My favorites...

I just stopped at that favorite nest of mine...and found dear old dad perched high on a nearby cell tower, watching over things. One chick perched in a tree with a stick clutched in her talons! As I mentioned earlier , this is part of her practicing...she flew a round carrying that stick and landed without dropping it! Well done! Did not find the other chick or Mom. She may have started her migration. I am sure the other chick is around somewhere! Yesterday I visited the chick who moved herself to another nest. She is still there, alone. I saw none of the other three chicks or either adult. However there was another male perched nearby with a fish, unrelated to either her natal nest or adopted nest. Hmmmm. I wonder if part of her departure might be related to the fact that I have not seen her father since early summer. I think something happened to him and the adult female there had to care for these chicks alone. There may not have been enough food at her natal nest. It's a complicated situation, with many factors that may have led to her move. Interesting tho, and I continue to learn so much about the subtle behaviors, reactions, survival tactics that influence every bird. Still spending a lot of time in the field, gathering data, observing, learning.

September 1, 2013

Well...I went out just to check a few nests quickly today...and was gone all day. That's what happens to me! I found a lot of food begging chicks...with no visible adults! They seemed to be food begging from each other. One pair of juveniles were launching into a chorus of food begging when two turkey vultures flew over! For Pete's sake! I also spent two hours at one of the nests that belongs to the male with two families. There were two chicks there, moving around from one perch to another, sometimes on the nest, hollering for food from each other. Their crops were empty and neither one pooped in that time. I saw no adults at all. Finally the female chick took off and the male chick remained on the nest, silently waiting. I also checked on one of the last nests to fledge chicks and found all of them present in the area, perched around, flying loops, going from perch to perch. So all have remained out of trouble and close to home. I did see one adult there, soaring above. Some nests were empty and few females were seen. I did see two mated pairs, still hanging out together a short ways from their nests...good to see them, knowing that their time together will be short now. I say silent farewells, hoping they all survive to return to each other, their territories, and to me!

Learning to fish requires many skills...

I know I have written this all before, but it bears repeating. There are a lot of skills the fledglings need to acquire to fish successfully. They first practice diving into the water and getting lift off out of the water...tricky. Sometimes this starts with foot dragging thru the water as they fly. Then they usually try to pick up something floating in the water...a stick, or once at the hack site a young osprey brought a beer can back to us. This requires the ability to fly carrying something and land on a perch with one foot, while grasping something with the other. One of the nest monitors watched a young osprey this year fly to a cell tower with a stick, and act as if she had a fish, mantling over it. Practicing. I have seen first successful fishing attempts fall apart at this point when the young bird drops the fish when he or she lands. Eventually they will accomplish all the tasks above, and will be on their way to independence. Sigh.

How do they learn to fish?

I am reposting this post from the Dyfi osprey project, largely because of what it says about the young ospreys NOT needing to be taught to fish. This is a persistant misunderstanding around here, even being passed along to the public by people who claim to be knowledgable about ospreys. The parents do NOT teach them to fish. They innately know how and they will begin fishing when they are physiologically able. Males usually do it before females. The reintroduction here would not have worked if they needed to be taught to fish. I was one of the hack site attendants and after we translocated the chicks from northern Minnesota, I climbed up the hack tower everyday to provide food but I did NOT teach them to fish, and yet they all eventually began catching their own fish, at about the same time as the chicks in the wild with osprey parents. That doesn't mean they don't learn anything from their parents...I do believe they may follow Dad to his favorite fishing spot!

All Grown Up

Bore da - DAY 59

Here's a short video of Cerist taken yesterday evening - eight weeks exactly after she finally broke free of her egg shell.

Her 2½ day Bank Holiday vacation seems to have done her no harm and despite only fledging just five days earlier, she is now a frequent flier.

She now has the ability to deal with her own food and even her voice has broke. She is now capable of all the vocalisations of her parents that she's heard so much of over the last two months.

Cerist, along with her sister, will stay on the Dyfi for another month or so until the free food finally comes to an end. She will almost certainly not catch her own fish however during the next month, neither will she be 'taught' how to fish by either parent. She has all the fishing skills she will ever need in her life, safely embedded in her genes. She just doesn't know it yet.

All fledged!

NOW I can report that all chicks in the metro area have fledged! I have visited many of the late nests in the past few days (and it has not been pleasant in this extreme heat...boy it drains  my energy). I can't necessarily say they all fledged successfully...in many cases I can tho, if I have seen them all back at the nest after seeing them flying. There are some cases where I have not been able to locate all chicks at once post fledge. Since many are not banded, I am not always certain that each individual bird has made it back to the nest. I do my best tho. It does become a needle in a haystack sometimes...and chicks certainly do get into trouble far from their nests, long after fledging. That's why the mortality rate is so high the first year. I do try to be accurate with my data...so in some cases I can only say the chicks survived to fledging age. In many cases tho, I can confidently say they all fledged successfully. A nest cannot be labeled as "successful" unless at least one chick is known to have fledged successfully. Flying away and landing on the ground and dying, is not a successful fledge.
Some of the definitions of the terms that I have used here, and are generally accepted in the scientific community are as follows: an OCCUPIED nest is one where a pair was present, whether or not they laid eggs. An ACTIVE nest is one where eggs were laid, and a SUCCESSFUL nest is one where young were known to have fledged. Many of you who know me, know how hard I work to adhere to good scientific methods, to be careful to use terms that accurately reflect documented data. I have a lot to say on this subject...but will save that for another time!

Wow, I just went to read the Dyfi blog (from Wales) about the fledging of their chicks last week, and the disappearing act of Cerist...and much to my surprise, found that they thanked me and put a link to my blog! It's wonderful to share our experiences and learn from each other! I have learned so much from their blog and Facebook page too. I am so flattered to know they are reading my stuff and that my insights may have helped get Cerist back to the nest!

http://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/blog/2013/08/clarach-and-cerist-fledge

Clarach and Cerist Fledge

www.dyfiospreyproject.com

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August 24 updates...

So many funny and interesting things I could tell you all...first let me update you about the situation where one male has two nests and six chicks. He has been very scarce...understandably. I never see him at one nest...but yesterday I found two of his three chicks at the other nest whining desperately for food. The female arrived with a big fish and one chick began devouring it. Then an unbanded male arrived and perched for a while...Hmmmm....but was followed shortly by the banded resident male carrying a large, half eaten fish. He chased the visitor away and disappeared. He finally returned and ate the fish without sharing it with his family. Good to know he is alive!
Today I visited the nest where the young female moved herself and was adopted. She was on the nest, and another juvenile was on one end of the nest perch. A third youngster arrived and tried to land on the nest but the adopted sister chest butted the other chick off the nest. He returned and perched on the other end of the perch. He slowly moved closer and closer to the nest, but when he moved onto the nest, the adopted female rose up and so did he, pushed her off the nest and a chase ensued. She is being quite the bully. He perched nearby and they all food begged and whined. I was there for over 90 minutes...no adults arrived. Just the eruption of these little skirmishes. I believe she was positioning herself for a fish delivery, so she would have the advantage at getting it. She has won the battle for food in the past. Funny part was when I left and drove down another road on the other side of the hill from the nest, I found Mom and Dad, sitting side by side, male eating a big fish!!!! Avoiding the kids.
I can also say that while visiting many nests in the past few days, I have only seen a few females. Many males remain perched high in their territories, watching over their offspring and their kingdom. I also can confirm that only one chick remains unfledged, as of today. I will keep watching her. It's going to be a tough week with record high temps expected with very high humidity. It's a good time to learn to fish!