Late April….soooooooo busy

 As usual, things get so busy this time of year as we try to gather the important data on all nests, that time for answering emails and writing posts is hard to find!

I did want to let you know that I have visited the Arb cam nest in person several times and it appears that the eagle nest has failed. I never saw any signs of hatching and in recent days the eagles are no longer sitting in the nest. While this may be good news for the ospreys, it remains to be seen if the eagles still regard this area as their territory.

We are seeing an uptick in aggression between ospreys too as they fight for territories…and we have already found a handful of new nests or nest attempts. As the population grows, behaviors change. We are also seeing that more nests were removed from cell towers this winter. So, in my 30th year of monitoring the osprey nests in the metro, I am stretched thin and yet, still learning! There are still nests I have not gotten to for the first time! Still plugging away!

In this photo you can see the osprey nestpole with two ospreys on the perch, and the empty eagle nest below and to the left.

Arb update…

 I have a lot to report but will have to bring you up to date slowly. I have spent some time watching the Arboretum eagles and ospreys in person. I have a spot where I can put my spotting scope on the car window and see both nests. (with umbrella out the window over the scope on a 40 degree day in the rain). I have seen three different females on that osprey nest so far. We had one female early whose feather patterns did NOT match last years photos. Then one arrived that DID seem to match the feather patterns of last years unbanded female a little closer. Yesterday as I was watching the male alone on the nest, another female arrived on the nest and the males behavior was very defensive. He turned his back to her and shook his wings which is a common defensive posture. Then he turned around, stood very tall with his wings out, and approached her as if he was going to push her off the nest. She got the message and left. Hmmmmmm.

Yesterday I met up with John Howe from The Raptor Resource Project. First of all I must send out a HUGE thanks for the donation they have made to help me keep this project going. Without their ongoing support, I would not be able to continue this effort. I am so grateful. I also had the opportunity to pick his brain a little about eagle behavior. He also mentioned the Osprey cam in Maine where eagles repeatedly predated the osprey chicks, swooping in and snatching them one by one. We discussed the timing of this eagles nesting….and I am not certain when they began incubating, but by early April when I first visited the Arb they had laid eggs. So certainly by sometime in early May they should have hatched.…if not sooner. Many eagles have hatched their young by now. That lead me to sit out there watching the eagles for any sign of hatching. I did see the female get up occasionally and look down into the nest, poke around in the nest and then gently resettle. During the several hours I was there however, I did not see any feeding behavior.…nor did the male show up on the nest at all! Of course I filter everything thru my 30 years of watching osprey behavior which is not identical to eagle behavior, but is not completely disimilar either. For a male to be gone for several hours during incubation would not be unusual for ospreys….but if hatching had begun, those males do seem to stick a little closer. They are interested in whats going on. So there is my update on that situation….I have other reports to share on other nests, other situations. Osprey season is already off to a stressful start.

A happy story….

 We do have many other osprey nests with happier activities than the Arb cam nest. Every year I tell the same story of one of my favorite males…he is a male who had a mate and three chicks when he was somehow injured, sustained a fractured keel and was found and taken to The Raptor Center for medical care. He remained in rehab for about a month, leaving his mate to care for three chicks alone. She was extremely stressed, trying to protect her young, provide food and chase away all the male ospreys that were attracted to an undefended territory. When this male was ready for release TRC asked if I would like to release him since I knew where he came from ( I read all bands and monitor all known nests in 8 counties). We talked about how things were likely to go when he was returned to his territory, and we wondered if his parental instincts would have turned off after a month of not caring for his family. I had an exilirating moment when he flew strongly up towards his nest, and his family….but then the female attacked him as if he were an intruder! I was shocked! These birds had been mated for several years, they spend 6 months apart every winter and yet they recognize each other each spring. What was going on? Well, what makes a good mate is the ability to provide food for the family and protect the territory, and what she knew is that he hadnt done that for a month. At any rate, she was relentless in keeping him away from the chicks, but when she would leave to get food, he would sneak in and drop a fish in the nest. He kept trying to care for his offspring in spite of her behavior. When all chicks had fledged and she began her migration, this male remained in the area, providing food for his juveniles until the last one began its migration. Then I wondered what would happen the next spring….but when they both returned the next year, it was if nothing had happened! That male has remained there ever since, and he has produced 20 more chicks since that eventful year. He is a very successful osprey, a devoted mate and parent. I am happy to report he is back this year and there is no happier sight to me than to read his band and watch him repairing his nest again this spring. I have so many stories, have documented so many life histories, thru my 30 years of monitoring all known nests in the metro…but this one is always one of my favorites to share! He is what we call a super osprey! But this also reveals a positive outcome from the medical care he recieved at the Raptor Center and how important long term monitoring of rehabbed birds can be. So many times they release a bird and dont know what happens to that bird….but here is a example of a wonderful long term recovery that resulted from his time in rehab, but without my careful monitoring of these nests, we wouldnt know this. Its so wonderful when we can work together for the benefit of these raptors.

Arboretum Osprey cam drama….

 Oh my it’s been a challenging day. Many of you know my history, 30 years of monitoring all known osprey nests in 8 counties, I worked on the osprey reintroduction, I have co authored several papers that were published in peer reviewed scientific journals, I read the bands, rescue birds when necessary and return them to their nests as well as do lengthy observations post rehab for outcomes, I collect detailed data, analyze it and post the results every year for the public to read. 

I have been watching the Arboretum nest that has the camera since I helped erect that nestpole in 2001. It has always been one of my favorite nests, and it once had one of our oldest males living there. I became concerned last year when a pair of eagles made a half hearted nest attempt very nearby. They started a nest, but did not lay eggs and did not remain in the area all summer. I thought whew…..maybe it was just a temporary project and they have moved on. But this spring I saw eagles on the cam so before the osprey even returned I went out there to look around….sadly I saw the nest had grown and there was an adult eagle incubating. This nest is just a few hundred feet from the osprey nest which has been active since 2001. As many of you know, ospreys and eagles often have an adversarial relationship. They compete for territories in similar habitats and they compete for a food source. Fish. Some of the Osprey people may have watched the osprey cam in the east, Maine I think, that had eagles taking osprey chicks off the nest repeatedly. It’s horrible to watch. The osprey are helpless to prevent it. I feared that happening here on this cam at the Arb. In the last couple of days the ospreys have returned….the banded male from the last two years was seen and identified today, ( two toned green over black band MS) and there has been an unbanded female there for a couple days (tho her markings don’t exactly match last years female). This male is young, just five years old and from a nest in Carver park just to the west of the Arboretum. Today I watched as the eagles chased him, dive bombing him over the nearby lake, attacking, footing him, as he tried to defend his territory. The eagles kept returning to the osprey nest, as they have clearly claimed it as part of their territory, a place where the male can perch and view his nest and mate. I am so sad about this turn of events. I sincerely hope this male osprey and his mate will give up and find a new place to nest. It’s not worth dying and I know that eagles can kill an adult osprey. I hope that doesn’t happen. But I also know it’s that ospreys instinct to defend his territory. At any rate, so many people have been emailing me with comments about the eagles seen on the cam and I hesitated to write about it, but decided that this is why you read this page….to learn the truth, to know what’s going on even when it’s difficult. That pair of ospreys had a difficult year last year too as my readers know. I tried my best to help that chick that kept being blown out of the nest, I rescued it several times, picked it up at the raptor center and brought it back to the nest and watched over it. Me and some of my volunteers spent three days searching for that chick when it jumped prematurely off the nest. So we do what we can to gather info, to help the ospreys and to share these sometimes sad and frustrating stories with you all. I will do my best to keep you posted here about what is going on at the Arb nest….beyond what you can see on the cam. Nature is not a Disney movie. Stay tuned and feel free to ask questions. 

I also want to send out a HUGE thank you to Debbie Jordan for her generous donation to the project that allows me to keep putting in the miles to check all these nests! Deeply, profoundly grateful to Debbie! 

Happy Easter, Happy Spring! Osprey season has begun!

 Osprey season has officially begun! Our trusty, long time volunteer nest monitor Barb reported her first sightings today. She even got up out of her sick bed to visit some nests! What would I do without people like that!?!? SO committed!

I visited some nests too, but all were still empty. I will head in a different direction tomorrow. I predicted that today would be the day, with the winds finally turning around to a southerly direction, and I suspect we will find a LOT of ospreys sailing in over the weekend….all at once! They wont be trickling in this year. They have probably been bottled up south of here, waiting for those north winds to cease so they could come home. I am still waiting to hear from some regular nest monitors, and we still have nests with no monitor….if you have a scope and some birding experience, and are willing to commit to checking a nest weekly for regular data collection on this long term research study…send me an email, osprey.mn@gmail.com.