Highs and lows of field work...

It was a day full of highs and lows. I visited one nest this morning where I had noted one chick missing about ten days ago, and today I saw something I had not noticed  then. The decayed remains of a chick hanging from the nest. How could  I not notice it last time? Hard to believe. Or did the chick die on the nest and the parents just pushed it over the edge? I am not sure, but it was a very sad sight. I was also deeply concerned that the single remaining chick was alone on the nest. No adults anywhere in sight. I waited for a long 35 minutes, my anxiety rising, thinking about how we could rescue this chick...when the male arrived with a fish. Whew! But what happened to the female? Another five minutes and the female arrived with a fish! The male dropped his fish and left and the chick and Mom had a feast. I proceeded on to check about 15 nests and I found extra ospreys flying around at six of them, including intruders trying to land on nests and being chased away. A lot of chaos. I stopped at the nest where two chicks disappeared/died as a result of a probable Great Horned Owl attack. Not an osprey in sight...so quiet.  I visited another nest that had three chicks last week but only one today. This chick was also alone when I arrived, because the female had gone fishing. The male was never seen, but the female returned with a big fish and they also feasted. I do not know what happened to the other two chicks.  If the male is gone, the female may have had too much difficulty feeding three chicks on her own. I also confirmed another chick missing from a nest that had two big healthy chicks last Thursday, but only one could be located today. Both adults present. Last week they were hopping and flapping...preparing to fledge, and now one of them is gone. I did not want to look for a body as the remaining chick is close to fledging and I did not want to frighten the chick into  jumping too soon. I can only guess about what happened at this nest. I also took a peek at a nest that had three lovelies a few days ago, but one of them died suddenly when they went to band them. I was not present but there may be a necropsy done to determine the cause of death. The remaining two chicks looked healthy today. The  last three nests I visited all had the right number of chicks present and accounted for. It was a relief.  And I did observe one nest that actually had one more chick than I originally thought! Celebrate! More nests tomorrow...