Lots of miles….

 What a week…..I have driven over 100 miles almost every day trying to catch up on all known nests. We have already found 7 new nests! We are also seeing increased aggression between opreys as competition for good nesting sites increases. We have one nest where an extra osprey has been particularly persistant in trying to take over a territory, causing much distress for several weeks now. He has even drawn blood on one of the territorial birds. I suspect the eggs have been damaged /destroyed by his unrelenting attacks. I am seeing extra ospreys at more nests this year which suggests an ever increasing population of ospreys in the metro.

I am becoming fairly sure that we will have no chicks or eggs on the Arboretum cam nest this year. Most breeding pairs copulate many times a day in this early phase of the breeding season. But copulation attempts are rarely seen and the female is unreceptive to the males attempts to fertilize eggs when he tries. I have not seen one successful copulation attempt. It may be subtle stuff to many viewers of the cam, but to me it’s quite clear there has not been any cloacal contact. The behaviors tell me that this female is too young to breed. This failure to breed and lay eggs is not related to the eagles, who have not been seen recently.

We have already had our first known mortality. A ten year old male who had bred successfully for many years at two different nest sites was found on the ground near a freeway and taken to TRC. His injuries were too severe so he had to be euthanized. I suspect he was hit by a car. Every loss is so heartbreaking…. especially when you have followed a particular bird thru his breeding life. This is a loss to the Osprey population to have a successful male die. He fledged 12 chicks in his life.

All my long hours in the field this time of year are sometimes rewarded by witnessing some interesting behaviors. Yesterday I was watching a nest that had a little, seasonal pond that developed nearby as a result of all the snowmelt. The male was circling around and plunging in to the pond to bath. He splashed his wings, ducked his head under the water and then took off, circled around and did it again….big splash, lots of wing shaking, water flying, head ducking and then he took off, circled around again and again. I watched this for at least 15 minutes before he went to a tree to preen and dry out. What a pleasure to observe his playful bathing!

I also want to send out a huge thanks to Stephanie Burley and Rick Endo for their generous donations! So deeply appreciated!