird great pics great story see you at the APF massive bird great pics great story see you at the AP after that Ted thanks Jon

[aspenarb]

Beats my 2 blue tits on the feeder

 

Beats our resident Kestrel as well Billy:001_smile: What a brilliant post easyliftguy.

 

Bob

[Breezeblock]

cracking looking bird i wouldn't stick my face within striking distance though that beak wasn't built for kissing

[easy-lift guy]

cracking looking bird i wouldn't stick my face within striking distance though that beak wasn't built for kissing

 

Appearances can be deceiving. Considering that the rescue was performed by a trained volunteer and that the bird was obviously sickened from eating dead and dying fish, I believe the bird knew exactly what the score was and was relieved to be off the ground and on his way towards a positive recovery. I will be contacting the wildlife sanctuary later this morning for an up date. With rain forecast for the balance of today I suspect if Free Birds recovery continues he may be released sometime next week, I hope. Thanks again for all the positive comments about this thread.

easy-lift guy

[mendiplogs]

Appearances can be deceiving. Considering that the rescue was performed by a trained volunteer and that the bird was obviously sickened from eating dead and dying fish, I believe the bird knew exactly what the score was and was relieved to be off the ground and on his way towards a positive recovery. I will be contacting the wildlife sanctuary later this morning for an up date. With rain forecast for the balance of today I suspect if Free Birds recovery continues he may be released sometime next week, I hope. Thanks again for all the positive comments about this thread.

easy-lift guy

 

Hi TED CAN we latest pictures of when the birds released thanks good job Jon

[spudulike]

cracking looking bird i wouldn't stick my face within striking distance though that beak wasn't built for kissing

 

The place I flew the Steppe/Bald cross said they had a Bald Eagle and it wasn't the beak - someone was holding it and they got its talons in their neck.....now that is nasty, damn sharp and powerful, built to take prey off the ground in flight......ouch!

[easy-lift guy]

Spud you are 200% correct. I once saw a Bald Eagle swoop and grab a very large Walking Catfish while traveling here on SR 776 heading to Port Charlotte, FL. This fish was at least 18 to 24" long and although at first sight I though it was fresh road kill, within a few seconds after the perfect snatch from the air took place it was all the Eagle could do to clear the tree line and feast on a big meal. And yes we do have walking Cat Fish here in Florida!

Another invasive species that have a limited natural predator list and are very destructive to fresh water ponds and lakes since they consume all other species of fish and when done mearly crawl out on their Two lower dorsal fins to their next meal ticket.

easy-lift guy

[Darrin Turnbull]

Nasty looking things

[slasherscot]

about 250 breeding pairs in the UK