Friday evening we had a fierce thunderstorm that wreaked havoc in our area. I was, of course, ankle deep in water doing the weekly swab-down of the toilet building. After it was over, I mentally congratulated us for only having one giant pine tree explode and fall over a trail. Little did I know... Saturday afternoon, Andy, the park manager went down to the shore to take a swim after we cut up and removed the downed pine tree. I wasn't scheduled to have been in that morning but had gone in to get the tree taken care of and then went home for a nap and a shower before returning for closing duties. I got a phone call from Andy while I was still home telling me that the osprey nest on the island sanctuary had been blown down during the storm. There were three chicks in the nest and we pretty much wrote them off. Andy went out to the island once I returned to work, just in case any of the chicks had survived. And one healthy, uninjured chick was found. We were happy, because the chances of one surviving had been pretty low and it was nice to have one survivor when we didn't think we'd have any at all.

Andy called Avian Haven, a bird rehab facility, and they guided us through what we needed to do. As the chick was healthy and uninjured, and close to fledging, they felt that its best chance for survival was to return it to the parents as soon as we could. They told us what to do to keep it comfortable for the night, and how to build a platform in the tree where the nest had been. One of Andy's college friends is a retired arborist and still has all his climbing equipment. Andy called Paul and Paul agreed to come over the following day and get the platform into the tree and then get the chick onto the platform. I went to the local market to get fish. The guy behind the fish counter, when he found out what the fish was for, gave it to us. We got about a 1/4 of a pound of fish into the chick that night. Andy decided to stay at HQ for the night and keep an eye on our little survivor. First feeding was at 6 AM. I gave a second feeding at 11 AM while Andy was building a nesting platform. I am not nearly as adept at feeding as the mama osprey...

Paul arrived around 1:15 PM and he and Andy took Paul's canoe down to the shore. Andy saw movement, called me to bring down binoculars, and we discovered that the other two chicks were also alive. They had made their way down to the shore of the island and were being tended to by the parents. Andy and Paul paddled over to the island and Paul climbed the tree and wired the platform into place. He then wired sticks onto the platform to make it more natural for the osprey. After he finished getting the sticks wired into place, his daughter and Andy got the chicks into burlap bags and Paul hauled them one by one up the tree and placed them on the platform. The whole operation took about 4 1/2 hours.

By closing time, the male osprey had brought a fish to the platform, and the female returned and fed the chicks, spending most of the time feeding the one that we'd had in protective custody, probably re-establishing the bond.

Some days, the stars are aligned jsut right...