Old friends....

Another long day in the field trying to read bands and putting puzzle pieces together. The female that Z3 courted for a few days and then apparently abandoned, was alone this morning. But the exciting part of the day for me was reading the band on a very old friend. As my regular readers know, two years ago our oldest male at 23 years of age, returned from migration in very bad shape and was ultimately euthanized. Another one of our old friends did not return last year in what would have been his 23rd year. We have had a number of Ospreys live to be 21 or 22. Today I watched, with some astonishment and joy, a 23 year old male, working on his nest, bringing sticks, digging a nest cup for the eggs, fishing for his new mate, and chasing away eagles. I had to read his band to be sure it was him, tho I know his markings after all these years. I watched him for several hours....largely due to my need to read his band for sure. My mind was flooded with memories. In my early days on this project, another person working on the project said, " you will never get that males band read. He is too skittish". Well, that was like throwing down the gauntlet to me. I spent so much time sneaking up on him slowly, with my old entry level scope. I remember crawling on the ground, so I would not threaten him. It turned out to not be that difficult to read his band, and he has cooperated with me every year since. It has been easier with the hi powered scope, but today I had to hike in a little closer, like the old days. I enjoyed being out there and remembering all the years I have been watching this fellow. He is setting a new record, as he seems to be in great shape. No worse for wear. I did not see his banded female of the past few years, and he was feeding a new female. Last year his nest failed for reasons I could not fully understand, and I attributed some of it to his age. I did not expect to see him again. But I am thrilled to see him, watch him going thru all the normal rituals. I hope, I hope, I hope he is successful this year. He is such a cute osprey. I will have to go thru the records and see what I can figure out about when he first was identified at this nest, tho I believe he was there before I confirmed his band number. Old friends....nothing like it!