New Perch!

 A big thanks to Mike Chlan at Minnesota Valley Electric Coop for helping us add a perch today to the nestpole that they errected last winter to accomodate some ospreys that had been nesting on a substation power pole. As many of you know, having a perch for the adults is an important part of nest construction. In this case I watched the adults flying across the road and dipping low over a busy road all summer and knew we had to give them a place to perch nearer to their youngsters, and to give those chicks a place to fly back to when making their early, experimental flights. I am so grateful to Mike and MVEC for their great work in helping these ospreys!

And another big thanks goes out to Marlyn Anderson for helping me build this perch!

As they say, it takes a village!

Update October 18, 2021

 Our 2021 osprey season has officially come to an end. The last juvenile and parent I was watching left between Oct 2 and 6. Oh how we will miss them.

Now our attention turns to osprey nestpole issues! A nest on ball field lights was removed when the lights were permanently removed. I worked with the city of Plymouth, the Wayzata School District and Kilmer electric to get a new nestpole put up to accomodate those ospreys next year. Today we got the new pole set! Many thanks to the organizations listed above as well as Perry Westphal for all their good work today helping me make this happen! Thanks also to J.D. Kittleson for donating the nestbox some time ago, we finally found a good home for it! We will return and fill the nestbox with sticks and put up a predator guard in the near future so these ospreys will have a fully furnished home to return to!

It takes a village! I appreciate all those who voiced their feelings, and who pitched in to help us out so we could create a permanent home for those Ospreys! 

October 2, 2021

 A dreary, drizzly day here in Minnesota, but I went out this morning to check on that last remaining juvenile that I observed last wednesday. Still there! The chick was on the nest perch with a fish….but I heard an osprey so looked around, and the adult male was divebombing a mature bald eagle and a juvenile bald eagle perched in a tree not too far from the Osprey nest. He did his best to try to dislodge them, but they wouldnt budge so he gave up. I hope he stayed nearby to watch over his youngster as she ate.

How long will they stay? This was not the latest chick to fledge….those ospreys are gone now….but her internal calendar seems to suggest its not time yet. I will keep checking as long as I can spot any ospreys….cause life is less interesting without them. I didnt stay too long today cause the weather was so muggy and miserable. I will be back soon….stay tuned!

Sept 26….still here!

 Did you think the ospreys were all gone? Nope! I found two chicks hollering for food today on different nests. I waited around for a while but didnt get to see the dads because I had to meet someone. One of the youngsters even gave an appropriate alarm call when an adult bald eagle was chasing a juvenile bald eagle in the area. She flew off and made some circles, giving the BE alarm call, then she returned to the nest and continued her occasional food begging. 

Some of the nests that I was watching last week, with chicks still on them, seem to be empty now, after the storm went thru last friday with strong NW winds….but I found these two occupied nests in a different area today. I am always happy when I manage to find an osprey to watch. I will recheck these nests on Wednesday…

September 23…..

 I visited 17 nests today that I had not been to in a while….only one had some ospreys. I found one female chick sitting quietly in her nest, her crop quite full. Then she suddenly erupted into loud food begging and Dad flew in with a HUGE fish! He dropped it and flew off. I noticed that he had an empty crop, and yet, he delivered this very large fish to his offspring…the whole thing. I thought I heard him say, as he flew off, “ that should keep her busy all afternoon”. She grabbed it and really struggled with it…hard to drag it around the nest. She got up on the edge of the nestbox with it….but I waited for 30 minutes as she snoozed a bit, then pushed food down in her crop, trying to make room for more. She was in no hurry to eat! She limped around the nest, dragging this massive meal, and finally started nibbling on those fish lips.

This is my test these days….can I find an Osprey? All these empty nests make such a sad and empty landscape….but so far I have been rewarded with at least one fun viewing every time I go out. Those Dads, I tell ya…so devoted to their young, staying as long as necessary. I honor their steadfast parental care for each last chick that isnt quite ready to go. How lucky I am to witness what I do.

September 22….still here!

 We still have a few ospreys in town! I am so happy that our little friend at the Arboretum cam nest is still around. I always hope for about a month of parental care post fledge for a chick to slowly learn the necessary skills for independence….as well as to pack on the pounds before migration. The chick at the Arb has been flying for just over a month now. Whew! Many thanks to our new and wonderful dad there, who has done a great job of providing for his offspring. I checked a handful of nests over the weekend and was able to find a number of juveniles and Dads. A shift in the winds since seems to have carried away some of those ospreys but I found another chick and her dad yesterday, still hanging out together. I sometimes find those adult males remaining near their nests, eating a fish slowly with no one hollering for it. I imagine they might feel a sense of accomplishment as they prepare for their own journeys ahead. I watched one such osprey on monday perched in a dead tree, quietly waiting, just in case….and gazing off to the south. I will stop by his nest today but I expect he may have taken off. Still I savor each sighting.

I will begin stirring the pot to find some volunteer help with repairing a few failing nest poles in the coming months as well as gathering the data together to begin the huge task of analyzing it all to see what the big picture reveals about our osprey population. The work changes but there is still lots to do. These final days tho are occupied by my desperate attempt to locate one more osprey to watch for a few minutes or hours. And still, after all these years, their beauty takes my breath away. Maybe its something about the golden September light….I notice the spots in the eyes of the older adults, and the pristine perfection of the young ones talons. I try to notice everything….its going to have to sustain me thru the months ahead.

Sad day….

 Boy I was hoping to end this year on a high note….have been so enjoying watching the lingering ospreys. Yesterday I was watching a beautiful female chick holding a whole goldfish in her talons as she food begging hysterically because her Dad was nearby, also eating a goldfish. Guess she wanted HIS fish!

She was still on her nest today, with her Dad perched on a nearby cell tower. We had a big storm go thru last night, the winds were very strong at my house and I had a lot of fallen branches to

pick up today. Sadly, I also got an email about an osprey dead on the ground. I went to examine it…..broken wing. A handsome, juvenile male. This one was just days from migrating. How terribly upsetting to have him make it this far and die like this. I suspect he slammed into a building or some other structure, possibly during the storm. Each loss like this reminds me of how fragile life is and it puts a pall on the end of the osprey season. I will be out and about tomorrow trying to replace that sad memory in my mind with something more uplifting. We still have a few remaining ospreys and I hope I can spot them, hear them, soak up all their beauty.

Bless the spirit of this lovely male whose life was just too short. Sigh.