Burning the candle at both ends these days….its been one stressful situation after another. Some young ospreys fledge so gracefully, without incident….but some really struggle. For the past three days I have been watching over one of our latest fledges who really got herself into some trouble. When she first took off from her nest on a cell tower she made a very awkward landing in a tight spot. She sat there for a very long time trying to figure out what to do about her predicament. She was wedged between two metal bars…and every time she tried to put her wings out, they got caught. I watched her for many hours…looking around crouching as if she was ready to spring out but the wing would get caught each time. Then she finally hopped up and further IN to the cell tower. Oh dear , a worse spot. Of course this nest was very far from where I live so I had to leave and hope for the best. I got up the next morning at 4:30 to get myself back to her nest by dawn. It took me over an hour to even locate her. She was not where I left her. I listened, searched the ground worked my way around the tower to examine it from every angle….then I saw a wing stretch! She was in a totally different spot perched low on a big round cable. There were some bars in front of her and she repeatedly put her wings out but did not have enough room to extend them fully. She would have to jump out first and put her wings out after she was out of the cell tower. Nope she just couldn’t do it….so she stared backing up and fell off the cable she was perched on, suddenly her legs were dangling below that level of the cell tower and she was beating her wings on the surrounding wires and structures. Yes, some obscenities came bursting out of my mouth. My heart was racing. What would I do to help? And then after just a few minutes, she fell completely thru the cell tower structure and came out below flying! I have no idea how that happened without her injuring her wings! So she flew a few loops and she saw her dad perched on the very top of this tower so she headed for him, but she almost landed on top of him so he flew off and she was sort of thrown right into the center of the tower, down in lower than all the surrounding bars. Oy vey. I watched her there for several hours….she was barely visible, but I kept trying to document each weird spot she landed. I had to leave for a previous appointment….so I asked someone else to check on her. She spent an hour there but couldn’t see her at all. My heart sank. This morning I got up again at about 4 am to get over there early, but a big storm came thru so I waited for the front edge of that storm to pass thru and then went over, even tho it was still raining. The strong winds had passed. I found the chick in the exact same spot I had last seen her. Sad that she was still there and unfed, but happy she wasn’t in a worse spot or injured on the ground. I watched her for many hours….sometimes almost invisible and occasionally flapping her wings which made her obvious. Sometimes just her head popping up above the bars. She was looking around, trying to figure out how to get out of there. The rain let up a bit and suddenly she sort of hopped/flew to a bar that was further out and she struggled to stick that landing, almost falling backwards and into a mass of wires. I gasped…..but she held on tight and managed to stay on that bar. But the vertical bars on either side would prevent her from putting her wings out and jumping off. I knew she would have to be brave and jump out first and then put her wings out. It’s something that older ospreys can easily do but for a newly fledged chick, that takes some real courage. The rain picked up so she sat there for a long time thinking about it. Then the rain let up and she did a lot of preening and drying out. Lo and behold, Dad showed up with a fish and perched one level below her. She eyed him and tried to figure out how she would get to him. Dad just ate the fish and did not take it to the nest. The chick finally screwed her courage to the sticking point and jumped and circled a few times and finally actually stuck her landing on the very top of the cell tower on an outer vertical bar, a safe place….where the adults often perch. Whew. The first good landing in three days. But still….no food! She food begged. Dad finally took off after another visiting osprey. Shortly after he left, Mom showed up. The chick finally took off, did a few loops and landed back on the nest that she left three days earlier. I could finally exhale. She was quite hungry of course and did some food begging, flew another short loop and returned to the nest and finally decided to lay down. Whew. I am sure she is quite tired and quite hungry, as was I. So I asked another monitor to check on her and she reported that she did get fed by mom, like a baby, until her crop was full.
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