Baby osprey saved from monofilament line in Fort Myers Beach nest
A picture taken by an eagle-eyed photographer who spotted a monofilament line around a baby osprey’s neck, helped lead to the bird’s rescue from a potentially fatal threat in a nest near the Pink Shell Beach Resort on Fort Myers Beach.
Jeff Gabel, a local bird enthusiast who takes photographs of birds around Lee County, took several photos of the osprey nest last week with his zoom lens. Upon close inspection, he saw that there was monofilament wire wrapped around the bird’s neck and was worried the bird might be in trouble. He contacted CROW who got in touch with Rob Howell, of Keep it Wild.
Howell, who was alerted to the monofilament line wrapped around the baby bird’s neck, took action quickly. With the use of a lift provided by the Pink Shell Beach Resort, he entered the nest and clipped off the monofilament line, which could have been from a net or fishing line that was discarded. One of its parents brought in the monofilament line into the nest somehow when it was mixed up with some type of tree bark, twigs or other material used by the parents to build the nest. “It probably put its head through the wrong thing,” Howell said. If Howell had not clipped off the line, in a few more weeks, the line around its neck could have asphyxiated the bird as the baby osprey grew or led to its fall when it attempted flight, Howell said.
“That would have killed it,” Howell said. Howell said the baby osprey is about three weeks old.
Howell said the mother osprey “got squirmy” when he first approached on the left but took off after a couple minutes. The baby osprey tried to hide as he approached. Howell said he was able to quickly snap the monofilament line that was entangled around the bird’s neck. The osprey’s mother later returned after he left. “They (the osprey baby’s parents) are going to be upset all day now,” he said.
Gabel, of Fort Myers, was glad he could do his part. A retired dog handler from Chicago, he said he was able to use his long telephoto lens to capture the image of the bird after passing by. If not for his photos, the ending may have been different for the bird.
The Pink Shell Beach Resort has a camera that monitors the bird nest which Gabel follows, but he said he couldn’t see the monofilament line from watching the live camera feed.
“I take pictures of birds all day long,” Gabel said. He keeps a Facebook page devoted to the osprey, eagles, blackhawks and other birds he takes photos of around Lee County. “Most people don’t know there are a lot of eagle (and osprey) nests” in the area, he said. “I have five nests that I check on each day.”
This is not the first time that a baby osprey’s parents unknowingly picked up litter and brought it into the nest. Four years ago, a baby osprey suffocated after a plastic bag accidentally brought into the same nest from one of the parents ended up suffocating the baby osprey. The Pink Shell Beach Resort partnered with CROW to cross-foster a baby osprey at their nest that had been rescued after falling in Captiva. Howell helped take part in bringing that baby osprey into the nest after removing the dead one.
Howell runs Keep it Wild, a nonprofit that helps rescue wildlife that is sick or injured. He said he has taken part in the rescue of many birds that were entangled in monofilament line. He also volunteers for CROW, the Peace River Wildlife Center and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
There were two other eggs in the nest which did not hatch this year, which has led to speculation as to the cause.
The nest is the subject of an investigation by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission due to an allegation that Fly Heli Tours harassed the nest by flying too close to the nest. Fly Heli Tours, which was landing and taking off from a vessel in the bay not far from the Pink Shell Resort, denied that their tour flights crossed over near the nest.
Howell said the photographer who spotted the monofilament line wrapped around contacted the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW), the wildlife rescue service in Sanibel. CROW then reached out to Howell for his assistance.
“It’s humbling in a sense that it gives you an insight as to how fragile life is,” Howell said.
Howell also serves on the Fort Myers Beach Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force.