Puzzles....

I am often puzzled by behaviors, (especially human behaviors!) but I also realize you must watch these ospreys carefully enough to even BE puzzled! I continue to observe these birds until I begin to understand the behaviors and am able to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Some times I am left with questions, and I allow those questions to remain rather than mislead anyone by jumping to an easy conclusion. I am watching two nests where the males identity has changed sometime during this breeding season. This requires repeated band reading and careful observation. Sometimes the behaviors are subtle, but are a tip off that the attending male may not be the father of the chicks. In both of these cases I notice that these males are rather scarce. They are not what I would describe as "attentive", as some males are. At first you may think, " it's bad timing of my visits". Eventually it becomes clear that it is more than that.  I also see that these nests often have a lot of chaos around them....extra Ospreys flying over, circling, chirping. This is the response to an undefended or only partially defended territory. If no male is seen on or near the nest, it is a signal that the territory may be up for grabs, in spite of a female and chicks occupying the nest. The males that are trying to take over the nest almost never feed the chicks directly, shade the chicks, or stick close to them while the female takes a break. When they do bring a fish, they may drop it for the female, as a typical part of courtship behavior or they may just eat it themselves while the whole family food begs. They usually do not provide enough food to care for a large family and on one of the nests I am watching, one chick has already been lost, probably as a result of insufficient food. They may even work on the nest...bringing sticks, even sometimes placing them ON the chicks or ignoring those squatters in his nest. It's all the familiar courtship behaviors we see in the spring, with no parental attention to the chicks. Sometimes they even seem slightly aggressive towards the female. I believe these males are just trying to acquire a territory. They can see that this territory is not being defended my another male, so they move in, do what they have to regarding courtship, and quite often this strategy gains them what they want. Next year this territory will belong to them. It's all interesting to me...the more I watch the subtle interactions, the more I learn.

Another puzzling situation is on a nest where I identified the two banded adults sitting comfortably side by side in a tree in April. Many return visits revealed no sign of incubation. This pair had been together for several years, so what was the problem? What was causing the delay? One day I returned, saw two adults on the nest, but noticed that the male seemed defensive, his back turned to the female, his head hanging low. Why would he act this way with his mate of several years? Hmmmmmm. So I read bands again only to discover that this was a different female! She was young, only two years old, unreceptive to copulation, probably too young to breed. Where was the territorial female? What happened to her???? I returned a week or two later to find this same young female present. I assumed that the original female had met some sad fate. I thought I should go search for her body, but didn't have time. Too many nests to watch. Then a few weeks later I returned again, and discovered the original female back on the nest! The male brought her a fish and they were standing side by side, comfortably, on the nest, with the female eating her fish. Now it is too late for egg laying so it's a failed breeding season for this pair, for reasons I cannot quite figure out. Where was this female when the other one was on the nest? This is one of those cases which will remain a mystery. If I were able to check all nests every day, perhaps  I would have better insights. There may be reasons why a pair doesn't breed that we don't understand. I can theorize, but science is about documented facts and known outcomes, not guesses, estimates or theories. We can spin some good tales about what might have happened, but must carefully separate that from the facts.