And then there were two!

 We have a second hatch at the Arb….I think mommas mind is blown.

Great males….

 Another ten hour day in the field….started out by finding our 28th new nest this year. Oy vey. Then I watched a bunch of hatching and a bunch of feedings, and was able to count some little heads. Quite a few three chick nests! But the most amazing part today was the males…..

At one of my early stops the female was feeding chicks and I was struggling to count them, since they pop up here and there, and you keep waiting for them all to be up at the same time to be sure. So I am standing outside in a park, insanely talking out loud to myself….” There is one under her tail, one in front of her….and she is feeding something I can’t see.” Dad was watching. When mom seemed to stop, he picked up the rest of the fish and started feeding a different chick…. So he was feeding, walking around the nest with a big bite in his beak, like “anyone want more?” So sweet. He was just as involved with the feeding of his three offspring as she was. Not all males are like that….but it’s awesome when I get to see it.

Then I got to one nest and the female was in incubating posture and the male was feeding her as she sat. She got up, and he kept feeding her ( it was far away and the heatwaves were bad but I got some crummy photos…one is photo below ) and then she started passing the bites on to an unseen wee one. Sigh.

Some days I am tired and stressed, and then I have a day like this….and I walk away thinking, I am the luckiest person on earth to get to see this stuff, and to understand what I am seeing. People are running past me, biking past me and missing all these little miracles that are going on. Right there…..for free….for those who are aware.…and for those who invest their time and patience. I hope I am able to provide some insights and inspiration so people will be more aware of the awesome beauty of this species, and the natural world in general.

First hatch at the Arb….

 Yes the first egg hatched right on time this morning at the Arb cam nest. I am having phone problems so couldn’t post anything until I got home to my iPad. Technology frustrates the hell out of me.

Anyway I remain concerned about the feeding issues…..looks like the female got some bites in but still seems to have trouble with getting the food in that tiny beak. I sure hope she improves quickly. Or I hope that male steps up and does some feeding. Other males will do that….I saw one feeding a chick yesterday.

Oldest pair….

 This, my friends, is our oldest pair….both are 19 years old! They have been together for ten years…..both had previous nests / mates before they got together. Both are banded and they hatched in the opposite sides of the metro from each other. What good fortune that they found each other! They are always among the first birds back in the spring, among the first to lay eggs and hatch and among the first chicks to fledge. You can practically set your watch by them! They are so fun to watch…they work so well together. This male is super devoted, so there he was today standing right next to his mate, as they watched over their brood. They hatched about ten days ago and today I was finally able to count the chicks! THREE!!!! What cutie patooties. I could not for the life of me get a photo tho….with the heatwaves, and sun and tiny heads that rarely pop up at the same time…..so the official count doesn’t come until you see ALL of them up at once. But I did see them! They are looking bigger than I expected….so the incubation and hatch date may have been off by a day or two. But it was such a joy to see them and welcome them and watch their amazing parents, side by side, gazing at their offspring. These are the moments I live for. I am sure that I either banded the male, or held him as he recieved his band as a nestling. The female was likely banded by someone else on the other side of the metro….tho I might have been present.

I have watched these birds for so many years, and know so much about them…..it’s a feeling I can’t explain or express.

They are like my family.

OMG my heart….

 OMG….my heart! I visited the female who is raising chicks alone today….she has THREE beautiful bobble heads….and I was overwhelmed with love and anxiety. How will she feed three chicks alone….and get enough food herself? She left for about 7 minutes to get a fish….and during that time I saw one little head pop up briefly….but when she came back with a fish at first I saw two heads and then OMG three…. Wow. I was mesmerized watching them. It was so damn hard to move on to other nests….

So this post will just be about her. That males other nest has not hatched yet….
Why do these pictures make me cry? So many big feelings….
I love what I do, I love these birds, I love THIS osprey in particular, and I am so lucky to be skilled enough to even know what’s going on each nest.. how many people would even know her story without following that male, reading bands, watching her so closely. I have been challenged lately by trying to explain what is going on to many of the volunteers….somehow I notice more….and I can’t figure out why. I understand behaviors after all these years….and I am patient, and I am still deeply curious about what is happening, so I often add up behaviors differently, I come to different conclusions, I have a good scope….I ran into a lot of new people today and shared a lot of stories…I LOVE teaching people about ospreys!
I literally feel so much in my chest right now looking at these photos and thinking about this female and all she has faced, endured, and is up against in the coming days and weeks. On two different nests in my 33 years of studying them, ( only two) I have seen an unrelated male bring fish to a nest where he was NOT the father. I remember talking to my mentor Sergej about this and he explained to me it is an unusual behavior, but it is a way for a male to secure a territory. He gets a territory and a female….but he has to bring food to chicks that do not carry his DNA. It’s also unusual for a female to allow an unrelated male anywhere near her nest.…but if he has a fish….and she is desperate, well maybe. Dare I hope for this? I do have a monitor, Pat, who witnessed this several years ago on a nest she was monitoring. My goodness we witnessed a lot and learned so much as we both put in many extra hours observing and documenting this unusual behavior. ( too long a story and too much to write now).
I also witnessed an unrelated male bring fish to a nest many years ago, in the beginning of my researching days…..after a male was hit by a car and killed when the female had young chicks. He never actually fed the chicks or brought fish directly to them, but he brought fish to the female, as a courtship behavior, which allowed her and her chicks to survive….and he became the territorial male at that for many years after that.
Or maybe the actual dad’s other nest will fail….and he will bring fish to this nest?
I am hoping for something miraculous to happen for this female and her awesome little family. Think about her, incubating alone for 39 days, leaving to feed herself without being gone too long. She had a perfect success to hatch three chicks. OMG my heart.

Three littles….

 I was out and about today….and I came across a pair of ospreys perched in a tree. No known nest nearby. This is a symptom of this exploding population. Are they going to build a nest there? In a tree? I will keep checking this spot.

Believe it or not, we still have pairs that have not laid eggs….they are almost out of time. What is the problem? I remember my mentor Sergej, telling me that sometimes they don’t lay eggs for reasons we don’t fully understand. Could this be a response to population density?

I spent more time at the new nest in a tree…..the private property owners who have allowed me to be on their property to watch this nest have been SO gracious. They have sent out text messages to their neighbors so people know what I am doing. They seem quite excited about it all. And they have been very complimentary about me….which was very nice given the beating I have taken from someone who is struggling thru some kind of darkness. As I walked away I heard the homeowner say, “she is amazing”. A much needed boost. I done a fair amount of osprey educating and people find it fascinating. The male at this nest is SO attentive…..so often standing guard right next to the female. This is a special little neighborhood with a warm, welcoming feel. The ospreys lead me to some great people sometimes!

Then I made my way to some nests I hadn’t gotten to in a while….so many detours, so hard to get to some nests. But I found a couple more that were hatched! And at one I was able to actually see three chicks being fed. First just one bigger chick was visible and then another and when I saw the third, I yelled out loud ” THREE”…..people must think I am crazy. I tried so hard to get a decent photo of those chicks but the heatwaves were so bad and the phone just wouldn’t/ couldn’t focus….but I am including a crummy photo….

Not scared….

 I thought this photo might bring a chuckle! People put up fake owls thinking it will scare ospreys away. It cracks me up….humans are so dumb that they don’t realize that ospreys would not survive all that they do, including long distance migrations, if they couldnt tell the difference between a real owl and a fake plastic one. And then they are baffled about why it didnt work!