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.