Protected osprey roosting on TDS billboard shot and killed in Carlsbad

Carlsbad Current-Argus

An osprey clutches a fish in its right talons. Last week in Carlsbad an osprey, which is a protected species, was shot and killed on Canal Street.

Carlsbad resident and bird enthusiast Sara Ballard was visited by an osprey the last seven years as part of the bird's migratory pattern. Last week the visits came to an end when the osprey was shot by Canal Street, and after a rescue attempt by the local animal rescue center, died due to the injuries it sustained.

Ballard was on her patio when she heard something that sounded more like a collision than a gunshot before she saw the osprey fall out of the sky, try to adjust in mid-air and then collapse on the street.

Ballard's brother in law, Clayton Ballard, was closer to the TDS billboard the osprey was roosting in and saw the bird fall from its perch.

"There was some kind of a noise that didn't sound like a gunshot. More like a pellet gun or a BB gun," Clayton Ballard said. "I saw the bird flying down. It was flying down very erratically and then out of our view. We saw cars immediately stopping. That's when I went to the road to see what happened."

A young osprey, just days after flying for the first time, takes the plunge again off the top of an artificial nesting platform in Lake Arrowhead in Milton on July 27, 2020.
"While its parents typically head up and away when they take flight, the young bird is still getting the hang of flying, and repeatedly dropped below its nest upon takeoff, before soaring upward," writes osprey chronicler Steve Costello.

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Ballard helped drivers wrap the osprey up in a towel and got in touch with the Desert Willow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center to inform the center about the bird. The osprey died while at the rehab center where it was confirmed the bird killed by the shot.

An osprey hangs out in Carlsbad. On Sept. 6 this bird was shot and killed by the TDS billboard on Canal Street.

Sara Ballard hated the news of the bird's death.

"They are an important part of our local ecosystem," she said. "That bird should (staying) should have been a badge of honor for our neighborhood. Instead someone shot it down and killed it. That's the saddest part. We were all really hopeful that it would heal and be released but unfortunately that's not the case this time."

Sara Ballard hopes the shooter confused the osprey for another type of predatory bird. Osprey's are a protected species by the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

"Maybe they thought it was a bird of prey that would harm their dog or maybe they thought it was a buzzard," she said. "I know of buzzards that do roost in trees nearby."

Clayton Ballard believes the bird wasn't shot by accident.

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"You don't shoot a bird that perched up there without intention," he said. "There were a number of buzzards flying around that day. I'm hoping they were trying to shoot a buzzard and just didn't know the difference between an osprey and a buzzard.

"My sister's been watching that osprey and chronicling it for at least five years now. It's a big thing to have an osprey here. It's not something you see always. It's been roosting on that same spot for years."

Also known as a fisher hawk, sea hawk and river hawk the osprey subsides entirely on fish. It resembles a small bald eagle and in New Mexico these birds have two primary migration patterns. One ranges from Taos County to Dona Aña County and the other ranges from San Miguel County to Eddy County.

Matthew Asher can be reached at 575-628-5524, masher@currentargus.com or @Caveman_Masher on Twitter. Support award-winning local journalism. Subscribe to the Current-Argus today.