So many nests hatched now.....

I visited 22 nests today....trying to primarily focus on those nests where I had not yet confirmed hatching. Five of those nests were still incubating with no clear signs of hatching yet. Sadly, two of those nests had failed. In one case, hatching had been confirmed but now the adults were not tending to chicks and the male even tried to copulate with the female. That is a sign that they know something has gone wrong and they want to try again, start over. It's too late for that and the female did not seem cooperative. I don't know what happened to the chicks. At another nest, I had never confirmed hatching, and now the adults were gone. Sometimes if they incubate too long, they realize the eggs won't hatch and just give up. I have often seen females give up first and I noticed that on yet another nest. I did not label it failed yet, but they are overdue and the female was on the nest perch food begging while the male incubated. He would not get up. We will see what happens. We have at least seven nests that have failed around the metro, and I am sure there will be more. This is a natural part of breeding. Eggs may be infertile, or they may have died along the way. It is much sadder when chicks die, and I am sure we will have that happen this year also. Meanwhile, we focus on the successes. I was able to count the little guys on a few nests and found a few nests with a "full house" of three chicks. After all these years, it's still a warm, fuzzy, joyful feeling to watch the wee ones, with their heads falling over, the older chicks starting to notice a world beyond Mom and Dad...looking out at their surroundings. Nothing cuter....life going on. They grow so fast...to 80% of their adult size in the first 30 days. I am a bit worried about these newly hatched chicks as we face a brutally hot weekend here in Minnesota. Temps are expected to hit the upper 90s, with high humidity. Newly hatched chicks cannot thermo regulate, so very hot or cold weather can be very hard on them. I hope the adults keep them well hydrated and shaded. Fingers crossed that they all survive the weekend.

And then there were two....

The first egg on the Arboretum nest cam hatched yesterday, June 6...and this morning, June 7, there were two chicks! I got some screen shots but this website can't seem to access my photos to share. I dont know why. But if you go to my facebook page you can see the photos. So now we wait to see if the third egg will hatch.....

New male on my "favorites" list...

I get too busy checking nests and have difficulty finding the time to write a post! My apologies to the readers. We have many nests hatched now and I observe so many interesting behaviors during this phase of breeding. Today I was watching a female incubating when the male arrived with a fish. She did not get up to grab the fish so the male started walking in circles around her, his head low and cocked to the side as if he was trying to get a peek beneath the female. He went around a couple of times, looking for a glimpse of those chicks! It was endearing. She finally stood up and grabbed the fish and began eating and finally feeding the chicks....leaning into the nest cup with tiny bits of fish. The male then went down into the nestcup and adopted that position that many people call "mombrella" , wings out to the side to create shade as the female fed the little guys. What lovely teamwork! Those are some lucky chicks! This male has now made it onto my "favorites" list. I am seeing a lot of feeding behavior and some males do get quite involved, feeding the female and then she feeds the chicks. All of these observations are the reward for watching what may appear  to be "just incubating". We cannot see the little chicks until they are ten days to two weeks old usually, so brooding chicks can look just like incubating eggs. There are some differences tho. It takes patience and perseverance to wait for something to be revealed. There is always so much going on and so many subtle behaviors to watch. I have been noticing that after rolling the eggs they usually turn a bit before settling back down into incubating posture, and it is most often a turn in a counter clockwise direction. I also notice how they rest one side of the brain by closing the opposite eye for brief periods. One eye quick naps. There are so many things to observe and make notes about. After 24 years it is never boring to me, and I have a hard time tearing myself away. But with so many nests to watch, I do have to keep moving. I have been able to read some of the most difficult bands, on nests I cannot get very close to and am feeling a sense of accomplishment about that after the scope fiasco. This, too, takes a lot of patience, multiple visits, the right light, a cooperative bird. Success is rewarding! Still some bands to read however! We are finding new nests during our rounds....the population is booming. I can't help but wonder how many I am missing....so please, readers, and birders, please do report new nests to us. Don't assume that we know about them. Maybe we do, but I don't want to miss any nests. We are trying so very hard to do an accurate and complete survey of all nests in the eight county metro area. 

Some of you may be wondering about the male who has had two mates at two nests the past few years. Last year when his primary nest collapsed from the transmission tower, I suggested that may put an end to his polygyny. I was correct. He did drop a few sticks on that tower initially, but his effort at rebuilding the nest was half hearted at best and he has settled for being a one nest guy this year.  This shows that these behaviors are a result of opportunity, and the strong instinct to reproduce. In spite of all the anthropomorphic stories that can be spun about that....it's just instinct and opportunity meeting each other. 

Hatching....

A few updates for you....it is finally time for some eggs to start hatching on our nests! I visited 20 nests today and five of them had some signs of hatching! The signs can be subtle at first, since we cannot actually see the chicks from the ground until they are ten days or two weeks old! The adults may be restless, males may stick closer to the nest, they wiggle, rock, look down into the nest cup. Suddenly those incubating females become more interested in what is happening beneath them than what is going on around them. The clincher is when we observe feeding behavior. I pulled up to one nest today and immediately saw both adults, heads down in the nest....the male was feeding the female, who then fed the chicks. Even after all these years, I am still so moved so be able to view this first indication that a new life has begun. Some males are more involved than others and my heart melted watching this male today, so involved with feeding his mate and new offspring. I wished I could wait at all nests for a feeding, but with so many nests, I have to keep moving and rely on my 24 years of experience to know when the behaviors indicate that hatching has begun. Sadly, I discovered one nest that had failed for unknown reasons. Noone was incubating anymore and the male was perched a ways from the nest. No female seen. Sigh.

I am happy to report that I did recieve the new eyepiece from Japan and it fits my scope and it works perfectly! Thanks to all who contributed via the Go Fund Me page so I could get this replacement eyepiece. The additional funds will go towards gas and placing new poles. We are discovering new nest attempts and I am keeping very, very busy checking them out and trying to read all the bands that I was unable to read without my dearly beloved scope! And of course, visiting all known nests to determine if hatching has occurred. I am feeling overwhelmed, having gotten so far behind as a result of the scope fiasco. We never have enough volunteers but the ones we have are working hard to gather the data on their nests....new monitors are learning about behaviors, the experienced ones are always so ready and willing to run out and check a nest for me if I can't get there. Deep thanks to them all. Happy Memorial Day to you all!

So funny....

This will make you chuckle.....



https://www.facebook.com/bayospreys/videos/668313660030083/

Making lists....

On this stormy day I have been working on lists of projected hatch dates for all our nests.....oh it's a big job. In my experience, here in Minnesota, Ospreys usually incubate about 39 days before the first egg hatches. I know other people, in other places, have come up with slightly different numbers. In the early days of this reintroduction, when I only had 8-10 nests to watch, I was able to check nests more frequently than I can now and we knew exactly when they began incubating and when the first signs of hatching occurred and it was most commonly on day 39. The first reintroduction in the US in Pennsylvania also came up with the same number. I do believe there can be some variation in those numbers but that is the number that I use for projecting hatch dates. The large number of nests we have now makes it impossible to get perfect dates for all nests so now I am categorizing them based upon the week that they should start hatching, rather than the day. It's a big list, but it will give me something to go on for organizing nest visits in the upcoming weeks. We still have a few nests that have not laid eggs...at least as of a few days ago. We have had Ospreys lay eggs at a shockingly late date....two years ago we had eggs laid in late May and chicks that didnt fledge until late August, and those birds and their dad stayed until early October! So we will keep checking!

We often discover new nests this time of year, and it's true this year as well. Please do let us know about any new nests, and don't assume that we know about it! I would rather hear repeated reports of nests I already know about than to miss one I don't know about! Thanks to those who have shared new nests, new sightings with us....we really rely on the birding public to help us with this huge task of monitoring all known nests in the eight county metro area ( Hennepin, Carver, Wright, Anoka, Washington, Ramsey, Dakota and Scott counties.) Thanks!

Updates

While the scope issues have taken a great deal of my time and attention, I have been checking nests and have a few updates for you. We have had two nests taken over by....geese. Whaaaaa! I have been looking for where those Ospreys may have moved, but have been unsuccessful in finding them nesting anywhere nearby. In one case the pair was unbanded so we may never know what happened to them. The other pair had one banded bird, which has not been seen anywhere, yet. At least one of those nests has already launched a brood of goslings and the nest is vacant again. People ask if the Ospreys will return now. I think it's unlikely. The timing is such that a breeding pair of Ospreys has probably found a new territory and been setting up there, or they may skip a season of breeding and remain "floaters" for a year. I also have to say in many other cases of a stolen nest, the Ospreys never did return. I have seen Great Horned Owls and Bald Eagles take over Osprey nests and the Ospreys have not returned to those sites. I know other places in the US have had more problems with geese than we have, even putting excluders on the nests until the Ospreys return. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come. We will see what happens next year at these sites.

I also have been watching our oldest male, 23 years old, and was getting discouraged that each visit revealed no eggs, no incubation. His new mate is unbanded so I do not know her age. I was beginning to wonder if she was too young to breed. But alas, this week I saw that they were incubating! Woo hoo! This male was acting so protective, perched on the nest edge as the female incubated. Chasing away other Ospreys and a pair of eagles. He was also eager to incubate himself. In the past we have documented an increase in unhatched eggs from older males, which raises the question of whether fertility drops as these birds age. I will be watching as much as I can and have my fingers crossed that he will successfully fledge at least one chick. Last year his nest failed, as no eggs were laid. I am not sure why. He had a banded female as a mate for several years, and she was seen in the early season, then another banded female was present for a short time, and then the first female was present again. And yet I never saw signs of incubation, unless eggs were laid and destroyed between my visits. The second female was probably too young to breed (2 years old) and was resistant to copulation. This second banded female, now 3 years old, is on another nest this year. I have never seen his original banded female this year. I am glad he found a new mate and I am hoping for a happy outcome this year for this male, to set a new record for the oldest breeding male in our study! At any rate, he seems healthy and I thoroughly enjoy still watching him after all these years.