Celebrate!

 Even as my heart is breaking over what is happening on the Arb nest….littlest chick is fading, the nest material has blown away again, mom is not brooding or protecting them much…I stopped today at the nest where we have a single mom caring for her chicks while her mate is in rehab. A storm was coming thru so she has hunkered down on her brood…..when the wind died down and the rain stopped, she got up and flew off….gone ten minutes and came back with a fish! Two chicks immediately popped up, and then a big poop squirt came from the opposite direction! There must be THREE chicks there, tho I only saw two! She immediately fed those two and may have been feeding a smaller unseen chick. Wow! And she has survived a week of temps in the 90s with young chicks all surviving as well!!!! That aint easy! I sat there watching them thru my scope and uttering….“you are f—king awesome!” The chicks look to be a little past 2 weeks….heads dark, light baby down gone. I did not get to see their bodies. I am so happy about that situation….she is magnificent….an experienced female who stepped up and did what needed to be done. Remember she didnt feed the chicks at all the first 24 hours as she was just waiting for her mate to return…but then as she started to figure out what the situation was, she has proven herself to be a Super Osprey! As these chicks grow they will need more and more food so her job will only get harder in some ways, but they are more able to be alone for periods of time. So I celebrate her, as my heart breaks.