Happy Solstice

It’s the winter solstice and we are winding down to the end of the year. I wish you all a peaceful holiday time, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice, Happy New Year....

I want to send out a special thanks to John Howe and the Raptor Resource Project for their generous year end donation to help us keep the research going for another year. Thanks also to everyone who has donated financially and especially those who have donated so many hours to help me watch over all the nests this year. We will be posting another update soon about some of the hurdles we face and how you can help. And of course I will soon begin the huge task of gathering all the data and compiling the annual report. Results will be posted here when it is complete. 

So tonight, dance around the fire, burn some incense, release the problems and wait for the light to return......

Peace to you all....

Still a few ospreys around.....

As our Osprey season begins to wind down, I savor the opportunity to spend some time searching for the remaining birds, listening to their food begging, watching their behaviors, reading some silver bands and re reading some color bands on our beloved Dads. Many nests are empty but I was surprised at how many ospreys I was able to locate today. I intended to spend half a day with the ospreys, but of course, I was out there all day. I was so happy to see a few of my favorite banded males, still attending to a remaining chick.
Last week I returned to the nest where the long time male had been hit and killed by a car. The nest had five ospreys flying around for hours! The neighbors reported it was the same the day before too. In addition there was an unbanded adult male in a tree watching it all. Lots of circling, chirping and occasionally trying to land on the nest, which caused another adult to chase him off. As I watched carefully, they appeared to be unbanded adult males. I heard one juvenile voice in the mix. It’s amazing how quickly other ospreys figured out that this was an undefended territory now. I pondered how it appeared differently to these birds, from a nest where the family has migrated away. There appeared to be at least one chick still there, with no adult male defending or feeding that youngster. I believe there were lots of subtle signals that caused all this commotion and testing by these adults. Tho this situation breaks my heart, I do find any circumstance like this interesting to watch. I remain so curious about behaviors. And just to be able to leisurely hang out today with some of the remaining chicks and dads on these final days soothes my soul. Below is a stunning photo sent by Ann Merritt, one of our wonderful monitors, of a juvenile who successfully caught a fish! Many will not be successful until they begin their first journey south. Gosh, what will we do without our winged friends? Every year it’s so hard to adjust to life without them.

This is an important post I am sharing from Paul Wildlifewriter in the UK...about water quality in Europe. Given the high failure rate in our Osprey population this year, and the fact that the failures are clustered in specific areas, this raises questions. I wish we had more money to be able to do blood tests and banding. 

INFOGRAPHIC: Europe's heavy metal band

Ospreys are an “indicator species”. What does that mean? It means that creatures such as ospreys, otters, water voles and many others, have a lifestyle that directly and measurably reflects the health (or otherwise) of the environment in which they live. 

In recent years, there's been a worrying discrepancy in the statistics on survival rates of juvenile ospreys in different regions of Europe. Studies in western zones (such as the UK) suggest that about 50-60% of fledged ospreys are still alive after their first year. BUT... researchers in Scandinavia insist that the comparable survival rate in THEIR study areas is lower – around 40%.

Are some of these results right, and others just wrong? Maybe not...

Comparing like-for-like is difficult and there are many factors to consider:- Swedish ospreys (for example) undertake generally longer migrations end to end, and have a wider expanse of the Sahara desert to cross before they can reach their wintering grounds. But would that make such a large difference? In theory, it shouldn't.

Over in the USA, the excellent Dr Erik Greene has established a causal link between mercury and other metallic compounds in the environment, and osprey population figures. [1] Greene's work is now widely cited in other surveys and the results cannot be doubted.

So what if the local variations in European osprey survival have nothing to do with migration? Is the “indicator species” giving us an indication that there might be a problem here, too? The graphic above shows the water quality status (mercury) from the last survey carried out by the European Environment Agency. It's a result that startled me – and it might surprise you as well.

-WLW

Sometimes, all you can do is cry....

Well my heart has broken about a thousand times this year.....and I have avoided sharing some of the saddest tales and disturbing photos. We have had a chick hanging dead on the side of a nest, one who got his talon caught and died unable to free himself, several hit by cars, the chick who got injured in the gravel pit machinery, a record number of failed nests, about a third of them. We lost our friend who had promised to help us repair or replace deteriorating nest poles ( he moved to another state). But the day before yesterday we lost a long time  breeding adult and I feel shattered. He had built a nest 8 years ago and been there ever since, breeding successfully EVERY year, producing 19 chicks during those years. Someone hit him with their car and killed him. His chicks are still dependent upon him for food. It is close to migration time so they will probably be alright....I hope anyway, since there is nothing we can really do to help them. The story is that, for some reason he was perched on the ground ( very windy day?) and the car did not even try to avoid him. I know this is the way of things, all ospreys will die, as will I ...but after all the rescues, and the ongoing long hours in the field trying to confirm successful fledging on all the nests, ( meaning that they didn’t just fly away, but were returning to the nest to eat...and were all accounted for post fledge), all the hours answering phone calls and emails....I feel so drained and saddened this September. To lose a great breeding adult like this is not just a personal loss....it is a loss to the entire Minnesota Osprey population. So many of my beloved Osprey friends have flown off to the other side...never to return. And I miss them, as I will this wonderful male. 

A better world

We have had a trying few days...and in an odd way, it’s been an uplifting experience. First let me say, I am an idealist. Yup....head in the clouds, often crushed by humanity’s selfishness. But two days ago I got a call about an injured Osprey chick. This poor thing had gone thru such an ordeal. This is a nest in a gravel pit and the fledgling had apparently landed on a conveyer belt carrying gravel to dump into a pile. One of the guys working in the pit saw an Osprey go thru a chute and get spit out into a  pile of gravel and was being buried alive  in gravel. He immediately shut the equipment down and rescued the chick. They called me. It was rush hour and this nest was as far away from me as you can get.....so I called the Raptor Center to see if they had a volunteer closer by that could pick the bird up and take it in for medical care. They had one who lived very near the gravel pit and knew about the nest and would do it. Whew. The good news is that although the poor chick was having some trouble breathing ( gravel dust) and an abrasion on its wing...it had no broken bones! They gave it oxygen overnight and he was doing better the next day. The rehab director talked to me about possible release in about a week but wanted to know what the situation was at it’s nest. Unfortunately, last evening I got another message from the gravel pit guys about another injured chick. This was late in the evening and I could not get the chick before the raptor center closed so arrangements were made for that same volunteer to pick it up in the early morning. Sadly, that chick died overnight. I spent five hours in that gravel pit  today trying to determine if the dad was bringing fish to the remaining chick. As our population of ospreys has grown, behaviors have changed, and with so many nests close together, I must admit it can be difficult to determine which fledglings belong on which nest, and which ones are roving to neighboring nests! But the real reason I wanted to write this post was to say how uplifting it is to see all these people come together, to work so hard to save one, individual young Osprey. From those wonderful guys in the gravel pit , Nate Paulson and Steve Grzybowski, who were paying such close attention and rescued this little guy, put him in a box, and contacted me; to the Raptor Center volunteer who picked the chick up and took him to get the medical care he needed, to the clinic manager at TRC, Lori Arent and the rehab manager, Josh Travers, to all the other medical staff at TRC  and volunteers there who are caring for him, and of course my efforts as well. It truely takes a village. To see all these people spend their time and energy without ego, and for some of us without pay, to help this little Osprey survive and hopefully make it back to his nest...Well, it speaks to the best part of humanity, who think that every little life matters and is worth their time and energy. Sadly, I once worked for a man that said “we dont care about individual birds, we only care about the population as a whole” , but I just don’t agree and have often felt out of step in my idealism and my concern for each and every Osprey. So to have a trying situation, that definitely has had some very painful moments, and yet to see all these special, caring people work for the benefit of one little Osprey, gives me some hope for the world. I work so hard, and so do these other people, because we all think that each life is precious. When good people come together to do the right thing...I am uplifted by the sense of community, the way it’s supposed to be. No ego, no power issues, just, damn good hearts. Thanks to all who have helped rescue this chick. I hope we manage to organize a successful release for this little guy, so he can have a good long  life. 

Which end is up?

Here we are in mid August already. Many of our chicks have fledged, tho we have a few  very late nests that may not fledge till late August! I am spending a lot of time visiting nests and searching for chicks to confirm successful fledging. It’s often a challenge but I rather enjoy these searches. Where’s Waldo! It’s also a time when I have to put together some pieces to solve a puzzle. We have one nest that I have visited five times since late June to early August. Each time I clearly saw two chicks in the nest, usually with a parent. Another monitor suddenly saw three chicks in this nest, on at  least two occasions. Now I know with my wonderful scope, and 26 years of experience, I did not miscount the chicks five times! So how do we explain this? Well, at this time of year, post fledge, it’s not uncommon for a neighbor chick to pay some visits to the kids across the street. As our population grows and nests are closer and closer together, these roving chicks have easy opportunities to stop by and perhaps steal a fish. A few years back, I found a banded chick visiting several different nests and stealing fish from those younger chicks. Pretty funny! That’s one way to survive! 

I have also spent some time this year at a nest with three female chicks which are very entertaining. As I observed one day, Dear old Dad dropped off a fish in the nest and all three chicks dove for it, and a hysterical fight for the flopping fish ensued. Finally one came up the winner, but she had the fish upside down and was trying to start eating the tail first! The problem was, it was still flopping! She turned around in circles as she struggled to keep it away from the others. They were both hollering (“you are doing it all wrong!). She did not dare drop it and turn it around because someone else might get the fish! She struggled for the longest time....trying to grab that flopping tail and get a bite out of it. I was laughing out loud. Finally, exasperated, she dropped the fish and walked away. “ I give up”! All three chicks sat there staring at the fish and crying, as if they expected Mom to come and feed them. Eventually another chick decided to give it a try. This youngster ALSO grabbed the fish with the tail first, and tried to start eating it, at which point I started coaching from the sidelines, out loud, sitting in my car. Turn it around honey! ( gosh I hope no one catches me talking out loud to the ospreys) But this juvenile took my advice and turned the fish around and started to rip and tear those yummy fish lips. Success! Every time I visit this nest I end up belly laughing out loud. The struggle to grow up is real! How can you not love these birds?

New nests, new pairs...

I know I say this all the time, but CRAZY busy....chicks are fledging and I am trying to be sure we have accurate numbers, and confirming successful fledging whenever I can. Just because a chick flies away does not make it a successful fledge....we need to confirm that they are landing safely somewhere and making it back to the nest to eat. In the process of visiting many nests, it’s amazing how many new adults are out there looking for mates and territories. I found a new nest being started and read the band on a male I had never seen before. I went to another nest to check the chicks and heard all this chirping that was not coming from the nest, so I kept walking and found some dead trees with four adult ospreys perched there talking to each other. Two were banded and two were not. I only got a partial read on one band before they flew off. Today I found three ospreys circling near a nest that had failed in May. The original pair there were both unbanded, but this pair included a banded male, but again he flew off before I got it read. Clearly the growth of the population has stimulated all this increased socializing among these adults. The one band I successfully read was a three year old, so probably looking to establish a pair bond and a territory for the first time. I often see young pairs building nests and claiming a territory at this time, late in the season. The difficult thing is that we must separate frustration nests, built by pairs whose earlier breeding attempt failed, from new nests. If at least one of the pair is banded, this is fairly easy to do...but with so many unbanded birds now, it can be problematic. For good scientific methods, we can’t count one pair of ospreys twice....which can happen when they build frustration nests. When we are counting nests, we are really counting pairs of ospreys. A pair that builds multiple nests can’t be counted twice without skewing the data. Now that we have some fairly dense clusters of nests, and unbanded birds, it’s not always easy to figure things out. So I make many visits, carefully noting feather markings, birds going back and forth between two nests, defending two nests. It’s exciting, fun, educational and exhausting.