Hmmmmm

 There are concerns that the female is not feeding the chick at the Arb cam nest. Cam watching is not for the faint of heart. Behaviors can be hard to understand. Watching the female as she ate, she hesitated with a bite of fish in her beak and her head seemed to search for the chick….but she did not move closer to the chick to facilitate feeding. Many years ago I watched a banded two year old female osprey who hatched a chick struggle with feeding….she was so young and didn’t seem to know what to do when the egg hatched. Luckily, the male was also a banded experienced male and he took over and started feeding the chick, seemingly showing her how to do it and eventually she did “get it” and started feeding. But this male may also be young and inexperienced. He seemed confused as he watched her and watched the chick. There is a stimulation- response thing going on….the chick needs to stand up and ask for food, which he was doing this morning. Many first time breeders do fail, and maybe this is why. We have seen this before on this nest, and it’s happened on other nests. I expressed concerns earlier in how they were leaving the egg uncovered in the rain. We will see if her brain will connect the dots and do what needs to be done.…or if the male will step up and do some feeding. It can be very frustrating to watch.

I did read a very interesting book about bird senses and it talked about their vision, which is obviously very good when hunting….but because their eyes do not move in the socket like ours do, focusing their eyes on the spot right at the tip of their beak is difficult. Clearly most ospreys can and do feed chicks, but the way she seemed to be searching for the chick with a bite of fish in her beak made me wonder.