Sunday August 10...

Another funny story for you...I was watching a nest with a large female chick with a full crop standing next to her Mom, with an empty crop. They were both food begging. The male arrived with a fish and all hell broke loose with the adult female and her chick both grabbing the fish. A ferocious tug o war began that continued for several minutes, neither one willing to let go...finally the adult let go and the chick fell backwards with the fish in her talons. She regained her balance and stood there with the fish, continuing to food beg. She did not eat, just kept hollering and looking at mom, looking around. The adult kept eyeing the fish and when the chick was looking the other way the Mom finally tried to sneak in, head down, to get that fish. The chick snapped and lunged at her. Alright, allright, allright. Mom backed off. I waited for a good 20 minutes and the chick did not eat the fish. Apparently ownership beats eating. Her instincts are clearly telling her that it's important to bulk up now, so it's always good to have an extra fish waiting! Some of these young ones are bigger than their parents now, as they prepare for that first migration. Many of them will still be here for another month, when the decreasing amount of daylight will trigger the mysterious urge to fly south. 

I visited 23 nests today trying to determine who has fledged successfully. I love to see them flying and returning to the nest to eat. I did confirm that many have fledged, but we still have quite a few that are still building strength and preparing for the right moment to take flight. I saw a lot of awkward landings and some still loafing in the nest. A few chicks are missing and I will try to find them if I can. Some females are very hard to find now. I think many of them are still around, but they do begin to spend time away from the nest, fishing on their own, and building back some of the muscle mass lost during the nesting season. If the chicks  have fledged, I don't worry too much about missing females. Some will head south very soon. They have earned a little time off.