Well, once again I have been remiss in writing up some posts for you all. What’s my excuse? Field work! So much to do, and some really difficult bands to read....like an upside down silver band with 8 tiny numbers all the way around the band....Boy you really have to adjust your brain to read a band upside down! After repeated visits, I have gotten all the numbers except one last digit! And now the bird is gone! Things like that take so much time, and in the end I failed because she and her mate decided to move on.
We have already discovered seven new nests this year! Many I have stumbled across and some were reported to us. Thanks so much to those people who do report those observations to us!
And the big news today is.......HATCHING!!!! Our first nest has hatched and I have to say I get as excited as I was the first time I saw it. I went to visit this nest mid day, and within five minutes of first observing them, I knew they had begun hatching, but I had to wait for about 2.5 hours for the confirmation. How did I know? The male. His behavior was a dead give away. He was standing on the nest perch the whole time.....would not leave. And everytime the female moved at all, he leaned over and stared into the nest cup. So darn sweet. Now the day before, he was not hanging around the nest as much. But today he was glued to her side. She was sitting a little higher, a little hunched over ( so as not to squish what was beneath) and she occasionally peeked below. But this is a long time mated pair, he is 14 years old, and she is 13 so they are very experienced and are pretty mellow about it all. He is a very good parent, obviously so interested, so curious, so protective. Finally after several hours, he took off to get some food. He was not gone very long, and he delivered a headless goldfish. She got up and took it to the edge of the nest and began eating the boney parts of the fish, as he stood in the nest staring down into the nest cup. When she got to the fleshy, soft belly of the fish she began leaning into the nest cup with tiny bits of food for the wee one. It doesn’t take very many bites to fill up their tiny crops at this stage. As she fed, I impulsively yelled out loud “woo hoo! Yippee” and I started clapping. Thank goodness no one was around to witness my behavior. It wasnt long before she resettled into brooding the tiny new chick. After 27 years of watching this, the first nest each year is like seeing it for the first time and I still get very excited. So, yes I am drinking some sparkling wine as I write this! Heres to our first new Osprey of 2020!
Our hatching is going to be really spread out this year, as some nests have just laid eggs!
I also need to send out some deep thanks to those who have sent some very generous donations to help keep this research project going during a difficult year. A huge thanks to Gail, Debbie Jordan, and Robert Van de Loo for the financial support and for showing me that you believe in what I am doing. It means the world to me! A million thanks!
May you all be well and stay safe!
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