Our kayaking group of eight launched our boats at the Lawrence Lewis Jr. boat ramp in Charles City, Virginia for the start of a 19 mile trip down the James River to the Chickahominy Riverfront Park. As soon as we started paddling I noticed something bobbing in the water near a buoy that sits about a quarter mile out in the water from the launch ramp. I thought it was a log floating, but as we approached the buoy we saw this osprey struggling and floundering in the water. He attempted to fly a few times but couldn't and as we got even closer he used both outstretched wings as though they were arms trying to grab and climb onto the buoy, but the ledge was too high. There was an osprey nest atop the buoy but it looked damaged. Someone suggested that he may have been a young bird who had been knocked from the nest. It was a large bird though as you can tell from the video, and it didn't look like his wings were broken, maybe he was just water logged, I thought. No telling how long he'd been struggling in that water!
One of our kayakers paddled back to the launch to report the struggling osprey to the park attendant. At first we thought we shouldn't try to get him aboard our boats, but while we waited, Dianne Campbell and I paddled slowly toward him so that he was between our two kayaks. We both reached out our paddles to him hoping he would climb up, but not sure we could help even if he did. I say he but I'm not sure if it was a male or female. He was on my left side and he stepped up onto my extended paddle. I held him there even though he almost fell off more than once. In the meantime, Dianne maneuvered her kayak behind mine and gently pushed me toward the buoy. Again, he nearly fell off, but stayed and seemed to know that we were trying to help. He kept his eyes on me though and I kept my eyes closely on him, those talons and that beak looked dangerous!
When I got close I moved my paddle blade and the bird from my left up slightly and to the bow of my boat where I let him and my arms rest a minute. Finally my kayak was just close enough to the buoy and I was able to lift him up to my right and onto the ledge. Our kayaker who reported it to the attendant had returned and said that it had been reported. As we paddled away the osprey was shaking water from its wings and seemed relieved to be out of the water and onto the dry buoy. We continued our trip down river knowing we had done all we could for him. I'm certain we saved his life.