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!