A Fort Belvoir Fire and Emergency Services truck rescued an osprey predator bird trapped in a nest on top of a telephone pole in Tompkins Basin Park Sunday.
The bird's left leg was tangled in fishing line, preventing the bird from flying. Rescue crews used a fire bucket truck to reach the bird trapped 25 feet up in the air and to cut the line. The bird survived without any injury, according to John Pilcicki, DPW Natural Resource specialist. The process took about 15 minutes, according to Patrick Kane, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, who witnessed the rescue with his daughter, Sydney, and son, Christopher.
"This all happened because someone was a little careless in cleaning up after themselves," Patrick said.
ospreys tend to become entangled in fishing line about twice a year, according to Pilcicki. The issue occurs when community members fishing in Tompkins Basin inappropriately discard fishing line into tree areas, bushes and any other location that isn't a trash can or designated recycle bin for fishing line. The osprey collect these lines along with sticks, twigs and other nest building items without realizing the fishing line presents a potential hazard. When this happens, it creates the opportunity for the bird to become entangled, which is what occurred Sunday.
The osprey repeatedly tried to free itself from the line, to no avail, and at certain periods it hung upside down -- exhausted from escape attempts.
"It couldn't go anywhere," Patrick said. "It was flapping its wings hard."
Sydney added "it's just really sad to see the bird struggling."
Instead of attempting to calm the bird down, the fire and rescue crew waited for the osprey to become exhausted from escape attempts. When this happened, the crew cut the line and the bird flew away, according to what Pilcicki was told by the responding rescue team.
The Fire and Emergency Services team who performed the rescue wasn't available for comment on this story because they are scheduled to be off duty until after this week's publication deadline.
After the osprey was freed, Pilcicki monitored the bird for two hours to ensure no rehabilitation treatment was necessary. The osprey, which remained in Tompkins Basin during the two hours, appeared to be in good shape.
"It didn't appear to have any cuts or abrasions," Pilcicki said. "After a couple of hours his behavior seemed normal."
Pilcicki urges residents to not approach or touch injured osprey or other wildlife on post. Instead, contact the Fort Belvoir Police at (703) 806-3104. He also strongly urges residents to discard fishing line and other materials in designated recycle and trash bins. Littering only hurts the environment, wildlife and the Fort Belvoir community.
"I learned from this experience that we need to pick up after ourselves, so that we don't harm the wild around us, nor the people," Sydney said.
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