She caught a fish!

 I revisited some of the nests where I saw chicks and their dads last Sunday....and with the strong north  wind that blew across Minnesota today , I think we have lost some of our friends. I did see a few lonely dads, sitting near their nest, snoozing....no food begging heard at all. I am always so touched by the way they stick around until no one is asking for food. In recent weeks, they have been unable to remain near the nest for long because of the incessant hollering! That behavior is called hyperphagia....when the chicks are SO hungry and eat so much more than they need, as an instinctual preparation for the trip ahead of them. But when the chicks begin to disperse, things get very quiet. I love to see these males, waiting, in case someone appears that needs food. Silently preparing for their own long journey. I watched a few of them closely for far too long today. So many nests were empty today , even those that held several chicks on Sunday. I made my way to one final nest where I had grown particularly attached to the single female chick. This nest had gone thru some upheaval when the regular male was killed last year, so a new one stepped  up to fill the vacancy.  He was a male that had been goofing around in that area for several years, never raising chicks tho. This was his year. It took  a little time for a pair bond to form, for that female to accept him, so the eggs were laid a little later than some other nests and only one chick hatched. It seemed to take her a long time to fledge. I had some concerns, but I know chicks are like little kids....some walk at a very young age and some just take a little longer. Doesn’t mean that anything is wrong. Well we had a particularly bad storm go thru in mid August and that night as I watched tornado and hail warnings, my thoughts were with the unfledged chicks. I zoomed out to this nest first thing in the morning.....no chick. I felt sick. But I waited, talked to some neighbors, and then suddenly a bird landed on the nest and it was the chick!!!! So happy to see that she was alright and had fledged....maybe because she had to! So I have watched her quite a bit in recent weeks.....and today when I arrived the nest was empty. All the favorite perches were empty. Sigh. I sat in the car answering emails for a while and then suddenly I heard an osprey! I could not see it at first, but it eventually came flying in from behind some trees and splashed right into the water in front of me. I grabbed my binoculars to see if this was a chick or adult. The bird got lift off out of the water and banked so I could see the feathers on the back.....yes! It was the chick! And she zoomed around and landed back on the nest....WITH A FISH! I almost cried. Many juveniles may never catch a fish until they begin their migration.....tho some do. It’s just not that often that I get to see it. I see them practicing their water starts, dragging their feet thru the water, but actually catching a fish right in front of me just doesn’t happen that often. I was thrilled! And also a little sad. She is ready to go, to start her great journey. I may never know what happens to her,  because of the lack of banding (very frustrating to me)  but I send each one off with instructions to be very careful, and to please return to those of us who will be waiting. 

I will keep checking a few nests in the coming days....but I can feel the end of Osprey season looming. I will really miss them this year.