Osprey Nests in North America

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Birdfriend
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Re: Osprey Nests in North America

Post by Birdfriend »

Newfoundland Ospreys

Hope is eating her dead baby, never have seen that before at an osprey nest. I've heard that sometimes they do it.
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Feeding time:
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Chimega
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Post by Chimega »



The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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Post by seira »

Hog Island, Maine

July 9

EU - female, 1560g (3.4 lbs), ES - male, 1200g (2.64 lbs)

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Dr. B.
I am confident that Rachel's leg is not broken. It's just not flopping around the way a broken leg would. I think it's some sort of bad sprain.
While I was up in the nest to get the 1st young, she was flying around and complaining and diving at me like she always does. I do know that she didn't injure the leg around the nest. There are plenty of eye witnesses to that. We did see her fly off when another pair of Ospreys came near, and there may have been an eagle involved as well.
As you all know, I know that this is stressful to her and Steve (if he happens to be around when the banding takes place), but in balance I think the brief period of stress she feels is an acceptable price to pay for the scientific benefit of banding and giving the Hog Island campers such an intimate experience with nature.
There's good news here, in a sort of back-door way. If this had happened to Steve, it would be much more serious. There are cases where females have fledged young after losing a male, but it's rare.
Steve's fine--he brought in two (I think) fish after the banding episode. And the young were tearing off some food on their own. So what we need is for Rachel's leg to improve enough that she can stand on it and tear up fish to feed to her son and daughter.
We're pretty sure that the older young is a female. She weighed 1560g (3.4 lbs) and her little brother weight 1200g (2.64 lbs). She had a pretty thick tarsus (lower leg) and his was rather slender, which agrees with our conclusion. Let the naming begin.


July 11

Poppy Mod :
Rachel was injured, on July 9th. This was Dr. B.’s report:
While I was up in the nest to get the 1st young, she was flying around and complaining and diving at me like she always does. I do know that she didn't injure the leg around the nest. There are plenty of eye witnesses to that. We did see her fly off when another pair of Ospreys came near, and there may have been an eagle involved as well.
Footage and pictures are sent to Steve Kress and Dr. B. on a regular basis, to evaluate the situation. They are in contact with people involved in bird health care, too.

Rachel can’t put weight on her left leg. She helps herself by using her wings like crotches, trying to keep her balance on the nest. She is much more comfortable, roosting either on the main perch or even on the very tip of the gargoyle perch.
Her disability makes it hard for her to grab fish and feed from it. Steve stepped in, par excellence: Not only that he delivered 9 fish yesterday, no, he even is feeding the chicks. Not as diligently as Rachel, but the best way he can. He is always on his wings after a while, patrolling the area. The pantry is well-stocked, leftovers from many fish on the nest. The chicks are benefitting from it, having an early start in self-feeding.
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Post by Chimega »

July 10th, 2019, Dunrovin Ranch, Lolo Montana



July 10th, 2019, Hog Island Maine

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Post by Chimega »

July 11th, 2019, Hog Island Maine



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Post by Birdfriend »

Chimega wrote: July 11th, 2019, 12:10 pm July 10th, 2019, Dunrovin Ranch, Lolo Montana

[youtube]pEPLO9sRcZU

July 10th, 2019, Hog Island Maine
[youtube]qvjgOChSlCM
TY Chimega for sharing :wave: Rachel has much trouble, she has a bad injury. :bow:
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Post by Chimega »

Birdfriend wrote: July 11th, 2019, 11:35 pm TY Chimega for sharing :wave: Rachel has much trouble, she has a bad injury. :bow:
Yes I agree, Birdfriend. I have watched the camera much more than the amount of video I have recorded. The leg seems either broken or dislocated a the joint but there is no joint where I am seeing it bend. I can tell she is in a lot of pain and seems not very interested in eating or feeding her chicks, either. This is not a good sign. I hope things will improve in time. :cry:
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Post by Rita »

12th July, 2019 - no time stamp on camera, it is 17:35 in Germany, it should be about midday on the nest.

Rachel was just feeding her chicks. She is very cautious with her leg and is not putting any strain on it:

Image

The following I copied from the comments section of the Hog Island camera's website:

'... After being paralyzed only 2 days ago and a slow Wednesday, Rachel improved by the hours. She was able to tuck her left foot in, even put a little weight on it, during the day. She fed the chicks at, at least, 6 occasions, has eaten as well and did some housekeeping. Besides chasing away somebirdies, she even made 2 joyrides, stretching her wings, releasing tension off of her legs! What a progress, considering the circumstances. By the end of the day, she felt worse again. But don’t we all get sore after a long day when we are injured?

The chicks have been fed from 7 fresh fish and several leftover fish from Wednesday. Both are doing great in self-feeding. Well, they are not perfect yet, but are getting the hang of it. ...'
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Post by Birdfriend »

Newfoundland Ospreys

So sad, the next chick is died there. :cry:
At these pics it was still alive, but very weak. I saw him at the last days sometimes lay on his backside. I've feared it.
The little guys are often uncovered and I don't know, if they had enough to eat. Beaumont is a good provider, he often brings huge fishes I saw it, but Hope is a first timer.
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Now it must not suffer no more... :cry:
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Post by Birdfriend »

Later poor Beaumont brought this huge fish. :bow:
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Hope is always feeding herself at first, it is a tragedy. She has still not good mother instincts. :faint:
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Post by Chimega »

Sunday, 07-14-2019,Hog Island Audubon Camp, Maine



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Post by Chimega »



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But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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Post by Rita »

Hog Island, Maine, 15th July, 2019 - 12:55 a.m. hrs. local time:

Steve is feeding, Rachel resting and snoozing:

Image

I hope that Rachel recovers - we need quite a bit of prayers still. :nod:
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Post by Chimega »

Rita wrote: July 15th, 2019, 7:50 pm

I hope that Rachel recovers - we need quite a bit of prayers still. :nod:
Yes we do. In my opinion from observing Rachel, maybe she feels less pain, now, but she is struggling and having a very difficult time trying to feed the chicks plus she doesn't seem to have a lot of interest in eating, herself. She needs much more to eat than she is getting and so do those chicks. They appear to have lost quite a bit of weight as far as I could see, yesterday. i haven't had a chance to check on them, today or yesterday depending on time zones. They were desperate for food, yesterday. Poor Steve is not used to having to feed them at this age and was doing a great job of fishing and feeding them as well. But as soon as Rachel got down into the nest, he quit feeding. He doesn't know she's injured or that she's injured that bad and doesn't understand how badly he needs to stay and keep feeding them.

i am also very worried about the Bald Eagles as it seems at least one of them is scouting out that nest, attacking Rachel and maybe Steve, too, and making flybys over the nest.

You may remember that there were several years where chicks were taken from the nest by Bald Eagles and I really fear this will happen, again, this year. Prayers needed, indeed! :bow: :bow: :bow:
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But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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Post by Chimega »

July 16th, 2019
Dunrovin Ranch, Lolo, Montana





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Post by Chimega »

July 17th, 2019
Dunrovin Ranch, Lolo, Montana


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Post by Chimega »

Hog Island, Maine, Bremen - 17th, 2019



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Post by Rita »

:hi: Chimega,

May I ask what your assessment is of Rachel's injury?

I believe that it is far worse than just a
sprain, I fear that a tendon has snapped and/or there is something really wrong in the knee and patella.
I commented in the Audubon chat. Poppy (one of the moderators) thinks it will heal.

Would you think that it is possible to trap her after the chicks have fledged, just before she gets the impulse to
'go now' and keep her for surgery and rehab until next spring? Or are my thoughts totally detached?
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Post by Chimega »

Hog Island, Maine, Bremen - July 18th, 2019

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Post by Chimega »

Rita wrote: July 18th, 2019, 1:26 pm :hi: Chimega,

May I ask what your assessment is of Rachel's injury?

I believe that it is far worse than just a
sprain, I fear that a tendon has snapped and/or there is something really wrong in the knee and patella.
I commented in the Audubon chat. Poppy (one of the moderators) thinks it will heal.

Would you think that it is possible to trap her after the chicks have fledged, just before she gets the impulse to
'go now' and keep her for surgery and rehab until next spring? Or are my thoughts totally detached?
Hi Rita, :wave:

Image


Image

These are photos of Dr Erick Greene holding an Osprey skeleton he was using for a talk. He is with the Montana Osprey Project where Iris, Louis, Star and all the other Montana Ospreys are and is not affiliated with Hog Island.

Twitter mods marked the 1st picture with the arrows and I marked the 2nd one with the circle which looks to me like the area of Rachel's leg that seems to give way when she attempts to walk. Notice where an Ospreys knee actually is. It's way up where we don't ever see it when they fly or walk around. Her foot is also swollen and she has trouble putting weight on the foot plus using her leg.

I don't believe, at all, that it's a sprain. I do not know why Explore moderators say such ridiculous things but they do.

I actually fear that there is a break in her leg if not two, one where or near where the circle is and one nearer or in her foot. There is no way for that to heal on it's own if that's what it is. As you can see, there is no joint where the leg appears to be bending so it would have to be a break if that's the area, not a sprain.

I also feel that if they really wanted to, they could attempt to trap Rachel after the chicks fledge but it will be very tricky because they will have to be careful not to trap the chicks or a chick, instead.

Ospreys hate Great Blue Herons because they predate Osprey nests. Rachel will go after them in a heart beat if there is one near the nest. I am thinking they could use a fake GBH and one of the spring net traps like Urmas used to trap Piret when they banded her and put the sat tracker on her. Dr Rob Bierregaard, who is in charge there at Hog Island, along with Steve Kress could do this and I know Dr B has done it on nests because I've seen video of him doing it. The big question is, will they?

I don't know but I fear if they don't, we won't be seeing Rachel anymore after she leaves for migration. I don't see how she can survive on her own, alone, in the condition she is in right now.

They say they have a no intervention policy but Rachel is their main Osprey who everyone has watched for years and Dr B seems to have a soft spot in his heart for her plus her injury happened on banding day - while the chicks were being ringed and he's the one who went up the ladder and got them and also put them back in the nest. I think he might feel somewhat guilty about her injury even though it's not his fault. To make matters worse for him, it happened on his birthday. So,all we can do is wait and see at this point.

I hope I have answered your questions but feel free to ask me any time.

Best wishes to you :thumbs:
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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