The Arboretum cam nest history…

 I have been doing a bit of a deep dive on the Arboretum Cam nest history recently. As I may have mentioned, I helped put up that nest pole back in 2001. An osprey had started building a nest on an active power pole so we went to work immediately and got Xcel to help us put up that Nestpole. The ospreys were circling as we installed it and as soon as we retreated to watch from a distance, they landed on the nest!

 The first male was banded Y1 and his female was FM. They were young and failed to lay eggs that year. They returned in 2002 and produced one chick. 

In 2003, the female FM returned but her mate, Y1, did not show up. He was replaced by another banded male, 79. He went on to become a legendary osprey to many of us. He had nested  elsewhere before he came to the Arb nest at 11 years  of age. 79 nested on this Arb nest from 2003 to 2014! He produced 21 chicks. From 2005 to 2012, he had the same mate, HY! In 2013 and 2014 he was joined by a new mate, 3S. 

2015 turned into a tumultuous year at that Arboretum nest. 79 returned late, as he always did, but he would not feed his mate or defend the territory against other males. He disappeared and I searched for him, eventually finding him on the side  of the road by Lord Fletchers. He did not look well, and I tried to rescue him but he could still fly so he made short flights and disappeared. Eventually I thought to contact the Raptor Center and yes, they had received him. Someone found him floating in the water and rescued him. He had BB pellets in him, had a necrotic wing injury and an eye injury. He had to be euthanized at 23 years of age. He was the oldest male on this project so far. Honestly, I still puddle up when I drive past that spot where I last saw him. I think about how hard he must have fought to complete his migration and get home when he was in such bad shape. I watched him for so many years that he feels like a member of my own family. Bless his spirit. 

That left something of a free for all at the Arb nest that year as four different banded males were seen there, along with three different females. The former mate of 79,  3S, decided to move to another nest. The Arb nest was then occupied by a new male, Z3, for the next six years with an unbanded female, 2015 - 2020. 

In 2021 the banded  male MS came to the Arb nest as a 3 year old. He was there until 2024, with an unbanded female. Late in the breeding season of 2024 we had a lot of eagle activity around that nest….eagles had a nest nearby…and MS disappeared while the fledgling was still needing him to feed her. She also disappeared shortly after he did and we suspect that eagles may have gotten them both. 

MS did not return in 2025 and we had an unbanded male for the first time. I have poured over photos to try to identify the current two unbanded ospreys on the nest. I do believe this male is the same one we had last year. I will post two photos of that males head markings, last year and this year, which show similar markings. 

It gets more confusing regarding the female. I looked at her markings early this year when she first returned and felt that it was a new female. But as I tried to find photos to share with you, I discovered that the female that first showed up on this nest does not appear to be the same one that is there now! So I will show two photos of the back of the head pattern on the two females this year….perhaps you will agree with me that they look different. I have come to the conclusion that the current female is the same one that was here last year, but not the same one that was here in those first days on the nest this year. 

Unfortunately, we all might remember the sad outcome of last years breeding attempt. Several eggs were damaged, and when the only chick hatched, the female did not feed it. She struggled with getting close enough to get food in the chicks beak. We watched the chick do all the right things, stand up, open its beak, and yet not enough food was ever fed to this poor chick to survive. The female just didn’t seem to have fully developed parental instincts. Most ospreys are not able to breed until they are three years old. I once watched a banded two year old female who did lay eggs and hatch a chick, and she also didn’t seem to know how to feed that chick! Luckily she was mated to a male who had been an experienced parent. He was able to feed the chick and teach that female how to care for her offspring. This made me wonder if the Arboretum female last year was just too young to have the necessary skills and instincts to care for that chick. It was painful for many of us to watch.  So we have reason to be concerned about what might happen this year. Let’s hope now that she is older, she will be a better parent. 

And identifying ospreys by their markings is not always easy, but I have been looking at ospreys for 33 years now and I have used my experience to draw conclusions about these current ospreys. We don’t have many banded ospreys left anymore to help us identify them  with certainty. 

So first two photos are the male, last year and this year. I don’t want to overwhelm with too many photos….so I will share the photos of females in another post!