I have to apologize for my long silence during May and early June. I have had a very challenging spring personally. I am struggling with disabling vision problems that resulted after cataract surgery, then I suffered a huge loss in my family, and I got quite sick, so my attention to ospreys had to be put on a shelf, to grieve and to heal. I have just had another surgery last week and we will see how things heal. I have been limping along, checking nests whenever possible and a lot has happened. I checked 81 nests in the past four days. ( 100 to go!) Many nests have hatched and I am starting to be able to count the tiny little heads….so sweet. It never gets old, the thrill of seeing the wee ones being fed.
Sadly we have already had a male osprey hit by a car and killed, leaving his mate alone right as hatching was beginning. This created a great deal of disturbance and I had to spend a lot of time figuring it all out. And of course this nest was not close to where I live….so lots of driving, and observing with troubling visual symptoms. This suddenly undefended territory attracted a lot of males, and keeping track of them, their markings, and the females reactions to them all was challenging. It’s so sad to lose an experienced, successful breeding male like this. But the female did leave the nest when necessary to get fish for her newly hatched chicks….tho she was hesitant to leave them unattended with other ospreys around. And slowly one male seemed to send the right signals, approaching slowly, keeping his distance. She reacted aggressively to another male…always lunging at him. So now she is copulating with the one male and a fish is delivered occasionally. He is not defending the territory fully yet. We are watching this situation unfold slowly and hoping for a good outcome in a very stressful and sad circumstance. Always a learning experience to study osprey behaviors.
I am also seeing nests that have been active for years, and where at least one osprey was seen early on….now empty. Where have they gone? It’s hard for me to do the usual exhaustive searching, tho I have tried unsuccessfully. I have found two new nests, one that has a banded bird that had been missing for years! We had assumed this bird was deceased. I have found two missing banded birds like that this year! Long missing birds resurfacing. Where have they been? And one of them, seen earlier, has now disappeared again!!! I am still searching…so many questions.
At the moment the overall project is overwhelming for me and I am way behind. I simply cant keep up. I have a large group of nests that are suddenly unmonitored and I need help. If there are people out there who have spotting scopes, some knowledge/ experience with breeding bird behaviors and are able to help monitor some nests in the north eastern metro area….shoreview, Lino lakes, Arden hills, Roseville, New Brighton, White Bear Lake, etc…please contact me. ( we have some openings in other areas as well). We ask for a commitment to check nests weekly and write a written report ( email) detailing observations each week. We have monitoring guidelines which detail the specific data we are trying to collect on all nests. All I ask is that if you are not going to be available for a while ( vacation, illness, or just unable to fulfill your commitment for whatever reason) to just let me know so I can fill in or ask another monitor to fill in. This is a rare long term research study, it is more than just bird watching for entertainment. Ospreys are an indicator species, at the top of the aquatic food chain, so the health of their population tells us much about our environment. I believe this research is important. I have been doing this for over 30 years and others did it for ten years before me so we have 40 years of data! I would like it to continue, but I need help from committed people who are curious, dependable, and patient! Contact me at osprey.mn@gmail.com if you are available and interested in getting involved. You will learn a lot!
Thanks to the monitors who have already stepped up to help fill some holes….Rick, Dani and Cindy. I am so grateful for your commitment to the project.
A huge thanks to Rick Endo and Ruth Rechtzigel for their financial donations…I deeply appreciate the support and kindness shown.
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