Free…

 After four days of conversations with The Raptor Center, trying to sort out so many difficult aspects of this complicated situation with the single female, the new unbanded male that is bringing fish, and the original territorial male that has been in rehab for 7 weeks….we finally decided to release him today quite a long ways from his nest. I won’t pretend that this was easy and that I  totally agree with all the decisions, but I think it was weighed carefully and hopefully we have done the best thing for all these ospreys. There was great concern that releasing him close to his nest would cause an immediate territorial fight between these two males, potentially injuring one or more ospreys. We also had to consider the two chicks which are close to fledging, and who could have been frightened into prefledging  before they were ready, if a fight was occurring around the nest. They could have ended up injured on the ground, collateral damage. And we had to consider that this male had been in rehab a long time and he just may need some time to adapt to being free, catching his own fish,  before he would have to deal with either a fight or demands for food from his family. We don’t know if he will still feel his parental instincts, if he will see these chicks as his since they were just hatching when he was injured. There is just SO much we dont know and can’t predict. I do have some ideas about what might occur, based upon my experience releasing that dear male in 2015 that I have written about every year. His parental instincts remained very strong….but his female attacked him as if he were an intruder! The male we released today is an older bird who has been a parent many times, so I suspect his parental instincts may be quite strong. We just don’t know how much of a toll this long period in rehab may have taken on him. So the thinking was that releasing him further away would give him time to gather his wits, and HE will decide if he wants to get back to his territory and rejoin his family. Of course he won’t be expecting to have to fight for his territory at this time….but sometimes an older experienced male can handle this stuff swiftly. And sometimes older birds are displaced by younger ones. We don’t know how the female will react either. We will be watching his nest closely and hoping that he returns, either soon or perhaps next spring. 

I did check on the osprey family twice today….and I saw Mom, KISA and both chicks of course. I did not see the adults together….mom was there in the morning and KISA was there briefly this afternoon when he dropped off a fish. I do not even know who to root for….but this evening I realize I am hoping that the older male can return and regain his territory. I also recognize that these chicks might not be alive without Kisa’s efforts…..so I hope the older guy says “thanks” before he says, “scram”. This magnificent young male will be able to find a new mate and territory and I have done drawings of his markings so I will recognize him if he shows up elsewhere. But, what I want and hope for doesn’t really matter….events will unfold in their own mysterious way, quite often not the way we expect, and the story may not have the happy ending we want. Life is like that sometimes , and I will learn from all this….after spending SOOOOOO many hours watching. There may be holes in the data on other nests because I have spent so much time at this nest….but it seems to happen every year! Some nest, some crisis, some unusual behavior always grabs my attention! As always, I remain deeply curious! Now we wait and watch and see what happens next. Thanks to The Raptor Center for their excellent medical care of this osprey, and for including me in this decision and making sure I was able to attend the release. We cross our fingers, say our prayers, think good thoughts and hope that things work out well for all the ospreys involved in this interesting