August 16

 I searched the Arb from 9 to almost 5:30 today for the missing chick. I started by whacking my way thru the squash field, thinking the chick could be hiding in there….and he still could be, but I couldnt see or hear him. Then a new volunteer showed up and she has decided to become our newest nest monitor next year! It was lovely to meet Carrie Bowar and share some info about ospreys as we looked around. During her time we located the adults and spent time watching them in hopes that they might get a fish and fly around, which might stimulate a food begging response from a chick. She was lucky to get to see the female bathing! Fun to watch her splash and duck and float in the water. But we did not hear any vocalizations that sounded like the chick. Then two of my regular nest monitors showed up, Debbie Jordan (yes, the debbie who worked so hard on the cell tower situation. She is a glutton for punishment so showed up today too!) and Ken Fischer , who spent all afternoon beating bushes, searching the prairie, scanning the lake, looking, and listening. Sadly, we found no chick, heard no food begging, found no evidence of the chick at all. We watched the male flying loops over the nesting area with a stick, clearly looking for the chick. Later in the day we found both of them in a dead tree east of the nest. They did not seem distressed, tho at times seemed to be looking for the chick. They did not ever land back on the nest. By the end of the day, the Arb was being locked up, noone inquired about our results, no Arb employees helped us today. It was very hard for us to give up and go home. We dragged our feet, tried to figure out where else this chick could possibly be, where else we could possibly look, talked about tomorrow…..all three of these volunteers wanted to try again, but I am not sure it will be fruitful. I have a chick I need to check on over on the opposite side of the metro. Its so discouraging and depressing. But the ray of light that I am grateful for is these wonderful, osprey loving volunteers on my project who showed up and trudged around on this muggy day because they wanted so much to find this young osprey who had won our hearts. We were unable to do that, and we do feel defeated….but at least we were able to share our disappointment. A million thanks to Carrie, Debbie and Ken.