July 15...

Well, it is turning into a catastrophic year for the ospreys. More chicks are dead or missing, nests are empty, the head count diminishes. I will be checking as many nests as I can in the coming days. Volunteers, please check nests and count heads more frequently if you are able. And we have not yet gotten to the usual mortalities which occur around fledging time. As I have said in the past, Ospreys are an indicator species so when their productivity decreases, we need to pay attention. We need to look at this carefully...there are always ups and downs from year to year, but this feels different. We will see what the final outcomes are...and we will compare our data to other states, other researchers.

Banding...

I have attended a few bandings in the past few days and most chicks are looking very good and healthy. However we have come upon two chicks at different nests that had a large number of black flies swarming and crawling on them. Vanilla was applied to one of them as this is believed to help keep the flies away, and the other had both vanilla and some essential oil bug repellant applied. It is not known if this will really help. I will try to keep my eye on these nests to see if those chicks survive to fledging. I also found another chick missing from a nest today. We may never know for sure what occurred there. It is easy to blame black flies this year, but there are many causes for mortalities. 
PS...july 13: another long day in the field. Sad to report that one of the chicks who had black flies on him last Thursday is now missing from the nest and presumed dead. Another nest that had just one chick is now empty. It's a challenging year for the ospreys.

Pre-fledging behaviors...

I am starting to see pre-fledging behaviors now on some nests. Older chicks are flapping their wings and hopping with exuberance. For some reason when I see them flapping, I count the flaps...am getting up over 30 flaps in a row as they build strength in those beautiful long wings. Chicks fledge at about 55 days...males tend to fly sooner than females and there is some difference bird to bird. Nothing hard and set about exactly when they take that leap. It sometimes seems as if a gust of wind takes away a young bird who was only intending to do some flapping...but, like it or not, is suddenly airborne. After 21 years of watching these first flights I have concluded that flying is not that hard, landing is! Sometimes they fly around in loops, as if trying to figure out how the heck to get back to the nest and stop! It often ends with a face plant on the nest. Haven't figured out the brakes. By this time the young birds are almost as large as the adults...do you how to tell them apart?

Unaware...

I am sitting here on this PERFECT day...mid 70s, low humidity, popcorn clouds, happy to be out here checking nests. I am watching a nest that is high on a cell tower. I keep hearing a little peeping sound that sounds like an osprey who is happily eating, but I can't see him. I peek around some trees and see the male right on a power pole next to the road, eating a fish. A car stops and a woman gets out, walks right below him to get her mail, never looking up, gets back in her car and leaves. People miss so much. I laughed...but I knew he was there! The bad news is that there is one less chick than the last time I visited. Darn it. Black flies?

Black Flies...

Here is a link to an article on today's paper about black flies...as he says, I believe that we have lost ospreys to black flies in the past, we just didn't see it so clearly as we did with a cam on the Arboretum nest.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/266267681.html

Saving habitats...

Check out this link...about a place in California, much like the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant which has been sold for development. They turned it into a park! What so many of us were hoping for...I wish Ramsey county were as forward thinking as they are in CA. With 8 osprey nests on the old Army property in Arden Hills, it would have preserved a beautiful natural habitat for the future...  Turns out many CA army properties have been turned into parks. In that state it was the will of the people that the open spaces be preserved rather than developed.  Guess its too late here.

  http://www.mareislandpreserve.org/MareIslandPreserve/Homepage.html

Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve

mareislandpreserve.org

For outdoor enthusiasts, history buffs, photographers and artists, the southern "original" Mare Island Hill and Historic Shoreline is an unique parkland. On behalf of the Mare Island Heritage Trust, I invite you to hike, bike, explore,...

A sad loss...

So sad to learn about the death of the Arboretum chick who appears to have pre-fledged as a result of being bothered by bugs. Thank you all for watching so closely. There was nothing anyone could have done. Unfortunately I did not get the emails until this morning...and I do not live close to that nest. After many days in the field, I took a day for family.
Sometimes nature is hard to watch and outcomes are not what we want, but life for an osprey has many challenges. May the little guy rest in peace. We lose some of them every year and it is heart breaking. Thank you to Carol Fischenich for finding the body and covering it. Thank you to all who have given your hearts to these birds. I am running all over eight counties checking on chicks and its hard to be at the right place at the right time...this is why we need volunteers to help watch over these little guys. Sometimes we are able to rescue them and it is a wonderful feeling when we are successful. This time, it sounds like nothing could have been done...the fall likely killed him. The bugs have been a problem for other birds this year too and all of this may point to the effects of climate change. The heavy rainfall has created a bumper crop of bugs. This is why we keep up the research when others see no point in it...we will document the changes and the losses and the overall effect on productivity. This time having a cam allowed us to see what happened...thanks again to everyone. And in spite of the awful weather today, I am off to check all the nests in Wright County today. May all chicks be safe today...