Bird Watching: Raising Aussie Osprey #7, 0 by MargaretK

MargaretK wrote:
It is a small fish and she's grasping it in her left claw. She flew from the nest up onto the right hand branch.

These Blowies have s small section of the tail that isn't poisonous. Otherwise, if ingested, these fish will kill animals and humans. We're frequently reading and hearing about dogs dying after eating a dead one they've found on the foreshore and people are warned to keep an eye on what their dogs are eating. A fish called a Tailer (Bluefish in the US) will come from behind the Blowies and sever and eat the tail - hence their local name. The Japanese reportedly play a form of Russian roulette by eating the tail section, which is considered a delicacy. However, a number of deaths occur because some of the poisonous part has been left with the "safe" section.

You can imagine my consternation when I saw her with one and thought that what was possibly her first catch was going to end up killing her. I know some species have immunity to poisons and hoped that this would be the case with Ospreys.

I went back to the nest at midday yesterday and again later in the afternoon and she seems completely OK.