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!
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