The Osprey

    It is 8:00 PM, a lovely evening in Florida, with a light breeze blowing, and there is a beautiful osprey perched on a pine tree behind my house.  I have an excellent view of this regal-looking bird from my back patio.

    I have often seen this magnificent creature and others like him circling overhead, sometimes three or four at a time, and calling to each other from the branches of the mighty pines that surround my little villa in a lovely condominium area in south Sarasota.

    But this osprey looks odd to me.  He sits with his left wing hanging loosely by his side, as though it is injured.  I wonder if he has suffered some trauma on a recent dive for fish in the pond down the street from my home.  I have observed these birds for more than a year now and I have never before seen this type of behavior.  Usually they sit on the branch and eat their meal of fish while keeping an eye out for any danger. They frequently call out to their kin.

    This one is silent as he sits on the branch, but I can hear his relatives calling to him from nearby.

    Though I feel concerned for his apparent plight there is probably little for me to worry about.  He is, after all, a hawk, a master of the skies, a predator skilled in hunting, and one who takes from the earth only what he needs.

    Though he appears a sorry sight with his left wing drooping, seemingly helpless at his side, he did fly up to that branch.  Could an osprey with a broken wing fly to a high perch?

    Stranger things have happened.

    After a while, I look up again and the osprey is gone.  He has flown away.  Imagine, recovering so soon from his injury.

   I guess we could all learn something from the osprey.

Marlene Buckler, MD, FACEP    www.StayOutOfMyER.com