One of my favorites

 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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