Another loss?

 Sadly I have come to the conclusion that the littlest chick on the Arb nest perished yesterday, 6/24. He crawled off to the bottom right part of the nest and could barely be seen…and we have never seen him since. The camera is so oddly positioned and doesn t show the entire nest…..so we have to jump to some conclusions. We are only seeing two chicks being fed. At one point yesterday the female was looking into that corner and seemed to be pecking at something….I wonder if she was trying to see if the chick was alive. For some reason the other two chicks have migrated to that part of the nest and we just cant see much….and it’s worrisome that the chicks are hanging out so near the edges of the nest. Those of us who were watching this nest last year know that with no anchored sticks, basically no nest, the chicks have nothing to protect them or to hang on to in a storm and they can easily be blown off the nest. But they seem to have survived the heavy rains last night. The female continues to behave somewhat oddly….often flying off…and the male is there often and even broods the chicks sometimes. As long as the chicks are small enough to be brooded, protected by the parents, they will probably be fine…..the problems begin when they are too big to be sat on! My advice on how to prevent these problems was not heeded. We will worry until chicks fledge successfully.

Meanwhile I wanted to acknowledge the very real grief some of us feel over the loss of this chick. Tho his life was very short, he wiggled his way into our hearts. The grief comes from a very real sense of compassion for the struggles of all creatures on this earth. Survival is not always easy.