Osprey season is in full swing now and I have spent most of the past week visiting nests and reading bands. I have identified 29 ospreys by their bands already. There are pairs on many nests, a single bird still waiting on some and a few nests which are still empty. Its early still and there will be much interesting behavior to come in the next few weeks. I have discovered many instances of extra pair copulation in a species that was believed to be "mostly monogamous", according to the literature. The nest swapping and mate swapping is fascinating and requires me to read bands early and often to document much of this movement. I was lucky to witness a fishing Osprey today...hovering above the water and plunging feet first into the water with a big splash and coming out with a large fish. His partner has  not been seen yet so he had the luxury of eating the whole fish himself, as I read his band!
One of the problems with this activity of reading bands is that it apparently looks suspicious. The police were called again on me yesterday...and when I explained what I was doing he was nice about it and told me just to stay on the side of the road...unfortunately that was not close enough to read that particular band so I will need some permission to trapse onto private property. I always wonder who called the police anyway? It happens to me every year...a few times. I will not be deterred from my goal of reading ALL bands tho! I read 79 of them last year.