Losses and thanks!

The past week has been trying….we have found three chicks dead on the ground. The first two may have blown out in storms, and the most recent was reported to me by a person in the public who saw the chick fall out of the nest when an adult took off….perhaps accidentally knocking it out. I went to look for it and it even had some food in its crop. So terribly sad. It’s what I hate about this time of year….its when things can so easily go wrong. Chicks are too big to be sheltered under mom all the time and yet they cant fly yet. Tho fledging brings its own tragedies. I know it’s hard for people to face this aspect of osprey monitoring…it’s not all sweetness and rainbows. But we have to document these losses, by taking photos and trying to learn what has happened when we can.…watching how the adults respond to these losses. It takes a strong mind and a soft heart to balance our desire to document, learn, and to care about the chicks that have been lost. On the first two deaths, there were other chicks in the nest to care for, so for the adults, life goes on. On the tragedy that occurred yesterday, it was the only chick and the adults were nowhere to be found this morning. They probably have no idea what happened to their chick.
I appreciate the report from the person who witnessed the fall of the chick.
We are anxiously preparing for our first fledges…..the window is open for a few nests now. There is always a lot of breath holding and excitement. Our initial chick counts and current counts are holding steady at many nests, tho we have had some mortalities along the way.
So below are a few sad photos of 2 of the chicks that perished. And a big, crowded, happy family that is preparing for the first fledge!

And I want to extend a very deep, heartfelt thank you to the Raptor Resource Project for their generous donation to us. We could not keep up this level of monitoring without a lot of help and the financial support they have shown us over the years has made such a huge difference. It is hard to find the right words to appropriately express my gratitude. A MILLION thanks to John Howe and everyone at the RRP!

After the storm….

 We had a wild night here in Minnesota, with a big storm going thru in the wee hours of the morning. I have been working so hard to get chicks counted on all nests and we have sadly lost some along the way. But after a night like last night, with a reported six tornados confirmed, I tried to hit as many nests today as is humanly possible, targeting the area where the tornados supposedly hit the hardest, on the western side. I made it to 28 nests! I am happy to report not a single chick was missing from those nests! I found one nest that was down one chick but the monitor confirmed that loss had occurred prior to this storm. There were trees down, branches down, but NO OSPREYS down!

They know how to survive! Now there are many more nests to check and I hope many of the monitors are out doing that today.

Some monitors had found a dead chick on the ground on Friday after we had torrential rains on Wednesday and Thursday….and horrible heat and humidity the weekend before. It’s never easy to handle. I have found several nests with changing counts as chicks disappear along the way. So far the mortalities are significant, but in the realm of normal. The failed nests are climbing, but still similar to past years.

I had to share a fun little photo of a nest I visited yesterday….this nest used to have one of our favorite banded males for many years, and last year, mid season he just disappeared. We could not find him and he didn’t show up at the raptor center. That female managed to care for her two chicks alone. So the spring started with some sadness without our dear old friend, but this female quickly found a new mate. I didn’t think I could love him the way I loved the older banded one…but this fellow and his family have won my heart. When I was watching them yesterday, with three big, healthy, beautiful chicks crowded under Momma, one of them pushed his head out between Moms legs and looked up at her….with another one leaning in as if to photo bomb me…looking right at me. It just made me laugh out loud. They looked so happy, and a little gooney! So in spite of the loss we suffered here last year, they have bounced back and have a very lovely family.

And a day after a big storm with no known losses so far, it’s a cause to celebrate….

Red flag….

 News about the collapse of an osprey colony on the east coast of Virginia….very troubling. Osprey are an indicator species , at the top of the aquatic food chain, so the decline of their population reveals much to us about the health of our environment. It’s a huge red flag….please read….

https://www.whro.org/environment/2025-06-25/ospreys-are-facing-nearly-complete-collapse-on-virginias-eastern-shore-researchers-say?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR6DANK1mvZLiJsLGrptDVOxtWtBP0PHjkT0IP0WL6sBv_lfRbTJmAyO1GJu6Q_aem_ArO2RPhvbgcojiqooEyr1w

June 18 at the Arboretum cam nest…saying goodbye ….

 Saying goodbye…..the female brooded the dead chick a lot in the past 24 hours and then took the body away this morning…..if you zoom in on the second image you can see she has the chicks body in her beak.…and she carries it away.

The aftermath….june 17 at the Arb cam nest

 The aftermath at the Arb cam osprey nest….mom continued to brood the deceased chick for many hours. But before midnight she gave up, and stayed off the body most of the night. At about 5 a.m. this morning ( if you roll back the video) she moves in to the nest cup at stares at the body. She is trying to come to grips with what has happened. Then she sits on the body again. The male brought a fish and she took it to the perch to eat ( a change in her behavior that tells us she understands there is no chick to feed) and then he stared in to the nest. The body is now covered by some nest material and harder to see.

Tho I try to accept these losses….sometimes it causes my human heart to hurt and tears must be shed. We loved little arb for 2.5 days, rooted for him, but this female was not equipped to be a parent. Her failures are difficult to understand or accept. I think she was just too young and her instincts were to care for herself. Ospreys are motivated by two driving forces….to survive and to reproduce. I think at this stage of her life, the first instinct was stronger and the second not fully developed. Those of us who were watching closely are hurting today….and that’s ok. It’s ok to care about the creatures that make our planet amazing. They add so much joy to our lives, and sometimes they cause us pain. Bless every hurting heart out there. I share your sadness, after devoting 32 years of my life to these birds. Hugs to every one of you. Remember that life is fragile….treasure every living creature. Life can be very short….dont waste it. Be kind.

June 16 at the Arb

 I believe the Arb chick has perished. I just watched mom back up to the edge of the nest at just after 8 pm and the chick is motionless. She walked back in to the nest and steps on the chick and it doesn’t flinch.

It’s so deeply sad….It seemed like things were going better…he seemed perkier after eating a few bites. it just wasn’t enough food to sustain him.

So many heartbreaking experiences at this nest.

Life is so fragile.

Five bites…

 From what I have seen the tiny Arb chick has gotten five bites of fish all day today. It’s a start. It’s been difficult to watch. The female almost seems afraid to feed the chick. But some progress was made today….its driven me to drink and I am having a cocktail now. My whole body tenses up as I watch. Whew. I hope more food gets in this evening….tho we are now under a tornado watch. Think good thoughts people….lots of good thoughts.

As I said earlier….sometimes cam watching and osprey watching requires great fortitude.

At the nest with the single mom, whose mate had two nests and ultimately abandoned her completely….we have lost one chick this week. Mom is now caring for just one chick. I watched her leave the chick for less than two minutes and come back with a tiny fish that they shared. She was probably unable to provide enough for two….but I hope she can bring this little one to fledge. She did it last year. I have watched so many heroic struggles for life…and my heart has broken a million times. And yet we celebrate the joys of success when they occur.

We are seeing many failures….about ten nests so far and I am still making the rounds to count chicks. Very few three chick nests, and some that had three last week, only have two this week. Sigh.

But today I am sending all my good thoughts to little Arb…cmon, buddy. This little one has done everything right….lifting its head and opening its tiny beak…..we can hear it trying to food beg. Mom, get your shit together….that little being is counting on you!

I suspect she may be very young….when I have watched the rare two year old females that have bred successfully, they also acted this incompetent. But both times they did end up raising one chick to fledge. You can see she has the instinct to feed, but she falters in the execution. Hopefully, having gotten a few bites in today, it will seem less daunting to her. The chick spins in circles cause he isnt sure where she is, and she struggles with the approach and the transfer. Fingers crossed…..let the storms fizzle, let all your good thoughts support this little family.