Update and plea

 

Just a little update. Over the weekend I visited a handful of the nests with the late fledging chicks and saw one chick and some Dads on four nests. I spent over 90 minutes at the nest where I witnessed the chick catch a fish last week....and she was still working on her fishing skills. Perched in a dead tree over the water, rubber necking, staring into the water and she made one dive, tho it was unsuccessful and she came up empty. . It’s such a treat to watch her or him. She has light spots on her breast so it actually could be either sex. I did not see her Dad. He is a first time parent so may be lacking some of those super parental skills! This morning I returned to check two nests near each other and I was lucky to not only see the remaining chick, I saw both Dads deliver a fish! One chick continued to food beg for a good five minutes after the fish delivery, with a fish in her grip! I guess the food begging machine is hard to turn off! Made me laugh out loud! Each moment with them is treasured. I am sticking with the notion that I am collecting data.....but I am really just a junkie getting a fix. 
I also spent some time this weekend with one of the volunteer monitors, Barb, hiking out to a nest that fell apart mid season, causing eggs to be lost. We are trying to figure out how to fix this nestpole. The pole itself looks good...and the support arms also look good, but it was built poorly many years ago and had no actual nest box.....just a circle of wood set up there, which rotted away. This is a call for help and ideas.....the site is inaccessible with a truck. I believe the pole is about 30 feet tall, (not certain tho) and we wondered if a tall ladder might get us up there to just add a nestbox on top of the arms, bolt it in place and add some sticks. We would need a box, some strong folks to help us carry a rented ladder out there, and some one to climb up and bolt it in place. Thoughts? Volunteers? Photos below....

And another huge thanks to Barbara Pierson and Paul Patton for their ongoing financial support which means more than words can express. These donations not only pay for gas for checking nests, but also allow for some repairs to old poles to be done. A million thanks!