Busy busy!

 Well I am up to my eyeballs this time of year….still working my way around to over 180 nests for the first time, reading bands, even the silver ones ( ooof) , and figuring out what is going on at each nest. We have some chronically late birds that leave an opening for other birds to either take over their nests, or copulate with their mate. But in the end, the territorial birds usually win back their nest. We documented this so many years ago, observing so many extra pair copulations, refuting the myth that ospreys mate for life. It’s a game of musical nests every spring, tho most long time mated pairs do end up back in their territory, if they survived migration. Not all do survive. It looks like our oldest male, who would have been 22 this year, did not make it back to his territory. It makes me very sad. And tho I thought we had lost other banded birds, many of them have shown up. But I have to warn the nest monitors to keep looking at legs for bands, even if the first birds seen were unbanded, new birds! Things do change quite often.

I have had fun running into long time monitors and property owners that I haven’t seen recently….I love to connect with the people who support this project in various ways. It’s so much fun to spend some time watching ospreys with the monitors….and getting to interpret behaviors, vocalizations etc. After all these years of observing ospreys, I do have different perspectives on what’s going on!

We are seeing a pair at the Arboretum Cam nest….they seem to be a totally new unbanded pair, so we have no info about them. They are behaving like young birds, so we will see what happens.

I thought you would be interested in seeing these HUGE nests….ospreys work so hard to build and rebuild their nests, and I love it when humans leave them in place. So many nests were removed this year, sigh….leaving ospreys scrambling to rebuild somewhere.

And I am deeply grateful for those who make financial donations to support this big effort. I couldnt do this without a lot of different kinds of help.

Who is at the Arb cam nest?

 A lot of people are asking about the pair of ospreys seen lately on the Arboretum Cam nest. Are they the same pair as last year? No…..the banded male from last year disappeared, while he still had a chick depending on him, so that is why we haven’t seen him this year. The male seen recently is unbanded and new. The same question about the female has been more difficult to answer. Last years female was unbanded and so is this new one. I have spent a lot of time looking at her markings and comparing them to photos of last years female. I have tried to capture screen shots from a similar angle. Studies have shown that the dorsal feather pattern is one that remains the same throughout an ospreys life. So let’s look first at this years female and then last years female….to me these appear to be different females. Compare those patterns and see what you think!

Eggs already!

 I suppose some of you are wondering what’s going on at the Arboretum cam nest. As some of you may remember, the male from last year, banded MS, suddenly disappeared when he still had a chick to feed. The female had already begun her migration. The chick was alone for a few days and then the youngster disappeared too and the last sighting of her on the nest revealed a large shadow that chased her off. I searched for both of them for days and found nothing. Several other males showed up on the nest after that, and MS provided no nest defense if he were alive and in the area. They don’t abandon their offspring either, so we presumed he had perished. There were several eagles in the area at that time, which may offer a possible explanation. So it is not surprising that MS has not been seen this year. Neither has the female. 

But we have had sporadic brief visits on the cam nest from another banded male, PZ. He has been the territorial male on another nest less than a mile south of the cam nest. He has been seen on that nest with a female. The female had some difficulties when she got some landscape fabric stuck to her talon and was flying around with this fabric trailing behind her. Apparently this was called in to the Raptor Center and they contacted me to see if I could catch her, but she was behind locked gates, and was able to fly. I rechecked her the next day and she appeared to be free of the landscape fabric that was still lying on the nest. As many of you know, ospreys are known for picking up weird stuff to line their nests, and sometimes this can be catastrophic. Chicks have died from becoming entangled in twine and other man made materials…..so it’s important for people to not leave that stuff lying in the ground, and sometimes nests may need to be cleaned out. (The photo I have of one week old chicks on the top of this page was taken when I went up in a bucket truck to clean out large bundles of twine in a nest many years ago!) Today I witnessed the same thing at another nest…a female with some landscape fabric attached to her foot as she flew. She kept flying and trying to get free of it and she finally did. When I saw that this material landed in an open grassy area where she might see it, I hiked out and picked it up to dispose of it properly. Whew! 

 Meanwhile, I am still seeing PZ going back and forth between these two nests.  At one nest, he has a female and at the other he doesn’t. But it seems as if things are “unsettled” between him and the female at the other nest. We have not seen her come to the cam nest. So I guess UNSETTLED is the headline. We will see how this plays out, and where PZ decides to put down roots, and with what female! He was the first male on the cam nest last year as well, before MS returned, so he has a definite interest in that territory. 

Overall, things are weird. We still have many empty nests, birds missing, a lot of banded birds that have not been seen. And yet I found a nest today  that has already laid eggs! This is one of the earliest dates for incubation so far. I will check my records for that, but April 12 seems early. Last year our first incubation date was April 14, and that seemed early! I waited and watched for what happened when the male returned with a fish, since sometimes females sit to “test” the nest for comfort before she really lays eggs….but when the female took the fish to eat, the male stared into the nest cup,and settled into incubating posture. So it’s for real!

More and more….

 Just to get you excited….a beautiful shot from Ann Merritt. Our old friends are trickling into town and often it’s our older, experienced birds that return first. Today I read a band on a 20 year old Osprey! Many nests are still empty or have one bird waiting for its mate, but I think the next week will be a busy one for monitors as more ospreys show up in their home territories!

Old friends!

 We now have at least two ospreys back on their nests….one on the east side and one on the west side! I have read my first band too….an 18 year old! Hope his mate returns soon. Fingers crossed. We have set our clocks based upon this pair for quite a few years….the first to return, the first to lay eggs, the first to hatch and the first to fledge.

Oh another report just came in about ospreys on another nest, so they are arriving all over the metro now!

They are right on schedule! As the annual report said, our first osprey returned last year on March 31. (This same bird!)The last week of March is the usual time if we dont have a lingering winter with frozen lakes.

Always good to see old friends…..

Here we go!

 Our first osprey has been confirmed back on its nest. I will read the band tomorrow! So osprey season has officially begun!

Soon?

 We are probably going to see our first ospreys returning to their nests in the next week. I hope the experienced monitors will return this year, please do send me an email letting me know. If any of you are able to take on an additional nest or two, let me know that as well. I will not be able to do as much as I did last year. Keep looking up!