Did you think I forgot about you?

Did you all think I forgot about you? Forty lashes for me for not writing more often. This Osprey season is off to a crazy start, with so many new nests being reported or discovered, and it seems like the early days of the season have gone too fast. I love a slow start, with cool days, slow arrivals, time to read bands before incubation, and before woodticks....but that’s not the way 2019 is going. Most nests are incubating now and I am still trying to get the bands read. That can mean waiting for a long time for a bird to stand up and show me its legs. I visited a nest last weekend with two banded birds and it took me three and a half hours to get the bands read. Those of you have read bands may understand, trying to approach a nest slowly, wondering if one more step will cause them to fly off the nest. Trying to stand as motionless as you can, as your mind races...can I move a little more around this way or that way, or will the bird just raise his tail a little so I can see his legs, will he untuck his banded leg, will the clouds stop the glare of the sun. Where did the other one go? Should I move or will the bird move, will I miss my brief chance if I do move. My heart always starts to race when that golden moment arrives, the bird is in the perfect spot, the light is perfect, now just get the scope focused....got it!! Kind of exciting, but time consuming. Today I spent a lot of time trying to read a silver federal band on an Osprey, with nine small numbers all the way around the leg. These bands are primarily meant to identify a dead bird. The auxilary color bands, with two large digits, are meant for identifying a live bird from a distance. I am so damn curious tho, I stayed until I had six of the nine digits, but then she returned to her nest to incubate. Ahhhhhhh. I will try again, and I will get this one. Some others are almost impossible. I have a silver banded female on a nest on a very tall cell tower, and I am not sure I will ever get that one.

Ospreys are semi colonial, which means they like to nest near each other, so many of the new nests are in the neighborhood of other established nests. I am still learning about how close ospreys will nest to each other and our population is developing into definite clusters. As a result we are seeing increasing interactions with other ospreys. A few weeks ago I went out for a four hour walkabout with one of my volunteers, in an area with a growing cluster of nests. It was so amazing to watch all these ospreys flying around, some ospreys were seen as intruders and were chased off, while others caused no concern. We had a hard time figuring out which nest each Osprey belonged to! Thanks to all who have reached out to me , shared sightings, reported new nests to me, volunteered their time to help us out! More soon, I promise.