Updates

I have some updates to share as this breeding season begins to wind down. We still have some very late nesters with unfledged chicks! But many of our chicks have fledged, including the two nests, six chicks, that share the same father. The bad news on this situation is that one of the nests, which was on a transmission tower, has collapsed. This male was so busy providing food for these two families that we rarely saw him bringing sticks or working on the nest as most males do during the breeding season. The female did bring a few sticks, but between the lack of maintenance and the heavy rains we have had this summer, most of the nest fell last weekend. There are a few sticks still up there and the chicks still return there to grab a fish from mom or dad. We are so happy that all chicks had fledged when this happened and it is still their home base. It will be interesting to see what this male does now. Will he rebuild this nest, originally built by another male, or will this bring a natural end to his polygyny?
Sadly I must also report that the nest that had four chicks only seems to have fledged two. I have been back several times to look for chicks and have only found two, which have fledged successfully. I am not sure what happened here. With so many nests to watch, I can't get back as often as I would like.
Believe it or not we are still finding new nests!  We deeply appreciate the people who report new nests to us, since trying to keep track of all nests in eight counties is a big job! I do find some of them, as do my volunteers, but some we might never find if it weren't for the public keeping us posted about what they observe in their neighborhoods! New nests are often built late in the season in preparation for next year. We try to read all bands on the birds building these late nests to be sure they are not frustration nests.  We are working hard to confirm successful fledging and make sure our final chick numbers are accurate.