Good news, bad news

As many of you realize the Arboretum Osprey Cam is down again. So I stopped at that nest today since I knew that fledging day was upon us. When I arrived I saw what was in the photo below.....one chick on the nest perch! Hmmmmm. I assumed that meant the chick had fledged....but I waited a while to confirm that supposition. Yes! Off he went on a short loop and returned to the perch and made a slightly awkward landing, but none the less a successful landing! This is day 54 for one of these chicks, and I suspect the other chick will takes its first flight soon. I will keep you posted! A milestone for this chick and this nest. In my research, if one chick is known to have fledged successfully, the nest is considered to be successful.

Rescue

It’s been a busy few days....dealing with unexpected situations. Maybe you will find it interesting....

Monday morning I got a message from someone who lives in the UK, but is active on my page....Hazel. She saw a post on the page that Tiger Mozone runs from a man in Minnesota asking what to do about chicks that blew out of a nest that he erected during a storm. She suggested that I contact him. He posted his phone number asking for help so I called him. I was already way out in a western county to check nests so I suggested that he pick up the chicks, put them in a box and get them to The Raptor Center to be sure they were OK. There were several phone calls with him, and several suggestions made about how to get the chicks back in the nest. I kept checking nests and came upon a nest with two live chicks and one dead one, and no adults anywhere. I waited for three hours. Every time an Osprey flew over they food begged loudly. No ospreys stopped. I started to suspect these chicks were in trouble and started making phone calls regarding a rescue for these chicks. Sadly, in this state, there aren’t many options other than letting them die. After many hours, a male who was not the father circled around and then landed forcefully on a chicks back in a very aggressive manner. Then a female came flying in and chased him away. I was somewhat relieved to see an adult defend these chicks, but I suspect this is a single parent situation , with a female who has to leave to get food and is struggling to provide for her offspring. I am hoping for the best, but my phone calls did not result in a permit to move them to another nest. In the process of exploring options for that family, I talked with The Raptor Center and we had a great discussion about both situations, Osprey behaviors, and possible solutions. I was told that the chicks that had blown out of their nest in the storm were both in good shape. As the day went on, we had a few more emails and phone calls, and the next morning plans came together to renest those chicks. I agreed happily to help, so, although this nest was outside of my normal study area, I drove up and met the gentleman who put the nest up and rescued the chicks, and a volunteer from TRC and we got those two chicks back in their nest. They had been out of the nest for several days, so there was concern that the Adults parental instincts might have turned off. But we thought this was the best option. So the man who rescued them got a tall enough ladder to access the nest, and he went up as we placed the chicks in a bag and sent them up to their nest. We also left a lot of fish up there for them. It all went perfectly. As we pulled away in the pontoon boat, the Mom was back in her usual perch below the nest, looking up at her chicks! I stayed all afternoon to watch the behaviors, as I always learn. The chicks were eating those fish, and at 3:30 in the afternoon, the male finally came to the nest, walked around, and stole a fish, went to a nearby perch to eat. All is well! Woo hoo! Thanks to Ritchie Ronning, The rescuer, Terri Headley from TRC, and Gail Buhl at TRC who coordinated it all, and of course, Hazel who connected us at the start. I was so happy to be able to help. It’s such a wonderful feeling when a rescue goes this well! Here are some photos.

Arb Osprey cam

For those who are concerned about the Arboretum chicks after the storm knocked the cam out of position, I just checked them in person and they are fine.....mom was feeding them dinner. Hopefully the cam will be fixed soon.

Fledged!

Our first chick has fledged! Earlier this week I watched a chick on the nest where the earliest egg was laid and the first hatch occurred this year. The oldest chick was flapping furiously and getting some good loft, hovering a foot or two above the nest. Some people call this “helicoptering”. It is a thrill to observe! I stayed for a long time but she was just not ready to make the big leap quite yet. She was 54 days old. This morning I returned and was delighted to watch her flying loops and returning to the nest and sticking her landings perfectly. Her sibling was not quite ready to go yet.

She would have been 55 days old on Tuesday, perhaps the day she fledged. That is a good average age for a first flight tho there can be quite a bit of variability in fledge dates, but I often use 55 as a good guess for when a juvenile might take that first flight. Alan Poole says in his new book that fledging occurs between 50-60 days.

Some people think that parents do something to encourage fledging but it is really a physiological readiness that causes the first flight. So what is really happening? Let’s talk about feathers. As our little friends have grown, we have seen them move from a down covered fuzz ball, to having little pin feathers poking out all over their bodies. As those feathers grew, the shaft was full of blood, so they are called “blood feathers“. As they approach 50 days, the blood begins to recede from the shaft. The feather stiffens and is finally capable of sustaining flight. They also have spent significant time flapping those wings to build muscle strength. When I was working on the reintroduction, and we had a hack box full of chicks, I had to determine when the chicks were ready for flight. I became very familiar with the pre-fledging behaviors described above. I also noticed that they would begin trying to self feed at this time. We also examined each birds flight feathers, watching as the shaft turned from a bluish, dark color to a white, slightly transparent color.

This phase of watching our nests can be very exciting! As I made the rounds to many nests today, I was looking for those pre flight behaviors, and I saw one other chick that was getting some good loft and floating up in the air above it’s nest. I am sure there are others around the metro too. I also take a deep breath because this is a treacherous time for the juveniles. Not all first flights go well. We will watch over them as much as we can. May all our young ospreys fledge successfully this year!

HELP!

As many of you may already know, the government is trying to remove the protections for all migratory birds. This will profoundly affect our ospreys, as well as many other birds. If you are concerned about this huge step backwards please, please, please hit the link below, and voice your opinion.....and also write to your legislators.

https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=FWS-HQ-MB-2018-0090-8411&utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=bb24f41067-Cornell-Lab-eNews-July-2020&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_47588b5758-bb24f41067-277794361

Too hot...

For all the readers in Minnesota, you know we are struggling thru a long, very hot stretch of weather. The dew points are very high with temps in the 90s most days. This weather is hard on the very young chicks, since they have difficulty thermoregulating in their first few weeks of life. We had some very late hatches and I do worry about those chicks. Some of the earlier hatches, chicks who are now close to 30 days old, will find it easier to survive. Remember, the only fluids they get are from the fish, so it’s critical that the males deliver a lot of fish to keep their families going. I personally find this weather difficult, so I have been going out very early, 6 a.m. and checking as many nests as I can till about 11 a.m. when it just gets too hot for me. I have been watching the chicks on the Arboretum nest cam, and I must say that everytime I check in I see them being fed , or they are in a food coma with bulging crops! Last night as I watched the female feeding, it almost looked like a video being played high speed! She was shoveling the food in so fast, it made me laugh. This evening I watched her feeding one chick, while the other was just laying there, showing no interest in eating. It concerned me. But after a while the female picked up that fish and dragged it past the eating chick, to the one that was laying down and very intentionally offered food until the second chick got up to eat. Great mom.

On the nest where we did the rescue, the sad news is that the little chick, which was so much smaller than the one whose legs were dangling thru the nest, seems to have perished. But the larger chick, who had the skin worn away from trying to extricate himself, is doing great! He is super active, moving all over the nest now that it’s flat and safe, standing tall, and developing his leg muscles since he is no longer stuck in a hole. He eats a lot and is growing very quickly.

So now we just keep counting heads thru this heat wave, hoping for the best for all these little guys. Stay cool people!