Bird enthusiasts are hoping to get approval to fit a satellite tracker to a rare adult eastern osprey that was trapped in the tower of a television antenna in South Australia.
Port Lincoln Osprey volunteers are monitoring the bird and expect to release it back to the Louth Bay area at the end of the week after it was rescued on Friday and treated for a leg wound.
Only 40 pairs left
There are estimated to be about 40 breeding pairs of the birds left in South Australia.
Louth Bay resident Des Fauser said the osprey and its mate roosted a couple of times a week on the antenna tower on a neighbouring property.
He said his wife Lorraine noticed early Friday morning one of the birds was stuck about halfway down the tower, suspended upside down by one foot.
National Parks and Wildlife Service SA district ranger Peter Wilkins retrieved the male osprey and it was treated at a veterinary clinic, where an X-ray ruled out broken bones.
Raptor consultant Ian Falkenberg said the bird was recovering from the wound to its leg and also bruising on its wings that would impact its flying.
"It's just one of those very freak accidents that would have brought this bird unstuck and ultimately it would have died very quickly if it wasn't for the parks staff and other members of the public," Mr Falkenberg said.
Mr Falkenberg said the quick actions of locals saved the raptor, one of an estimated 40 pairs surviving in South Australia.
"Yesterday it was starting to preen itself, its feathers, it's sitting on both legs, it's feeding," Mr Falkenberg said.
Port Lincoln Osprey monitors a pair of the raptors nesting on a barge at Port Lincoln using CCTV vision, which is fed live onto YouTube.
The group has co-ordinated banding of chicks from the nest and in the past two years, satellite trackers have been placed on five chicks.
Golden opportunity
Mr Falkenberg said he was hopeful a permit would be granted to fit a satellite tracker to the bird rescued from Louth Bay.
It would be the first time an adult bird had been tagged with a tracker.
He said the data gained from the satellite tags had helped rewrite the book on osprey knowledge.
A bird tagged in 2020, called Solly, had travelled 300 kilometres from Port Lincoln, defying expectations that the birds only moved 40 kilometres from their nest.
Solly died last year after being electrocuted on a power pole at Streaky Bay.
A chick tagged at Thistle Island, south-east of Port Lincoln, last November had flown 400 kilometres and briefly spent time inland in the Flinders Ranges.
Mr Falkenberg said tagging an adult bird would provide key information about the species and help manage its survival.
"This does present a golden opportunity to learn more about adult birds," Mr Falkenberg said.
