Last chick fledged!

 Another long day in the field....a lovely day actually, after so many hot, muggy uncomfortable days. Dewpoint finally dropped, as did the temp. I am happy to report that the last chick to fledge in the metro area has done so successfully! The one who was jumping and flapping last weekend, is now flying quite well, tho when I first arrived she was perched right where I left her a week ago....and I thought, oh oh, is something wrong with this chick? Then off she went....and I totally lost her! I moved to a spot further away where I could see a more expansive view of the area, and I saw two ospreys flying quite high above the nest. I watched until they both returned to the nest, and I went zooming back to my closer view and could see it was two juveniles. So there she was with her sibling. There was a third chick too on this nest, but I have not seen that one for two weeks. I cant always account for them all post fledge, but I will keep trying. I saw no adult females today, but a few adult males were perching around. I observed a few very loud chicks jockeying for position on a nest, to be the first one to get a shot at the next fish delivery! Some nests were empty too. Keep your eyes on the winds....this time of year the ospreys could take off any day, but they usually wait for a day with some strong winds from the north to make their travels quick and effortless. As long as winds are from the south, we are unlikely to lose them. 

People often ask me how to tell the difference between and chicks and adults at this time of year .....since the chicks are adult size. Here is a great pair of photos from Ann Merritt that shows the different plummage...juveniles have a light Buffy colored tip on the edge of every dark feather on their backs, giving them a scalloped appearance (to serve as camouflage in the nest)....these light tips will fade as the edges wear away and some of our older chicks are starting to lose the dramatic contrast, but if you look closely, this may help you identify the young ones. They also have a different eye color.....rusty read when they are quite young, but these days they are lightening to a pumpkin orange to a rosy gold color. The adults have bright yellow eyes. I know that many of you know this, but because it’s a question I am asked so often, I thought I would share these photos!

Always interesting!

 Oh the behaviors get so interesting this time of year! Let me share a few stories....I was visiting one nest several weeks ago that had three chicks. They had just fledged and I was trying to locate  them all to be sure that each one fledged successfully. I spotted one in a tree, one was in the nest, but all my searching could not scare up that third chick. The female arrived with a fish and went to the nest where the one youngster was desperately food begging. She then took off carrying the fish and flew several loops around the little lake near the nest. The chick in the tree showed no interest but when the female headed back to the nest she was followed by the third whining juvenile! She dropped the fish in the nest for those two chicks to fight over and went back and perched near the chick in the tree. I love  the way they keep track of their young ones in those early days, and sometimes literally round them up. I saw a male do a similar thing a few days ago. One chick was on the nest food begging so he landed and started feeding that chick....after a few bites he left with the fish. I thought, oh no, that chick is still hungry! And he disappeared, was gone for about five minutes and then came back to the nest with the fish, followed by the missing chick. He left the fish for them to fight over. They have invested many months in producing these offspring, so they usually do not want to leave them hungry.....tho they are always hungry it seems! They eat far more than is actually necessary to keep them alive, and they can build up a thick layer of fat which will serve to help get them to their wintering grounds, even if they fail to catch a fish on their own. Their instincts tell them, eat more! I had to laugh out loud when I watched a male hovering over his nest, with three chicks in it, as he just dropped the fish from above rather than land in the midst of those hungry chicks! 

Some of our adult females have already begun their migration and I am seeing few of them during my nest checks. I believe that those females lose a lot of muscle mass during their days on the nest, incubating, sheltering and feeding the chicks. They need some time on their own to eat the whole fish, fly about a bit to rebuild that muscle and prepare for migration, so sometimes I find them missing for many days and then she might pop up again to check in before departing. Some females have been gone for a while now, but a few remain, hanging out with the chicks, watching over them. They all seem to be specially hardwired to leave at a certain time....some early, and some late, but I dont think it’s necessarily tied to the ages of their chicks.

I am working at confirming that chicks fledged successfully....some that were missing, have been found. Yesterday, as I finally spotted one of the chicks I had been unable to find during several visits, I had my breath taken away by how beautiful he was....white breast shining so bright in the afternoon sun, his eyes still glowing that pumpkin orange....no longer the rusty red of a young bird, but not yellow yet either. What a beauty! 

 There was one chick that had gotten himself into some trouble on a cell tower. This cell tower had two levels to it, and he had fallen down into the lower level, just slightly below the nest. There were too many metal bars for him to put his wings out and fly back up to the nest. I watched and worried and wondered what to do. It’s difficult to get permits to go up and rescue a chick and so I left the chick there, and went home, feeling absolutely sick about it. But I have seen a chick in a similar circumstance get himself out of this trouble in the past. I went back a few days later  and was scanning every inch of that tower looking for a body, some feathers fluttering, and as I moved my car around, looking at every possible angle, I suddenly looked up at the nest, and there was the chick!!!!!! Woo Hoo! So he managed to walk out between the bars and take a leap of faith and put his wings out and get himself out of what was a bit like a cage. I have seen these young ones get into so many different predicaments, it’s such a relief when they have the smarts to free themselves. 

I know our days with these magnificent birds are numbered now.....tho some of the late fledges may be around for a few more weeks. Now we just savor each and every visit where we can find some ospreys. I visited 26 nests yesterday and 12 were empty with no ospreys seen or heard. But on other nests I enjoyed the desperate whining of hungry juveniles! I watched a pair of adults that built a new nest this year, but laid no eggs, as they perched together in a dead tree, enjoying their final days together. The season seems to go so fast and we work so hard to gather all the data we can (there are a few loose ends still to figure out!) ....now I hang on to these precious remaining days with the ospreys. 

So busy.....

 I have been a lousy author on this page lately.....I am just so busy this year, doing the field work while I can, and trying to keep up correspondence with volunteers, people reporting sightings and nests, answering questions. We still have chicks that have not fledged so I am still checking on them, trying to confirm successful fledging! As many of you know, we had a weird, long beginning to the breeding season with prolonged north winds that slowed down the spring migration for some ospreys, and that led to some very late hatches...which of course results in late fledging! 

 When a juvenile finally takes that first flight, when they are physiologically ready, they usually fly a short loop and land back on the nest. The next flight will be a little longer. Eventually they try to land some place other than the nest! But ospreys are not  like songbirds that just fly away, never to be seen at the nest again. Young ospreys remain dependent upon their parents for food for weeks after fledging. They will slowly disperse and expand their explorations further and further from the nest. They will slowly build the skills they need to survive. They will practice their water starts.....plunging into the water and getting lift off out of the water, over and over, before they actually try to catch a fish. So if a chick is seen displaying prefledge behavior, jumping and flapping their wings, and then is suddenly gone, never returning to the nest, it was probably not a successful fledge. We have a nest like that this year and I have been back seven times in the last 3 weeks and have never seen the chick OR the adults! They are just gone. Adults will stick around to feed chicks on the nest for weeks, so If they are gone, they likely have no offspring to care for. So I spend a lot of time checking on chicks, watching their flights, locating them perching near their nest, seeing them returning to the nest hollering for food before I call a nest successful. All this takes a lot of my time (and the volunteer monitors time!) AND we are still finding new nests!!!! We have found 17 new nests this year! Many people believe that ospreys only court and build nests in the spring, but that isn’t true. Young ospreys usually stay on their wintering grounds until they are 2-3 years old. When they are old enough to breed they are drawn back to their fledging  neighborhoods to look for a mate and a territory of their own. Sometimes this can take a whole summer! Many of these young birds don’t get back here early in the spring but may arrive in the early to mid summer. It is not uncommon to find them engaging in courtship behaviors and building nests in July and August. I have found three new nests like that this week!!!! 

So I am still doing a lot of investigating, searching for chicks, listening for vocalizations that give me clues....food begging, courtship songs. And I always have lingering questions in my head that I am seeking answers to. Outcomes. Bands to confirm. Even revisiting failed nests to see if those adults are around at all. I know my days are numbered now, so the pedal is to the metal to try to gather the data we need to draw accurate conclusions. I will have some more behavioral stories soon! 

And for those who are interested in the Arboretum cam chicks, I have seen both of them returning to the nest to eat! All is well! 

Update on yesterday’s update!

Update on yesterday’s post....this morning I went back to the nest where the chick was missing, and he was still not in the nest. The female was still seen flying around carrying a fish. I drove every little road, looking and listening. I could not find the chick, or hear any of the typical juvenile vocalizations. I felt kind of nauseous. So I sadly went to try to read that band on the new nest I found last week. Last year at this time, I had seen a banded male hanging out on a cell tower 1.5 miles away from where I found this new nest, so I suspected it would be him. I spent 7 hours there last Saturday and could not get his band. Yes, SEVEN hours. Today he finally came and perched in a place where I could actually see his legs! It still was a long ways away and required hiking and jockeying around to different sides to confirm the band. But it was that male, as my instincts told me. Then as I sat in the car I thought, I just have to go back and look for that missing chick one more time. A fairly long drive, but when I got there I found the chick FINALLY back in the nest eating a fish with gusto! Hungry chick! And Mom was finally perched calmly nearby.....finally relaxed. A huge Whew! Of course it doesn’t always turn out this way, but it sure is a good feeling when it does. So, tonight there is no one to worry about....we will see what tomorrow brings!

Photo below is just a magnificent look at the wingspan of those young ospreys, for your viewing pleasure....taken by Ann Merritt

Updates

A few updates and comments. I am busier than ever in the field. We are STILL finding new nests and nest attempts. I have to tease out whether these are frustration nests or new nests. Thank goodness the one I checked yesterday had a banded bird, making it easier to track the history and the movement and conclude it’s a frustration nest. But I also found a new nest with chicks in it! And a banded male that is making it very hard to read his band! He is either surrounded by a sea of chicks fighting for the fish, or he is gone fishing!

i am also doing a lot of searching for fledged chicks to be sure they fledged successfully! Flying away and never being seen again, is not a successful fledge! Got a distraught email from a volunteer about not being able to locate the chick from a nest where we did a rescue.....the little guy whose legs were found dangling from a hole in the nest. We have become very attached to him. I searched all over and could not see or hear anything, just as the volunteer did. My heart sank. But as a last resort, I widened my search, and tried driving around some outlying areas and found a gate that said no trespassing, no admittance.....and I parked right there because I saw something white in the trees beyond.....put up the scope, and bingo....there he was, our missing juvenile, beautiful, regal. Woo hoo. He was actually not that far from his nest, but just in a spot that was not visible from our usual monitoring area.

Yesterday I came upon a nest with the single chick missing. Probably fledged. I searched to no avail. I found the male perched nearby, and the female was flying around carrying a fish. I knew she was either trying to locate the chick, or she knew where the chick was and was trying to get him back to the nest to feed him. Sometimes due to lots of private property, I can’t search as freely as I would like. I failed to find him, but will return today.

Also the second chick at the Arboretum Cam nest has fledged.

We are also in talks with some private property owners to make an unused nestpole more attractive to ospreys.

Doing what we can to help the ospreys!