New male????

 Well, each day is more interesting than the last! This morning I headed out to check on the single female who is raising the chick alone….with the polygynous banded male only showing up occasionally. I first stopped at his main nest, where there is a female and one chick. As I arrived in the area, I saw an osprey fishing in the lake and I stopped and grabbed my binos to look and it was the female! Hmmmmm. I went to the nest and the chick was alone, and the female arrived very quickly with a large bullhead. Where is the male? So I ran down the road to the other nest and found the female with her chick. I was taking some photos when she started food begging. A male flew in and dropped the tail end of a small fish….hardly a meal….and immediately flew off. Was that the banded polygynous male? I dont know. Mom ate a few bites and then let the chick have it to finish. It was gone in no time. Everything was quiet for a while….and then mom started food begging again, much louder and more insistent. I looked around and saw a male with a BIG fish eating on a light pole a short distance away so I zeroed in on him with my scope….oh my….it was an unbanded male! NOT the polygynous banded male. The female kept hollering and he just kept eating….but he would stop and look over the the female and chick. And then he pooped and that often signals an osprey about to take flight so I got the scope back on the nest, got my phone up to the scope and he came and delivered the fish!!!! Mom grabbed it aggressively and immediately turned her back and mantled over the fish….defensive, and with her back turned to the male she fed the chick…..for a LONG time. And the male remained on the nest the whole time. She did not shoo him away. I took a lot of pictures so I could document his dorsal feather pattern for future identification. When the fish was gone….the chick turned and started to walk over towards him and he flew off. Didn’t want to have anything to do with the chick….he knows it’s not his. But he may have decided to help this damsel in distress as a way to secure this territory for next year. He is a handsome fella. And a generous osprey….and I will also say, a smart osprey. So I had seen a male perched very far away on a water tower a few weeks ago, and that may have been him….and somehow he has worked his way in to her life. Me and the other monitor on this nest have not seen anything like this before tho….and I don’t know if the first male who dropped the tiny fish was him or the banded male. Aint osprey life interesting? I just want to be there all the time now, watching to see how often he is there. Did something happen to the other male to allow this opening? The other female was fishing for her chick today. I have so many questions….but it’s definitely a positive development! Here are a bunch of photos!