Confirming fledging...

I spent a full day in the field with one of my great volunteers yesterday. We checked about 18 nests and I visited a few more on the way home. At this time of the breeding season we are trying to accurately account for successful fledging of the chicks. We try to find each chick that we have been observing since hatching. Sometimes this requires searching all the surrounding trees, moving around for different views, listening carefully for food begging. A successful nest is one where at least one chick was known to have fledged successfully. That does not mean it flew away. It means it flew and landed successfully and has returned to the nest to eat. We referred to past visits and the number of chicks noted in each visit. We try to document mortality rates, so that means narrowing down what period of time a chick may have disappeared, going over field notes to arrive at the answer. Then we begin to search for all the chicks seen on previous visits. I get a great feeling of satisfaction when we can account for all chicks.  We also realize that less than half of these chicks will survive their first year. These youngsters can get into a million kinds of trouble post fledge. We will continue to observe as long as we can tho some volunteers may begin to pack up their field notes after fledge. Some of us keep watching until we can no longer find any Ospreys. This year we had quite a few late nesters so we will be watching a few nests for quite some time, well into September.
On one of the nests I visited on my way home, I had not found any Ospreys on the nest this week. I was worried. The male finally arrived with a fish, but did not go to the nest. He perched on a light pole and began eating a fish. Where did the chicks go? What happened? Ahhhhh, there it is, that tell tale raspy, whining sound of a juvenile food begging. I could not find the chick tho! It took me quite a while, moving around until I finally spotted the young one in a tree, whining desperately! All is well, this nest is successful, the young one can fly, land in a tree and is still here asking for food.
In the process of visiting all these nests yesterday, we also saw a family of sand hill cranes in a field, a doe and her two fawns that were still  trying to nurse while their tails were wagging at lightening speed. She was trying to drag them away from the road while they nursed! Funny. We also observed a young bald eagle feeding on a dead raccoon while an adult watched over him, they both flew, were joined by another adult, soaring together, and the juvenile landed in a very tall cornfield. Interesting choice!
I love spending time in the field with the volunteer monitors, as we learn together, putting the pieces of the puzzle together on each nest.