Wishing all the osprey people around the world a Merry Chrismas, Happy Solstice, Happy New Year…..may your holidays be peaceful and healthy. A special message of gratitude to all the people in Minnesota who have helped me with our ongoing project here…each and everyone of you is so appreciated and important. Let kindness and care for our planet and all living creatures guide us thru the New Year….
There may be people on this page who have never heard the name Missy Patty. Missy passed away in early December, at 88 years of age and I want to tell you a bit about her. I met Missy when we were both hack site attendants on the Osprey reintroduction effort here in Minnesota. She was leading the effort over on the east side of the metro, running the hack site in North Oaks and at Lake Vadnais, when I worked at the hack site at Medicine lake on the west side of the metro. When The Raptor Center had two permanently disabled Ospreys they wanted to train as education birds, Missy helped me with that….fist training and feeding these two totally different birds. We had many discussions about osprey behavior and how to achieve our goals with those ospreys. Missy also helped with banding young Ospreys for many years. In more recent years her attentions turned more towards her family and I didnt run into her when I was out monitoring osprey nests in her neck of the woods. I just wanted to use this space to acknowledge the many contributions she made to growing this population of ospreys, the knowledge she shared, and to say how sad I am to hear of her passing. She never read this page and her family probably doesnt either….but she was an important person in the Osprey world in Minnesota and I thank her for all she gave to help establish this population of Ospreys. May she rest in peace, and fly free….Thanks Missy.
Carol Christians and I got the last predator guard up today….after the big snow dump! Many thanks to Carol for her help getting several predator guards up this week and the donation! So appreciated!
A big thanks to Mike Chlan at Minnesota Valley Electric Coop for helping us add a perch today to the nestpole that they errected last winter to accomodate some ospreys that had been nesting on a substation power pole. As many of you know, having a perch for the adults is an important part of nest construction. In this case I watched the adults flying across the road and dipping low over a busy road all summer and knew we had to give them a place to perch nearer to their youngsters, and to give those chicks a place to fly back to when making their early, experimental flights. I am so grateful to Mike and MVEC for their great work in helping these ospreys!
Our 2021 osprey season has officially come to an end. The last juvenile and parent I was watching left between Oct 2 and 6. Oh how we will miss them.
A dreary, drizzly day here in Minnesota, but I went out this morning to check on that last remaining juvenile that I observed last wednesday. Still there! The chick was on the nest perch with a fish….but I heard an osprey so looked around, and the adult male was divebombing a mature bald eagle and a juvenile bald eagle perched in a tree not too far from the Osprey nest. He did his best to try to dislodge them, but they wouldnt budge so he gave up. I hope he stayed nearby to watch over his youngster as she ate.
Did you think the ospreys were all gone? Nope! I found two chicks hollering for food today on different nests. I waited around for a while but didnt get to see the dads because I had to meet someone. One of the youngsters even gave an appropriate alarm call when an adult bald eagle was chasing a juvenile bald eagle in the area. She flew off and made some circles, giving the BE alarm call, then she returned to the nest and continued her occasional food begging.
Some of the nests that I was watching last week, with chicks still on them, seem to be empty now, after the storm went thru last friday with strong NW winds….but I found these two occupied nests in a different area today. I am always happy when I manage to find an osprey to watch. I will recheck these nests on Wednesday…
I visited 17 nests today that I had not been to in a while….only one had some ospreys. I found one female chick sitting quietly in her nest, her crop quite full. Then she suddenly erupted into loud food begging and Dad flew in with a HUGE fish! He dropped it and flew off. I noticed that he had an empty crop, and yet, he delivered this very large fish to his offspring…the whole thing. I thought I heard him say, as he flew off, “ that should keep her busy all afternoon”. She grabbed it and really struggled with it…hard to drag it around the nest. She got up on the edge of the nestbox with it….but I waited for 30 minutes as she snoozed a bit, then pushed food down in her crop, trying to make room for more. She was in no hurry to eat! She limped around the nest, dragging this massive meal, and finally started nibbling on those fish lips.
We still have a few ospreys in town! I am so happy that our little friend at the Arboretum cam nest is still around. I always hope for about a month of parental care post fledge for a chick to slowly learn the necessary skills for independence….as well as to pack on the pounds before migration. The chick at the Arb has been flying for just over a month now. Whew! Many thanks to our new and wonderful dad there, who has done a great job of providing for his offspring. I checked a handful of nests over the weekend and was able to find a number of juveniles and Dads. A shift in the winds since seems to have carried away some of those ospreys but I found another chick and her dad yesterday, still hanging out together. I sometimes find those adult males remaining near their nests, eating a fish slowly with no one hollering for it. I imagine they might feel a sense of accomplishment as they prepare for their own journeys ahead. I watched one such osprey on monday perched in a dead tree, quietly waiting, just in case….and gazing off to the south. I will stop by his nest today but I expect he may have taken off. Still I savor each sighting.
Boy I was hoping to end this year on a high note….have been so enjoying watching the lingering ospreys. Yesterday I was watching a beautiful female chick holding a whole goldfish in her talons as she food begging hysterically because her Dad was nearby, also eating a goldfish. Guess she wanted HIS fish!
Yesterday there was a post on another facebook page about an ospreys eyes. The osprey actually had its eyes closed, so it looked totally white. The post was closed to comments but I thought I could do a little educating here because there was some incorrect info there. Its common for ospreys to close their eyes, often one and a time, which rests the opposite side of the brain. They also snooze for short periods, both eyes closed. An ospreys eyes close from the bottom up, and the eyelid is white. Many people suggested that what was being seen was the nictitating membrane.....but it was not. The nictitating membrane is milky clear......they can see thru it. It is closed from the side, when diving, to protect the eye surface while still allowing them see. We can still see their eye when the membrane closes. Depending on the light, it can look more milky and reflects light. Here is a photo of an osprey with its nictitating membrane covering the eye. Next image is a photo of a osprey with its regular eyelid closed. Hope this clarifies some things about osprey eyes!
As I mentioned in the last post, the past month has been a challenge for me....first several weeks of running myself ragged trying to get data collected before my surgery. Then spending the last ten days trying to recover from that surgery, and then a few days ago I started to revisit some nests, trying to take it slow, but finding that difficult when I would run into a nest where I felt something might be wrong....a chick alone for long periods with a very empty crop, or a nest where there was an adult with a silver band on that needed to be read ( a very challenging task as those bands are meant to identify a dead bird, not a live one on a nest. Nine little digits all around the band). I guess I pushed too hard and woke up today feeling like I had been hit by a truck. I had to abandon my plan for the day, to check many nests, and decided to visit just two and then come home and rest.
I started early at the nest where that chick was alone and hungry....and before 8 this morning I had confirmed he was ok.....eating a big fish in his own while the adult perched very close. Whew.
Then I proceeded to visit a nest that is sort of far from other nests, by itself, so often gets neglected during my usual rounds. When I arrived I found one chick on the nest. There should be two. They had not fledged before my surgery but I expected that they would have by now. I watched this chick food begging loudly which meant he could see an adult, tho I couldn’t see it. After a while this chick quieted down, which meant that parent had departed to get some food. I decided to drive around a little lake nearby and look for the other chick. I couldnt see or hear anything for the first 10-15 minutes.....then I saw an osprey flying low over the water....I got out of the car and grabbed my binoculars. As he turned I could see the juvenile plummage! He was dragging his feet thru the the water, dipping his toes, but not plunging in. I watched him for a while, and then he disappeared behind some trees. When he came back out he was followed by another Osprey. I tried to identify that one too....both looked like juveniles, but I wasnt totally sure I was zeroing in on different birds as they looped around. Then there was just one again. At this point I sat on a bench and just watched the amazing show this young male was putting on, practicing his water starts over and over....with such enthusiasm! Plunging into the water, practicing putting his feet out in front, even tho he never came up with anything. In these early days, they often are not actually trying to catch a fish, but just developing the skills that will be needed to catch a fish! Diving in, getting lift off out of the water. I found myself talking to him, out loud, “ good job!” , “looking good”, “oh ya gonna take a little bath?” as he splashed his wings in the water. Then I looked around....it was early Saturday morning, not many people were out, it was so peaceful and quiet, and yet the few people I saw had no idea what was happening and what they were missing!
I think about how often we all walk around lost in our own heads, or in a conversation with another person, lacking any awareness about what is going on around us. I was totally enjoying this amazing developmental stage of this young Osprey that I don’t get to see all the time. And to just sit there on this beautiful morning felt like such a healing gift from the universe. It filled me with joy. After many, many water starts, this juvenile must have seen Dad with a fish and he went screaming to the nest. I jumped in the car and returned to a spot where I could see the nest just as Dad dropped a big fish for this chick. Then I had to laugh as he continued to food beg as he looked at this big fish in his talons. It always cracks me up how they keep crying long after they have a fish and Dad has departed. Then I was going to leave, but thought, no I need to find that other chick. So I started driving down some residential streets, looking between the houses....this is usually when the police are called! Eventually I spotted the top of a dead tree and thought, THATS where an osprey would perch....and I finally found a spot where I could see the tree and sure enough, there was that missing chick. This one a girl! She jumped out of the tree and plunged into the water, came up empty, and did that a few more times before she started flying towards the nest....so I zoomed back there....nope she’s not there. As I headed back to the lake, I spotted her, sitting on a dead snag near the road, on the edge of the lake. She did another plunge into the water and then headed back towards that dead tree. What a delightful morning it was......to just relax and enjoy watching these
magnificent young birds that I love so much, on a perfect August day....knowing our days with these birds are numbered. I am so glad I got to fully enjoy some time with that family. Sometimes all the hard work is rewarded in the most amazing ways!
For those that are watching the Arboretum nest cam.....the window for possible fledging has opened for that chick. Most chicks fledge at around day 55 of their life, but some fly earlier and some later so I consider the window to be from day 50 to day 60. So pay attention in the next ten days as that youngster exercises his wings and prepares for his maiden voyage!!!
I also want to send out a huge thanks to Bernice Caruth and Rick Endo for their generous donations! It’s been an especially difficult year with many, many miles driven so the financial support from so many people has been deeply appreciated!
The adult male that we rescued, and was mentioned in one of the previous posts, sadly had to be euthanized after developing neurological symptoms. But the single Dad that was at the nearby nest has done well and successfully fledged his two chicks. I thought you would enjoy this photo from Lisa Jude who helped keep such a good eye on that nest! A special thanks to all the volunteers who have worked so hard this year watching
over all these nests and and especially during my down time. It takes a village!
I forgot to mention that we are offlcially into fledging season.....with some chicks beginning to fly as of last week! Many more are displaying pre fledge behaviors.....self feeding, flapping, hopping, hovering. I watched one chick yesterday hovering up 2-3 feet above the nest......ready to fledge any minute! This year the nesting dates are so spread out that we will be watching for fledging until late August! Its one if the most treacherous times for these young birds....not all first flights go well, and as they disperse a bit from their nest they can get into all kinds of trouble. On the other hand, they are also able to fly away from some predators. Its a time of high anxiety for those of us watching over these young birds. Monitoring gets harder as we have to search for the fledglings. I kind of enjoy the searching tho....”where’s waldo“! You have to use all your senses, and listen, look, watch for clues from the parents about where these young ones may be hiding. They land in such weird places sometimes!
It’s been over a week since we rescued that adult male that was on the ground, unable to fly. He has a puncture wound that had necrotic tissue around it, so it was an older wound. At the time of the rescue we pondered who he was and what was going on at that nest that he was near. We had seen no female there. Was he the dad? With some great help from Lisa Jude and a return visit on my part we have determined that the female is gone and there is a single Dad taking care of two chicks. The injured male must have been an intruder. We actually have two nests with single dads now. As some of my long time readers may remember I discovered a nest many years ago where there was no female tending to chicks. I watched for hours and my mind spun a million miles an hour about what to do. I didnt think a single male could successfully care for the three very young chicks on that nest. As always I spent a great deal of time just watching.....my stomach flipping. That male was leaving chicks alone for long periods at first....and I watched him bring a fish, drop it in the nest and start to leave. Then he perched on the outer part of the cell tower that held his nest, and looked back at the small chicks, unable to rip and tear fish on their own. He looked around, as if he was wondering “where is she?” It’s not in his job description to feed the chicks. But he went back into the nest and began feeding them. To make a long story short, he slowly figured out that he was a single parent and had to fulfill the role of both mother and father. He balanced it perfectly, leaving when necessary to get food, but also shading and feeding the chicks, watching over them, and chasing away intruders. He successfully fledged all three chicks on his own and he taught me some very important things about male ospreys. So after watching the Dad at this new nest without a female, we have determined that those chicks will probably be fine. The male is often perched near the nest, and he delivers fish to the chicks who are able to self feed. Sometimes he is gone, as he has to be to provide for them and yet they are healthy, often seen with full crops, and they are displaying pre fledge behaviors .....hopping and flapping, getting some loft. It won’t be too long before they are flying. Whew. Of course they are vulnerable to predation when he is gone, but with a little luck, this will have a happy ending.
How quickly our joy turns to sorrow....one of the newly hatched chicks on the Arboretum cam nest has died. We dont know why.
Here is a link to watch the video of the hatching at the Arboretum osprey nest cam....
We had another nest hatch in the past five days also, so that brings an end to hatching season here in the metro, as far as the nests I know about. These are late hatches, but we have had chicks arrive this late in the past and they survived fine, with their Dad staying into early October to care for his offspring. However, he was an experienced male....we hope MS will have as good instincts about caring for his first family.
So pop those champagne corks! Stay tuned as we welcome these newest little ospreys...
This is my favorite part of the breeding season....when I am visiting nests to count the little guys. I usually start this when they are about two weeks old. This is when they start to get up and crawl around the nest and we can finally see them with a spotting scope. Still little tho! It takes some patience, cause if it’s siesta time, they can’t be seen at all. ( Tho the little poop squirts coming out of nowhere are pretty cute too!) Suddenly, the number of nests I can visit in a day drops precipitously. I literally can’t tear myself away! I pretend it’s because I want to be sure I am getting an accurate count.....but it’s really because they are so much fun to watch!!! I have few worries about them at this time, unlike when they are approaching fledging and all kinds of mishaps can occur. And at this stage, Momma can still brood them, shade them, protect them from predation. It’s when their awareness starts to expand beyond Mom, Dad and food....and they start crawling to the edge of the nest to look at the world around them, they start to watch other birds flying by, planes flying over. And, the cutest, is when they start moving little sticks! I saw that today for the first time. You all can officially worry about my sanity.....as I am often sitting in a parking lot, a park, or some public place....quietly watching and trying not to call attention to myself....and I suddenly yell out “THREE”!
I know you osprey monitors know what’s that about! Or as I watch I suddenly burst out laughing and say “moving sticks!”. I talk to myself too much.
There is a stage at about two weeks when they can get into squabbles with their siblings and some pecking back and forth can occur. It usually is a stage that passes and pecking order is established with no harm. Sometimes it’s more serious, and siblicide can happen. I think it’s pretty unusual, especially here in Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes, where fish are abundant. In my 28 years of watching ospreys I can only recall seeing a very aggressive attack between chicks once, that I believe resulted in death for one chick.
But for the most part this stage of monitoring is the most delightful, enchanting phase...and it fills the heart with warm fuzzies. And if it happens to be nice weather too....it’s really hard to leave. This is the reward for the long, boring incubation period. I can easily spend hours at a nest now. And this stage passes so quickly....it won’t be long before they are preparing to fledge and I have to hold my breath as they jump and flap....or I search endlessly for them post fledge. But that’s another story...
Now I indulge in long visits, watching the subtle behaviors, waiting for another head to pop up (cause Mom keeps looking in that direction) or waiting for Pop to come with a fish....and watching as some males either feed Mom or feed the chicks or both! So precious, these wee ones are! Enjoy each moment with them!
We have had a miserable 9-10 days here with temps soaring above 90 every day, sometimes close to 100, with dew points often in the upper 60s. Truely miserable, and dangerous. It finally started to cool down a bit yesterday and today was lovely. I checked nests almost every day thru that heatwave....leaving home around 6:30 in the morning so I could quit around 12-1:00....a few days I was out longer than that. It totally drained me. And it was not easy to watch those ospreys struggling, panting, eyes closed, wings drooping. I was terribly worried that we would lose some of these newly hatched chicks, since at that early stage of development they cannot thermoregulate. I watched a few experienced and devoted Dads, standing right next to the female, wing to wing, to create a bigger area of shade for the wee ones. Every time the female moved, he would move with her to keep that large block of shade intact. On some nests, I saw him shading while she fed them. It’s enough to bring a tear to the eye, to see them caring for their offspring in these challenging conditions. (And remember, the only fluid they get is from the fish they are fed.) Today it’s only in the mid 80s and the dew point has dropped into the upper 40s. Whew! I was amazed and very happy to see all the nests I checked doing very well....chicks bopping around on the nests, parents both present. No panting, everyone perky and hydrated. I am starting to be able to count chicks on many nests, and it’s such fun to watch the youngsters as I can finally see them, watch their movements, their sweet faces looking up at Mom and Dad with an open beak. We have more heat coming, but I know that they do fine when they get a little older, are beginning to lose some down and grow some little feathers. We still have some nests that are behind, where eggs were laid quite late....and those parents seem to be doing alright and continuing their incubation duties. Fingers crossed for those eggs. This has been an unusually long and intense heat wave for this early in the summer.
These are some tough birds....unlike me!
The day has come.....that exciting, uplifting day we wait for...and it never gets old. The first chicks have hatched! And I know I say this every year, but it’s like I have never seen it before as watch those first feedings. Still a thrill!
I am getting a lot of questions regarding the Arboretum nest....many are concerned that the eggs are being laid too late, so let me tell you a little story. About five years ago we had a pair of ospreys that we were concerned about since it was getting to be mid May and no eggs had been laid. We kind of gave up. But then we discovered that they had laid eggs at the very end of May! We watched them carefully thru the breeding season, and yes, they were a bit behind some of the others. The chicks finally fledged at the end of August. I always like to see young ospreys have about a month post fledge to learn to be ospreys, to build the necessary skills to care for themselves before they begin their solo migration. When they fledged so late, we were concerned since many ospreys begin their migration in late August to mid September. However, that male, one of our favorites who is still with us, stayed around and provided for those two chicks until they began their migration in the first week of October, and he stayed one day after the last chick dispersed before he began his migration. So we know they can be successful when eggs are laid a little later, and we hope this male at the Arb will become a great Dad. A lot depends upon him. The first ospreys to lay eggs are always the older, established, experienced birds....but when one of them does not return, as happened this year at the Arb, it can take some time for a new mate to be found. We watched as two different males competed for that female and that territory, and then they did begin laying eggs. Time will tell if they are all fertilized. But we are hopeful and past experience tells us that they can be successful, even laying their eggs a little later. But they have many hurdles ahead, as do all ospreys. We are cheering them on and thinking good thoughts....and a little luck wouldn’t hurt!
The second egg was laid this morning at the Arboretum Osprey cam nest....if the pattern holds, we expect the third egg may come on Friday morning!
So sorry for the lack of posts. I am overly busy dealing with some challenges....but we finally have a pair of ospreys at the Arboretum cam nest. The male is a new one, MS, who is three years old and was hatched on a nest nearby in Carver Park. This will be his first breeding attempt. The female is unbanded and I believe she is a new female. I have tried to compare her markings to the female‘s from last year on some saved screen shots. I will keep working on that. The male has exhibited some defensive behaviors, turning his back on her, dropping his wings and shaking them. He also looked at her and put his wings out and approached her as if he was going to push her off the nest. These behaviors are not uncommon with a new pair. We will see what happens!
One of my favorite ospreys showed up today! (All of us who have been watching ospreys for years do have our favorites!) I was heading to the pottery studio where I make my pots and was late....rushing along, swearing I would not stop to check Osprey nests.....but I HAD to swing in and look at this one nest and there he was, preening in the early morning light, his band so obvious and easy to read. This male Osprey is now ten years old and I have probably written about him many times. Six years ago he sustained a serious injury, a fractured keel, and was found on the ground near a lake. He may have hit something in the water. He spent a month at The Raptor Center, in the middle of the summer, leaving his mate and three chicks to survive on their own. When he was ready for release, they asked if I wanted to release him, since I knew where he belonged. Of course I did! We discussed what might happen behaviorally after a month in rehab. There was some concern that his parental instincts may have turned off during that long stretch of not caring for chicks. When I released him there were a few moments of total exhilaration as he flew off with those long wings carrying him up so quickly, his flight so strong. I was shocked at what happened next.....his mate attacked him as if he were an intruder! I was stunned and it had never occurred to me this might be the response. But what makes a male a good mate, to a female Osprey, is his ability to provide food and protection from other birds. He had failed to do either for a month, leaving her with the heavy responsibilities of providing fish and protecting her three chicks all on her own. That is a lot for a single female Osprey to handle and she was very stressed. She was relentless in her attempts to keep him away from the nest and the chicks in the following weeks, tho he repeatedly tried to bring fish. He occasionally managed to sneak in when she was gone and drop a fish for his chicks. His parental instincts remained strong. After the chicks had all fledged, she did begin her migration and finally this male was able to fully step up and provide food and protection for those young Ospreys. We wondered what would happen the next year.....and when they both returned from their migration, it was if nothing had happened. Those two have been together, successfully producing chicks every year since. I often stare at him and think of the importance of the medical care that The Raptor Center provided. Ospreys do not do well in captivity and the results are not always this good. Its not that often that the long term outcomes, post rehab, are even known! He has produced 16 chicks in his life, 12 of them in the years following his accident. So there he was again this morning, waiting to say hello to me. His mate has not returned yet, but I was over the moon happy just to see him. Sorry if I repeat this story every year...but I think it bears repeating!
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