New life….

 Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Ramadan…..

Our first ospreys have laid eggs….while many nests are still empty. I have now documented 14 nests that were removed, and I have not been around to even half of the nests so far. There will be more. Some ospreys are rebuilding, but it looks like some have given up. Many banded birds have not returned yet, and I wonder if avian flu has already taken a toll. We may never know. Many long term monitors are alarmed, saddened, frustrated.

For some of our older expperienced Ospreys who have laid eggs right on schedule, we are reminded that life goes on….

and more personally I see that with all the changes this year, nests gone, avian flu spreading….having solid long term data to help us document the changes may be more important than ever.

Brrrrrrrr

 Boy this cold windy weather seems to be slowing down migrating ospreys. Some of us were out there yesterday in the 40 mph winds and snow, checking nests and it was miserable. But we have a very short window between when the ospreys return and when they begin laying eggs and incubating. I am trying my hardest to get bands read before incubation when we might have to wait for many many hours for an osprey to stand up and reveal its legs. I deeply appreciate the volunteers who are helping me with this huge task. Some ospreys have been slow to return, probably due to the strong north winds. We still have some empty nests and are missing some of our older, experienced banded birds. I dont know if we should start grieving their loss, or just be patient. I was at one nest yesterday that in the past had a banded male who was often among the early returns. The nest has been empty, empty, empty. The nest was also among the 13 so far that were removed. Finally yesterday there were some new sticks up there! And I located the ospreys and was able to read the band on the male! Yeah the same, dependable guy. Quite late, but beginning the work of rebuilding his nest! I know its not fun for volunteers to be out there when its 35 degrees and the wind is blowing 40-50 mph….but this is part of the committment. I am trying to get around to all the nests, but reading bands takes time…..so I want to express my gratitude to those volunteers who are excited to see their winged friends and who are out there helping with this huge task in spite of imperfect conditions. You know who you are! I treasure you! These people are always rewarded by getting to observe interesting behaviors…..I love the early days. So we do still need more volunteers to help us out, if you have a scope, some birding experience and a willingness to commit 15-30 min a week to each assigned nest. We have a list of behaviors we are trying to document on each nest to guide the monitors. Our data has been consistantly collected for 29 years and the results are always posted online so the public can see what we are doing and learn about how the osprey population is doing in the metro area. This will be a particularly important year as we face the avian flu, and we dont know how this will impact osprey production. If you want to help….email me at osprey.mn@gmail.com

To my devoted monitors…..stay warm! It will get better!

More returns!

 The southerly winds the past few days have brought in many more ospreys. The official springtime game of musical nests is in full swing…..banded ospreys showing up on the wrong nests, birds showing up and then disappearing (not the territorial pair) etc. We have seen some of our favorite banded ospreys but are still waiting for some others. It can be a confusing time of year, especially after so many nests were removed….11 that I know of at this time…and those birds are moving to other established nests. Wow. Some of these birds will be able to rebuild in their old site. We have to keep checking, rechecking and reading bands when we can….sometimes over and over!

I was very happy today to see the pair who we put the new nestpole up for last fall. Their nest was on ballfield lights that were permanently removed. That male was working his tail off today bringing sticks, as the female just sat there and food begged! Its not the first time this guy has had to rebuild his nest, and he is a hard worker! Fun to watch him!

And another big thanks to Rick Endo and Ruth Rechtzigel for their donations to the project! I am so deeply grateful for their generous support!

A favorite!

How could I have forgotten to tell ya the good news? Every year I have shared my story about the male who fractured his keel in the middle of the season, spent a month in rehab leaving his mate to care for three chicks alone and then when I released him, she attacked him and would not let him near the nest tho he co tinually tried to bring food for his offspring. They reconnected the following year as if nothing happened. He quickly became one of my favorite males with his devotion to his chicks and his steadfastness. Well on Tuesday he was waiting on his nest to greet me!!! I was so happy to see him! He is a rockstar! And he is always an early return!

Patience….

 Well folks…..I drove a big loop today in the cold, snowy, windy weather. I visited 30 nests….and only saw 8 ospreys on those nests. These strong north winds are slowing down the migration a bit apparently. These early birds made it when the those southerly winds were in their favor. The saddest thing this year is the massive removal of nests which has occurred. We are now up to nine known nests that are no longer on their cell tower or ballfield light. And we are just starting to visit all nests….I suspect we will discover more missing nests. In my 29 years of studying this population if birds I have never seen so many nests removed. Perhaps this is related to the 5G upgrades in cell service. Most towers still look nestable. Some of the removals from lights were to replace lights that now look unnestable. sigh.

Ospreys can rebuild in a heartbeat if the structure is still the same, so our fingers are crossed for many of these birds.

I also want to send out a ginormous thank you to John Howe and The Raptor Resource Project for their generous donation. It means the world to me to know that what I am doing is valued and supported. I am so deeply grateful for their ongoing support, especially this year! A million thanks!

First bands read!

 More ospreys showing up every day…..today I read my first couple of bands! So nice to confirm the return of some of our older, experienced and deeply valued ospreys! And here is a stunningly beautiful shot of one of our lovely ladies from Ann Merrit!

They’re back!!!!!!

 Osprey season has officially begun as of April 2, 2022! I have seen two ospreys on their nests and heard about another from one of the volunteers and a pair reported by a member of the public! So we are off! I hope many of the monitors that I havent heard from will return….do let me know….and we always need more help ( people with birding experience, a spotting scope, some knowledge of breeding behavior, and an ability to commit at least 15-30 minutes of time per nest, per week. We have written guidelines about what behaviors we are trying to document on each nest as part of a long term research study. Contact me at osprey.mn@gmail.com)

And a HUGE thanks to Debbie Jordan for her generous donation to the project! With the current economy its hard for me to drive all the miles I have in the past, so I deeply appreciate the support!