We read in the local newspaper that a male Osprey was found shot, broken wing.  These very birds are the ones I tried so hard to photograph last year.  Lighting was terrible when the birds were active and distance made even 420mm too short.  I will include one shot anyway.

This is one of the pair just bringing a fish to the chicks.

The male was found and taken to a fine raptor center near here.  The wing is broken and whether this magnificient bird will fly again is uncertain.  Almost certain is that the female wil not be able to incubate the eggs and hunt for food at the same time.  Almost certain is that this year the birds will have no offspring and the male may not be able to ever return to its mate.

Ospreys use the same nest year after year. Sometimes, another bird in the community will circle above and check things out.  These birds of prey (fish is the prey) will assist others and that says something special. 

My thoughts of more shots of the chicks this year are likely out but I will hope and see what happens.

Unfortunately, some people believe any living thing is fair game, any season, protected or not. That is a sad commentary on some peope who behave with much less sense than the creatures who work with instinct and their own level of thinking.

I had to vent this.  I am saddened and very ticked off.         TomDart.

I'm appalled.  Some people just deserve......well, karma will get them in the end.

**Maybe some people need to be shot?? It seems that heartlessness is a common thread among some folks. I just heard on the news that they're going to kill 80 seals because their eating the salmon?  The reason we're having a salmon crisis is because we over fish the waters and pollute the waters. The seals are just doing what they've always done for centuries! They're NOT the reason!!!!!

Sorry for the off osprey ramble...    here's a shot I took while in Idaho last summer.  not the best but the only one I could find right now.

I too am saddened and heartbroken regarding the human race and its heartlessness...  I'm with you on this one Tom...

                                                                                        Akemi
**

A tale that will sadden and anger many and rightly so.  It hardly warrants comment how some  prove again and again human brutality .

Toms mention of the communal spirit of Ospreys' reminded me of a good news nature story about one species caring for another. Here is a link .
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7291501.stm

Appalling.

The positive side to this is that we are all appalled and shocked, meaning that the behaviour of this shootist is an exception.

Thanks Master Onslow for that link.
To say it with Clint Eastwood: "You made my day!"

"..we are all appalled and shicked.."  Excellent observation.

Sorry, " we are all appalled and shocked..", even if the spelling of "shicked" may better express my thoughts hearing of the incident.   And, Richard thanks for the fine link on the dolphin.

Killing seals, shoot osprey..not some of my favorite things to read about, but thanks for sharing. I am outraged as well.

Thank you sir Richard for that uplifting link! I think we need more of these incredible stories to balance out!! I feel a little better... ;-)

Its just plain sickening.

I found out the osprey was rescued by a woman walkiing her dog.  Thanks that she responded and got it help.  I don't know where it was taken but a nearby has a highly recognized animal clinic and college as part of the university there.  They work well with large birds.  There is also a raptor rehabilitation center near here with many successes.  Unfortunately, too many large heavy birds will not fly again.  We will wait and see.   From the loaction, this could have been a drive by sort of shooting. Who knows but the jerk or jerkess who did it.

There is a walking trail in the area an I suspect that is near where the bird was found.  And, in the river are many crew rowers, practicing for spring events. They come from all over the country.   Miss the bird and perhaps send the bullet to rowers or who knows?  Totally irresponsible..and yes, sickening.

I will at least be able to keep some track of the progress the wounded Osprey is making and will be able to view the huge nest to see if chick might somehow make it.

All comments are appreciated.     Thanks.       Tom.A

I got into the phone book and looked for a name, that of one of the women who operate the local raptor center. This is part of a project which has developed well in a local middle school (kids just before what we call high school in the USA).   Fortunate, I got her on the first phone call.  I told her what I did for a living and about photos stuff.   Well, she said I made a finger ring for her years and years ago.   So, we opened a door and talked raptors and first of all about the shot Osprey.  With that is bad news and perhaps a touch of good news.

The possible good news is that they believe from close observation of the nest that the male found shot was perhaps not the mate of the female sitting eggs now, the one I photographed.  Kids from the center have been scoping the nest and saw a female on the nest and another adult at the nest at the same time.

The bad news is that the majestic raptor is dead.  It had been on the ground a day or two before being discovered and was very weak.  Efforts to revive it enough to face surgery on the shot wing were not enough and it passed to where spirits of such creatures may go.  This male almost certainly was part of a nesting pair. That is the rest of the bad news.

I will try to work out a way to do a photo essay of the raptor center with the woman in charge. That is a possibility but she knows nothing of this at this time.  A story like that might bring some positive light to the raptors and the educational value could be, well,  valuable to others.  The center has saved many raptors and some  released to fly again.  The dead osprey will not fly and perhaps the chicks associated with this bird may not hatch.  Still, maybe I can work to make a tint of good come from it all.

By then, I would hope the jerk is caught, the one who did the shooting on private government posted land, between homes and a river bank full of people out for excercise.  Odds are that will not happen.  Still, I hope to make some good from it all one way or perhaps another.

I will check the large nest myself and see if another adult is there. In that regard, it will be some relief for me in this particular nesting.  For the other, I am saddened still and angered.    Thanks for hearing me on this.        Tom.

Sick to hear the heartlessness of human's against animal kind

Attached Link: Freedom & Jeff

Great story Richard. Here is another one that may help a little.

Hey Ralph, thanks!

It's incredible, no?

I friends of mine is a homeopath, and he sees every ilness as a misunderstanding. To him, we are like rays of the sun. The misunderstanding is that we think we created the light and get disconnected from the source. He says that love is the highest antidote against forgetfulness. That story you link to is a big, big love story!

Quote - Hey Ralph, thanks!

Heheh, ya threw me there for a sec., calling me Ralph. Yes, it is a big love story...glad you liked reading it.

Woot...well, that's life. People make mistakes.

To quote Shakespeare: "Wot's in a name, huh?"

Scusi, 

ET

Thanks for the uplifting links...this is good stuff.  Thanks.