Oh no

 What can I say?

2022….waiting….

 I have been looking at the osprey return dates over the past ten years and our earliest confirmed sighting of an osprey on their nest was March 28, with the latest first sighting on April 10! We always get earlier reports but have never been able to confirm those reports. We often find a hawk or are unable to locate any raptor. Our return dates are confirmed ospreys on their nest, not a sighting in the air or perched in a tree. With the

lakes still frozen it is unlikely that ospreys will show up when there is no reliable food source.

I am hoping that most of the volunteers from last year will return to monitor their nests. My monitoring will have to be a bit more limited this year….I lost my job at the start of the pandemic and my unemployment ended last fall. With gas prices as high as they are, I will be unable to drive 100 miles a day as I have for so many years. But I will do my very best to get basic info on all known nests. I hope that gas prices will drop and our world may stabilize….

I will let you know when I have been able to confirm the first sighting of an osprey back on its nest. I have seen eagles and hawks perched on osprey nests in recent weeks and I have issued eviction notices to them….most seem to have vacated as required….whew!

2021 Acknowledgements

 I have spent most of January pulling the 2021 data together and analyzing it, and writing up the results…..so here we go….first the acknowledgments!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2021

    There are so many people who have been instrumental in helping Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch continue this Osprey research. This year, 2021, marked my 28th year of monitoring all known nests in the eight-county metro area surrounding the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, and I could not do this without a great deal of help. The careful, monitoring of these nests and the consistent collection and analysis of data over so many years may prove to be a significant contribution to understanding the world we live in, the health of our environment as well as overall productivity and behavior of this population of Ospreys.

    Special thanks to Barb Ankrum, Carol Christians, Alice Stoddard, Perry Westphal, Dani Porter Born, Meg Smith, Ellie Crosby, Debbie De Frank Jordan, Ann Merritt, Larry Luebben, Jack Kimmerle, Pat Norton, James Misuraca, Jean and Rob DeZeeuw, Donna Daubendiek, Rick Endo, Mary Mullet, Greg Nelson, Carol Reitan, Lisa Jude, Ken Fischer, and Gail Isaak for sharing their observations, their commitment to this effort, their photos, and their love for these birds. I am deeply, profoundly, grateful to those who kept their commitments and kept an eye on the nests throughout the season. With the continuing growth of the project, I simply can’t do it all alone, and many of us are spread so thin.

    Thanks to all the private property owners who are such important and wonderful hosts to our Ospreys, and who have provided me access to these nests for monitoring.

    A very deep, heartfelt thanks to all who contributed financially to this project in 2020: Barbara Pierson, Ruth Rechtzigel, Debbie Jordan, Robert Van De Loo, Tamalyn Page, Bernice Caruth, Rick Endo, Ken Fischer and Carol Christians!

    And a huge thanks to The Raptor Resource Project for their important ongoing support.

    I am deeply grateful for all the help I have received in so many different forms, and for showing your faith in my ongoing efforts to continue this long term research study.

Vanessa Greene

February 2022

Happy Holidays….peace to all.

 Wishing all the osprey people around the world a Merry Chrismas, Happy Solstice, Happy New Year…..may your holidays be peaceful and healthy. A special message of gratitude to all the people in Minnesota who have helped me with our ongoing project here…each and everyone of you is so appreciated and important. Let kindness and care for our planet and all living creatures guide us thru the New Year….

Many blessings to you all….

Thanks Missy….

 There may be people on this page who have never heard the name Missy Patty. Missy passed away in early December, at 88 years of age and I want to tell you a bit about her. I met Missy when we were both hack site attendants on the Osprey reintroduction effort here in Minnesota. She was leading the effort over on the east side of the metro, running the hack site in North Oaks and at Lake Vadnais, when I worked at the hack site at Medicine lake on the west side of the metro. When The Raptor Center had two permanently disabled Ospreys they wanted to train as education birds, Missy helped me with that….fist training and feeding these two totally different birds. We had many discussions about osprey behavior and how to achieve our goals with those ospreys. Missy also helped with banding young Ospreys for many years. In more recent years her attentions turned more towards her family and I didnt run into her when I was out monitoring osprey nests in her neck of the woods. I just wanted to use this space to acknowledge the many contributions she made to growing this population of ospreys, the knowledge she shared, and to say how sad I am to hear of her passing. She never read this page and her family probably doesnt either….but she was an important person in the Osprey world in Minnesota and I thank her for all she gave to help establish this population of Ospreys. May she rest in peace, and fly free….Thanks Missy.

Predator guards….

 Carol Christians and I got the last predator guard up today….after the big snow dump! Many thanks to Carol for her help getting several predator guards up this week and the donation! So appreciated!

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving! May all who celebrate this day have a day of peace and bounty! I want to express my gratitude to all the people who have helped me this year in our ongoing study of this population of Ospreys, and to all those around the world who love these raptors and contribute their energies to the Ospreys well being.

May all our winged friends be safely tucked away on their wintering grounds, enjoying their own fishy feast!