Happy…

 I suspect you all are ripe and ready for a happy post about ospreys! Well today, after I made sure the Arb chick was being fed, I headed back to the nest with the single Mom whose mate is at TRC. When I visited last week I saw two chicks, but a big poop squirt came from the opposite direction! I never saw a third chick tho. The volunteer monitor on that nest visited two days ago and only saw two chicks. I was concerned, but I do know it’s a tall task for a single osprey to feed three chicks on her own so I wondered if we might have lost one there. It would be understandable. When I arrived I saw no ospreys on the nest….my heart rate increased….now what? I parked and put my spotting scope up on the window….and immediately saw….THREE CHICKS! But they were home alone. One chick was noticably smaller than the other two. I checked the time…..I watched these three super sweet ospreys, the little guy flanked on each side by a bigger sibling. 15 minutes later Mom arrived with a fish and she started feeding the little guy first….the bigger chicks just waited. Then all three stood in a line, and mom fed them all fairly equally. It was mesmerizing. And some day they are gonna cart me away to the funny farm cause I find myself talking out loud to them. When I first saw the three chicks, I shouted outloud, “THREE!”

And as I watched the female feeding all these perfectly well behaved chicks, I kept saying “AWESOME! “ “You are a spectacular Mom!” Man I hope they all make it…..this is a difficult situation for a single female to be in….all alone with these chicks since they were newly hatched….and she has gotten thru one of the most dangerous phases, during the first two weeks or so, when the little guys cant thermoregulate. Leaving them unattended to get fish was risky, but necessary, and now they are all past that stage, and are beginning to lose their down and grow some feathers. There are still many hurdles and dangers ahead but….WOW! Super Mom! She definitely gets the mother of the year award!

Then I moved on to checking many other nests and saw a bunch of three chick broods. A few smaller families….a few that nested so late I still cant see the chicks to count them!

Tonight I get to have a glass of wine, not to dull the anxiety, but to celebrate this one heroic female osprey doing her very best in catastrophic circumstances. She doesnt know we are all pulling for her and her sweet family.