Rescued osprey returns to Pleasant Hill domain, thanks to Ohio Bird Sanctuary

PERRYSVILLE — The Ohio Bird Sanctuary returned a local osprey to the wild Wednesday morning, 38 days after rescuing her from fishing line.

Brett Woodard of Woody Woods Tree Service opened the cage for the release. At first, the osprey hesitated, staying inside for a few minutes before slowly making her way out. Once clear, she took off into the sky.

“Oh, she knows where she’s at now,” Woodard said.

The osprey circled the area and then landed on a trailer.

“My guess is that is a perfect spot for her to hang out, catch her breath and decide from there where she wants to go,” said Amanda Vanderford, curator of animals at the sanctuary.

“She will probably have to catch her breath because she hasn’t had exercise like that since she has been in a flight cage for two days.”

Vanderford said the flight proved the osprey no longer needed to stay at the sanctuary.

“We put her under anesthesia three times, and the first two times were awful,” Vanderford said. “I thought she was going to die.

“Luckily for the anesthesia the third time, she did really well.”

The veterinarian had to amputate one of the bird’s talons. Vanderford said their veterinarian gave the osprey a low dose of an injectable sedation safe for birds, but they had to quickly reverse it after the osprey had a bad reaction.

“I took her home and was with her until 2 a.m. because she could not hold her head up and kept falling over,” Vanderford said. “The release was a last-minute plan.

“I was not sounding the alarm until I knew she was flighted and looked good.”

The odds remain tough, Vanderford said, since many first-year birds of prey don’t survive their first winter. While they can’t control Mother Nature, she said the sanctuary staff at least gave this osprey a fighting chance.

The Ohio Bird Sanctuary team, Woodard, and Pleasant Hill employees gathered on the hill across from the osprey’s nest on Covert Road to watch the release.

Julie Schwartz, the sanctuary’s executive director, said they chose the site so the bird would immediately see her nest and other familiar surroundings.

Woodard and Ohio Bird Sanctuary team up for rescue

In July, Woodard was called in to rescue the osprey from about 40 feet up a tree. The OBS was alerted by a concerned resident about the injured bird near Pleasant Hill Lake along Ohio 95.

Schwartz said the caller noticed on a live video feed of the nest that one of the juvenile birds never seemed to leave and had fishing line around its foot.

Woodard often works with the Ohio Bird Sanctuary for tree jobs, and Schwartz said she knew he was the one to call.

“He was the one who actually had to grab her because the bucket truck can only hold one person,” Schwartz said. “And we are not insured to go up there in that.

“We were so grateful for his willingness to help us out, so we gave him the honors of releasing her.”

Two of the bird’s four toes and one ankle were freed from a significant amount of fishing line and resulting injuries were being treated and monitored at OBS at 3774 Orweiler Road in Springfield Township.

Schwartz said although the nail will not grow back, she is confident the bird can still hunt successfully.

“She is able to close and perch just fine,” Schwartz said. “It’s just missing that one tip, on the one nail.”

When first examined, the talon wound was the greatest concern because of how deep it was. Such injuries often attract flies and maggots, which can lead to deadly infections.

“We tried to save it, but it was just not salvageable,” Schwartz said. “The other wounds have all healed beautifully, even the amputation has healed really well.”

(Pictures from osprey release. Picture credit: Hannah Martin)