WHACKY: A real estate agent, a drone and the case of a thieving Douglas Shire bird

It’s not often you have a precious item stolen by an opportunistic feathered thief but that’s exactly what happened to a local real estate agent during a recent adventure in the Douglas Shire.

Just days ago sales representative Charlie Madgwick was out and about taking photos for an upcoming listing when a sizeable bird swooped and nabbed her prized drone before hot tailing it into the distance following the brazen daylight robbery.

It's likely the bird, thought to be an Osprey or Kite, mistook the item as a potential food source.

Fast forward to a few days later when an honest and helpful Douglas Shire resident located the drone perched on a gully, near water, in a cane paddock behind a supermarket in Mossman.

The good Samaritan collected the item and soon posted a picture on social media of the potential owners that had previously been taken by the drone.

Shortly afterwards Charlie Madgwick was identified, alerted and then quickly went to retrieve the item.

The Madgwick family curiously delved into the drone images, which among others, clearly revealed and showed the feathered offender flying away with the goods.

"I was initially shocked when it happened, then I started to laugh," Ms Madgwick told Newsport.

"When I actually got it back I took the SD card out and looked at the pics and managed to see a few pics of the bird flying away.

"Also, the pictures I took for the listing were also still there, so that's good. All in all, the drone suffered some propeller damage but otherwise, all things considered, it's not in too bad of shape."