Osprey Rescue at Santa Maria

An injured osprey found its way onto the Figure 8 at Santa Maria yesterday. It was quite sick and unwilling to fly. Students were very concerned, so staff mobilised to save it.

Ospreys are large birds of prey (raptors) that feed on fish along the river, often seen watching carefully from up high. They are large raptors with massive talons adapted for catching fish straight from the water. However, they can get in trouble from swallowing hooks and other material left behind by humans.

Due to the large talons and the tricky nature of rescuing raptors, we called in an expert from Western Australian Seabird Rescue. Claire Greenwell is an ecologist and conservation biologist, who is trained to catch seabirds and other birds in need of rescue. She is also a PhD candidate for her groundbreaking research on the breeding of fairy terns at Point Walter.

Claire quickly caught the osprey and transported it to a wildlife vet for urgent care. 

Thank you to Claire and the staff who worked to keep both students and angry magpies away from the patient.

We are hopeful that it will recover well.

Always collect fish hooks and debris along the river to protect our native wildlife.