Mr Mom....

It's been a tough weekend and some things have happened that may end this project. As I wait for the dust to settle tho I wanted to let you all know that I did check on the single dad raising chicks. I arrived with angst wondering what I would find, but immediately saw three chicks heads pop up! Yeah! Dad was not there tho. I waited for about 15- 20 minutes and Mr Mom flew in with a fish. Two chicks bellied up to the bar and the third hung back. He fed the first two until they wandered off to the far side of the nest, and then the third chick got some fish. Mr mom stayed for a short time, preening a bit and watching over the chicks before he flew off towards the lake again....yup, that third chick needed a little more food. I waited for another fish to arrive, but with so many nests to check, I headed out after another 15 minutes. All is well, all chicks are fed, they look great, looking like they are about 5 weeks old now, no down showing between the feathers anymore, and the tail feathers are about 4" long. Every week we are closer to fledging, which means they could fly away from a predator, but of course, fledging brings its own dangers. But every week I am more hopeful that this male may actually pull this off. We still have a few weeks to go tho....but, wow! It is so amazing to observe him. Oddly emotional!
I also checked some other nests that are in other parts of town, on very high structures....transmission towers, cell towers etc and they are all well, chicks all accounted for, so they survived the storm last week which cost us 6 chicks.

No other losses...yet

I visited fifteen nests today in the area that one of the nests blew down and I am happy to report I found no other chicks missing, no nests damaged or down. Whew! I will continue to check some more nests this weekend in other areas....hoping for no bad news. I will also check on our single dad and his family. Thanks also to the volunteers who checked their nests and luckily, all the news from them was good so far.

Storm fatalities....

So very sad to report that we lost some chicks in the storms last night, July 11. I have recieved two reports of young that perished....two chicks blown out of one nest, found dead on the ground this morning. Another entire nest blown down, completely gone and with it three chicks. This is the new nest that I spent six hours at reading the bands on the adults. Glad I got that information, but I grew attached to the family during those six hours. This is a male who has lost many chicks over the years for various reasons. Heartbreaking. I will try to check as many nests as I can in these areas over the next few days and I hope all is well on other nests. Volunteers check your nests....especially on the northern parts of the metro.
When you follow these birds for as long as I have, and read bands, document their moves and their failures and successes over many years, it's not always easy to accept how tough some of these birds lives have been. Some birds have extraordinarily successful lives, producing many chicks without many losses. Others just seem to get slammed over and over, with storms and predation. Of course they don't emotionalize things the way we do...they just keep working, keep moving forward. Build a new nest, find a new mate if necessary. Try again next year. And I just watch and document how the years unfold...tho my understanding of these individual birds lives is so rich, so full, and sometimes so heartbreaking.

Mr. Mom...

A quick update about the single male caring for the chicks. I stopped by today and all three chicks are still there and doing well. The male was feeding them when I arrived, and he stayed in the nest for the 90 minutes I was there. All chicks were well fed, no signs of dehydration, no salt around the

nares, crops had food in them, no sibling aggression observed. They wandered away from Dad and the fish, so presumably were full! I was so pleased to see them all doing well. I am amazed by this male. He is doing everything he possibly can to care for these chicks....he needs a little luck too. Hoping the weather does not become severe tomorrow.

Arboretum cam.....

I am getting emails about the Arboretum osprey cam. First of all I need to let people know that I do not run the cam. It is run by the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. I do send behavioral updates for the public relations department to post ( after they rewrite them as they choose) because I have 24 years of experience studying these birds. The current problem is that the Ospreys have pooped all over the camera lens. Ospreys project their mutes (poop) to keep their nest clean, which works beautifully, but in this situation is a bit of a disadvantage! It would be far too disruptive to the birds to clean the cam, so we must wait for a heavy rain to wash the cam off. Patience! I know it is frustrating to not be able to see the chicks, but hopefully the problem will be solved soon. It might rain today!

Happy Fourth of July.....

An update on the single banded male with chicks. I visited the nest today and spent 3.5 hours observing. When I arrived the chicks were alone, tho I was surprised to clearly see that there are three chicks here. A lot of mouths to feed. After about 30 minutes a male arrived, but it was not the right male! He was unbanded! He stood on the edge of the nest looking at the chicks. He slowly moved around the edge of the nest, examining the chicks from all angles. My mind was trying to grasp what was happening. He seemed so calm and accepting. The chicks did not run to him, they just watched him quietly. He was there for nearly 30 minutes before the banded resident male came flying in with a fish, chirping all the way. This is the vocalizations they use to talk to other Ospreys. He flapped furiously as he landed which is a defensive behavior. The other intruding male took off as soon as he saw the banded male approaching. The resident male finally calmed down and fed the chicks. The intruder returned, circling the nest and trying to land. Our male said, NOPE....off with you. He lunged at him, flapped his wings and chirped loudly. The message was clear. The visitor tried several times and then a small hawk, looked like a sharpie, started dive bombing the extra osprey. He was hot on his tail, chasing that osprey in a very fierce manner! Ah, must be a friend of the resident Ospreys, trying to help out! Funny. It worked, and the other osprey quickly departed. The male calmly finished feeding the chicks. Now he has his wings out, providing a cool spot for the chicks to take a little siesta in the shade. He is stuck in a sea of chicks and can't move. Mr. Mom. All is well here so far. My dear osprey is managing to dig deep and be the hero he needs to be. It looks like other Ospreys may be the greatest problem here, tho that visitor made no aggressive moves towards the chicks. I am so proud of this male with the checkered past. He is stepping up to do what needs to be done. I look at him and wonder if he knows how magnificent he is. Gosh, I love these birds. Hard to tear myself away....but I have been here nearly four hours now. Time for a cool drink in the shade for me too. Happy Fourth of July to all the Ospreys and osprey lovers...may your evening be cool and quiet.

Sad situation....

There is always something to worry about in the osprey world. Many of you see a fair amount of drama on the osprey cams around the world, and those sorts of things occur all the time without people even knowing. Sadly I have discovered a nest that has a female missing. She was there a week ago but yesterday and today, I found no female. Chicks were left alone for quite a while and then the male arrived with a fish and fed the chicks. I watched for several hours yesterday and today. It took several visits to be sure she was nowhere to be found. My heart breaks for this family. I have known this male for quite some time and I could write a book about him. His behavior has always been unusual since his first known nest attempt at five years of age. He has continually surprised me. I won't go into all the details now but suffice to say, although he is an experienced male who has successfully raised chicks in the past, he has never been a particularly devoted male. Today when I arrived the chicks were alone again. He finally arrived with a fish and fed the chicks. He then flew off, and my heart sank. These chicks need shade and protection. But he returned in minutes and shaded the chicks and watched over them. That is how I left them. For this nest to succeed, he will have to muster some heroic effort. I was tearing up as I observed him as he has been thru so much in the past. I ponder how his confusing thoughts and instincts must be pulling him in different directions. He seemed to be trying to continue his usual male role with the focus on provisioning, but at one point he perched near the nest and looked back at the chicks with no female shading them, and then he returned to the nest, and the chicks huddled beneath him. The instinct to care for his offspring is strong, tho he must leave the nest to feed them. He looks around a lot, as if he expects the female to return. This is a new wrinkle and he seems to be trying to adjust. I will watch over them as closely as I can, since this is something I have never observed before. I so want him to pull this off. The chicks look to be about 3.5-4 weeks old...about half way to fledging. I am thankful that they are a little older, with some feathers and the ability to thermoregulate, so they have a better chance of surviving the times when he is gone. I do not want to call much attention to this nest, they need no extra stress from people. I know there is a cam with a male caring for chicks alone in Ontario Canada, so we will see what both of these males can do. Keep your fingers crossed and think good thoughts...very good thoughts. Please.