Fledging!

 I forgot to mention that we are offlcially into fledging season.....with some chicks beginning to fly as of last week! Many more are displaying pre fledge behaviors.....self feeding, flapping, hopping, hovering. I watched one chick yesterday hovering up 2-3 feet above the nest......ready to fledge any minute! This year the nesting dates are so spread out that we will be watching for fledging until late August! Its one if the most treacherous times for these young birds....not all first flights go well, and as they disperse a bit from their nest they can get into all kinds of trouble. On the other hand, they are also able to fly away from some predators. Its a time of high anxiety for those of us watching over these young birds. Monitoring gets harder as we have to search for the fledglings. I kind of enjoy the searching tho....”where’s waldo“! You have to use all your senses, and listen, look, watch for clues from the parents about where these young ones may be hiding. They land in such weird places sometimes!

I also need to send out a huge thanks to Ken Fisher and Tamalyn Page for their donations! Its been a tough year with gas prices so high, and I remain furloughed from my job. I have driven 6,000 miles in the past three months! So I am deeply grateful for the support! A million thanks!

Single Dads

 It’s been over a week since we rescued that adult male that was on the ground, unable to fly. He has a puncture wound that had necrotic tissue around it, so it was an older wound. At the time of the rescue we pondered who he was and what was going on at that nest that he was near. We had seen no female there. Was he the dad? With some great help from Lisa Jude and a return visit on my part we have determined that the female is gone and there is a single Dad taking care of two chicks. The injured male must have been an intruder. We actually have two nests with single dads now. As some of my long time readers may remember I discovered a nest many years ago where there was no female tending to chicks. I watched for hours and my mind spun a million miles an hour about what to do. I didnt think a single male could successfully care for the three very young chicks on that nest. As always I spent a great deal of time just watching.....my stomach flipping. That male was leaving chicks alone for long periods at first....and I watched him bring a fish, drop it in the nest and start to leave. Then he perched on the outer part of the cell tower that held his nest, and looked back at the small chicks, unable to rip and tear fish on their own. He looked around, as if he was wondering “where is she?” It’s not in his job description to feed the chicks. But he went back into the nest and began feeding them. To make a long story short, he slowly figured out that he was a single parent and had to fulfill the role of both mother and father. He balanced it perfectly, leaving when necessary to get food, but also shading and feeding the chicks, watching over them, and chasing away intruders. He successfully fledged all three chicks on his own and he taught me some very important things about male ospreys. So after watching the Dad at this new nest without a female, we have determined that those chicks will probably be fine. The male is often perched near the nest, and he delivers fish to the chicks who are able to self feed. Sometimes he is gone, as he has to be to provide for them and yet they are healthy, often seen with full crops, and they are displaying pre fledge behaviors .....hopping and flapping, getting some loft. It won’t be too long before they are flying. Whew. Of course they are vulnerable to predation when he is gone, but with a little luck, this will have a happy ending.

We have another situation where both the female and a chick disappeared, leaving two chicks and a single dad. He too is managing to care for those two chicks alone.

I recently read about a nest in another state where they learned that a female was missing and they believed that a male could not care for the chicks alone so they took them and renested them elsewhere. Based upon my observations, a male can indeed care for chicks alone. I do think there is a period of time when that male has to come to grips with what the situation is, and what he needs to do. But I think male ospreys are not given enough credit for the strength of their parental instincts.

Here is a photo from Lisa Jude of the male bringing in a fish for the two chicks on the nest. It takes a village to watch over all these ospreys and I can’t do it alone....special thanks to Lisa for her devotion to watching over this nest, and to Alice Stoddard for her visits to that and another nest where the behaviors are weird and baffling. But that’s another story......

Fingers crossed for our single dads and their offspring this year....

Rescue...

 This is the time of year that shit happens. We have a few adults that seem to be missing from nests.....and a few chicks that have disappeared. It’s always hard to figure out what exactly  has happened but it often comes down to Great Horned Owls. So it’s very important to watch nests closely and be sure to count the chicks carefully and try to locate both adults. That’s not always easy because the males are pretty busy fishing. Today I went to check nests in one of our far western counties. At least one nest has failed that had two chicks previously. I found the male but could not locate the female. Then I was watching another nest where I saw no female, but there was a male and he did bring a partially eaten fish to the two chicks. He did not feed them, but dropped the fish and the chicks were very aggressive about fighting for that fish.....one of them tried to push the other chick off the nest. That tells me they may not be getting enough food, but they are able to self feed when fish are delivered. I watched and waited for the female. I finally decided to go check some other nests and then return. When I returned I saw a male perched near the nest....and another Osprey circling. The male took off after the visitor to defend the nest and the chicks. As I got closer to the nest I saw a car and a woman taking photos of the flying ospreys. When she saw me she said....” are you my help?” . Huh? She explained that there was an osprey on the ground tangled in something. What are the chances that Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch would show up right then? I put on my wellies, got my gloves,  the police arrived  also and we went out to get the Osprey. Turns out it was not tangled in anything, but it couldnt fly. So I picked it up, put it in the box that  I always have in my car and drove it to The Raptor Center. We will see what it’s injuries are and hope for the best. I am still trying to figure out what the dynamics are at that nest tho.....this injured bird seemed too small, thin, light, to be a female. Could this have been a visitor who got attacked? Perhaps. I will return to this nest soon to observe behaviors and see what is happening. It appears that there is one parent defending the chicks and the territory and a single parent can care for chicks. It’s not easy but it can be done successfully. The women who originally spotted the injured osprey, Lise will recheck the nest to see if the chicks are being fed. Hopefully we will have a good outcome for all and I will be able to figure it all out. Thanks to Lise for caring and leading me to the injured bird. There are other stories to tell also....so much going on this time of year!