This morning I was made aware that one of the fledglings at the webcam nest - either Ed or Kate - had something tangled in its right foot and talons. You can see it in the photo. It was a combination of monofilament fishing line and some sort of nylon webbing from an old beach chair. So I mobilized in the late morning and went out to the nest with a co-worker in the hopes we could capture the fledgling and remove the entangled material. However, when we arrived at the nest and started to set up the ladder, the fledglings both flew off. The one with the entanglement flew around for 30-45 seconds, trailing the material attached to its foot, and then it landed about 100 yards away on the salt marsh in some tall grass. I walked over to it and approached very slowly when I got close. I was nervous it might fly off, so I took off my shirt, which I was able to toss over the fledgling before it flew off again. PHEW!! We were easily able to remove the fishing line and other material, and then I carried the bird back to the nest, as the photo shows. It was unharmed and in perfectly good shape.
So a happy ending to what could have been a bad situation. This is not uncommon for any Osprey….the male brings in all sorts of random materials to build the nest, and they seem to be attracted to shiny things like fishing line. I cleared any remaining dangerous materials from the nest before I left. These two fledglings are in great shape and both should become fully functional flyers soon. The second fledgling flew off and has not returned as of 1330 hours today but it will be back. They are still being fed at the nest. It will take them weeks to learn to hunt themselves.