April 16, 2013

Finally a day that is not raining or snowing! I checked 21 nests...different nests than last Sunday. I found 5 nests with a pair present and two nests with a single osprey. I read five new bands. On one nest I found the female from past years with a totally new and younger male. She was just food begging as he rearranged sticks. This is the nest where I saw the pair of geese last week. This young male sat down, as if incubating, several times. Sometimes an osprey will do that in preparation for egg laying, as if he were testing the nest cup for comfort. Each time he got up tho and moved sticks. Could there be a goose egg in there? Hmmmm. What's more interesting is that after about 20 minutes, another male arrived and chased this young male away. It was the older male from past years. Interesting that the female did not suggest that the young fellow leave during those 20 minutes! The older male immediately copulated with her, of course. A short distance down the road I found a goose in another osprey nest...is this the same goose that was chased away by the ospreys above? Perhaps. Yes, life is interesting this time of year.