Blog

Nov 30, 2023

Lake George Fire Protection District helps with osprey rescue

Rescues are a part of the normal routine for Lake George Fire Protection, but on

Rescues are a part of the normal routine for Lake George Fire Protection, but on May 16 they encountered something a little different.

Joe Stramel saw a bird struggling in the waters of Lake George about 150 feet from the shore. He and his neighbor, Scott Whitcraft, took a boat out to the bird and got it into the boat using welding gloves.

The duo originally thought they had rescued a young bald eagle.

Susan Bernstetter, the fire chief of Lake George Fire Protection, met them on shore and they picked up the bird in a blanket and put it into a box. She transported it to Station 1 and notified Wildlife Officer Ian Petkash, who came to the station and identified the bird as an osprey with a broken wing.

Petkash believes there is a good chance that the osprey was attacked by an eagle.

The Osprey, also known as the fish hawk, are raptors that are well adapted for fishing. Ospreys are one of the raptor species that inhabit Lake George and Eleven Mile Canyon. They are brown on the back and white on the chest. The undersides of their wings are white with a dark patch at the wrists. Ospreys have yellow eyes and white heads with a distinctive black eye stripe that sets them apart from eagles, for which they are commonly mistaken. The female differs from the male in having a more defined "necklace" of brown feathers across her throat.

One of the larger birds of prey, but smaller than a bald eagle, ospreys have an average wingspan of five feet (1.5 meters). They are 21 to 23 inches (53 to 58 centimeters) long and usually weigh between three to four pounds (1.3 to 1.8 kilograms). The female is larger than the male.

Petkash made the arrangements to have the bird transported to the Birds of Prey Re-Habilitation Center in Broomfield. It will be tended to by the rehabbers and if they are successful with mending the wing and the bird is able to fly, it will be released back into the wild. The healing process depends on the size of the injured wing. Larger birds’ broken wings heal more slowly. Typically, it takes one to three weeks for the birds to recover.

If unable to fly, the osprey will remain with the re-habilitation center to become part of their interpretive programs at schools.

Comments are open to Gazette subscribers only