Puzzling Perplexing Possibilities

Good morning from the finally sunny Eastern Shore of Maryland!  After days of rain, clouds and ferocious winds, we have finally had a couple of beautiful sunny days.  Unfortunately, rain is forecast to start later today and continue through Saturday, with some heavy rains expected.  Birds and humans will start to grow moss between their toes!  But Sunday is supposed to be beautiful, how fitting for a Happy Mother’s Day for all of the mothers out there, human and avian!

Speaking of the weather, I am sure you have noticed that that wind speed indicated on the camera view doesn’t seem to correlate with what you are observing at the nest.  You would be correct, the actual wind speed is frequently way higher than the posted wind speed. COM is working with the explore folks to identify a weather station in the area that more accurately reflects the conditions here at the nest.

Squawking Audrey on a dreary day in the scraggly stick tree with a stormy sky (reminiscent of Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the candlestick) in the background

 

The scraggly stick tree is in bloom, adding to the light green patina of pollen enveloping anything and everything in the neighborhood, inside and out

 

While we are on the subject of weather, here is Audrey on the nest hoping the rain will stay away:

 

Gathering clouds over the secret location. This is a good view of the infrared light source directly under the fancy camera cover (K-Mart trash can). Audrey is hunkered down waiting for a meal and incubating her eggs

 

Tom and Audrey on another rainy day. Check out the downstairs neighbor returning home on the right!

 

There have been three major issues looming over us since the last blog.  I will attempt to address them all.  Here goes……………

First and foremost, I know you are all waiting with bated breath for the hatching of our first egg.  The range of hatching osprey eggs is 35-42 days after they are laid.  At our nest, the typical range has usually been 39-41 days.  I know you can all do the arithmetic, but as a quick guide, here is what we are looking at:

Egg #1-laid April 12, range of possible hatch dates May 17-24

Egg #2-laid April 15, range of possible hatch dates May 20-27

Egg #3-laid April 18, range of possible hatch dates May 23-30

So there you go, we are getting close!

 

Audrey looks like she might be counting the days to her first little bundle of joy

 

Issue #2-Oh, Tom, Tom, Tom!  Where the heck have you been, buddy?  It did not go unnoticed that Tom’s typical behavior seemed to have altered over the last week or so. His usual moniker, Calico Tom the Fishing Fool, seemed to need a revision.  Although we have the advantage here at the secret location of seeing what goes on around the nest as well as in the nest, we were also puzzled and perplexed.  Tom’s presence was sparse, and he wasn’t seen at his typical hang-outs. When he did show up at the nest, it was usually without a fish.  This unusual behavior also caused Audrey to catch her own fish, leading to the crow incident.  For those of you who missed it, Audrey’s tummy must have been growling, and she decided to take matters into her own talons and go fishing.  The eggs were left unattended, and an obnoxious crow decided he felt like an egg snack.  The crow started pecking at one of the eggs, causing Audrey to come barreling back to the nest to protect her potential offspring.  The fate of the injured egg is unknown at this time, so we will see what happens during the hatch window.  The pesky crows are everywhere and are quite bothersome.  In addition to bothering the ospreys, they have taken baby birds out of our bluebird house.  COM has modified our two bluebird houses with homemade devices to deter the crows from their nefarious sojourns.

 

Tom on the left, crow on the right waiting for the spoils

 

There was also some speculation that perhaps we had another osprey visiting the nest that was not Tom.  One of the reasons it was thought that was a possibility was the seeming lack of the buff color on the back of this osprey’s head.  We were also perplexed at that observation, having noticed the same thing.  What was puzzling was how Audrey treated this possible third player, she did not seem bothered at all to have the bird there.  It looked like Tom, but the lack of the obvious darker patch was puzzling and perplexing. I saw Tom a couple of times eating big fish in his usual places, but he wasn’t bringing any to Audrey.  Something just seemed off.  I knew what I was observing, but I did not know the answers to the questions being posed.  As in the past, when something is troubling at the nest, the Crazy Osprey Family calls in the experts and a call was placed to our favorite raptor biologist, Craig Koppie.  I explained my observations, and my puzzlement. Here is a synopsis of my lengthy chat with him:

Anything is possible in Nature.

That about covers it all.  The bird in question could have been a returning juvenile from previous years at our nest, but probably not from the past two years since those three birds were banded.  It could have been Tom, and we just couldn’t see the buff due to the weather.  His fishing could have been off due to the turbid water caused by all the wind and rain.  He could have been taking refuge from the elements, etc., etc.

Anything is possible in Nature.

Thank you, Craig, for being there when we need you!  You are always the voice of reason, and we are so glad to have you as a mentor and friend.

 

Issue #3 has been the various camera malfunctions.  Believe me, no one likes having these camera issues.  We are all doing the best we can to correct problems when they happen.  We are in a transition year with the switch over to being one of the explore cameras, and everyone is learning.  Bear with us, we are all trying very hard to make this a wonderful experience for everyone.  Think positive, not negative and we will all get through these learning curves together!  Thanks so much for your patience and understanding.

 

I have taken a bunch of photos the past two weeks, and will finish the blog with some of them.

 

Here is a series of photos of Calico Tom the Fishing Fool, taken on May 6:

 

A delightful meal in the scraggly stick tree one house to the north of us on a yucky day

 

I would admonish my daughter if she took a bite this big

 

I guess this piece was a little slippery (rain or blood or general muck), he dropped it!

 

Plenty more where that came from…

 

In between bites

 

Ready for another chunk of Chicken of the Sea

 

Thinking about fleeing from Mrs. COM

 

Nah, think I will stay and chow down a little more

 

Okay now, Mrs. COM, you are coming into my comfort zone

 

Tom and Audrey have allowed me to come much closer to them this year than in years past.  Dr. Spitzer told us to talk to them, which we have been doing.  I really do think it is working, they seem much less bothered when we are around them this year.

I had another close encounter with Tom, but this time, he decided to move on when I got close:

 

Tom with a rather large fish in the scraggly stick tree

 

Not paying much attention to me yet

 

You looking at me?

 

Getting closer. He is starting to realize I am not going away

 

Well, maybe just one more bite

 

Okay, I have had enough of you, Mrs. COM

 

Tom and his fish relocate to the big tree two houses to the north of us

 

She’ll never find me way up here in this big tree!

 

We have other visitors in the neighborhood besides those that fly:

 

A furry friend exploring near our big step ladder. Don’t let the eagle see you down there, you tasty morsel

 

Speaking of eagles, over the last two weeks, we have seen Tom and Audrey chase off an eagle that has been in the area a couple of times.  There is definitely an eagle pair living near by, we think across the street in the woods.  They are probably busy with their own young ones, as we haven’t seen them as frequently as we did over the fall and winter.

Some of you have been wondering about our dear scareowl, Roger.  He is back on duty, still kind of scraggly and dirty from his ordeal in the storm, but sporting a new chapeau:

 

Roger on duty at the end of the dock. Stay away, you murderous owls!

 

Roger, our protector and defender of ospreys big and small

 

How do you like my new hat? Spiffy, don’t you think?

 

As Audrey has been spending the vast majority of her time incubating, we don’t see her out and about so much these days.  She hasn’t been getting equal time in the photograph department.  I spotted her on the poop dock a couple of days ago, and wandered next door to memorialize her visit:

 

Does it look like something is missing? Yes there is, a leg!

 

The second leg is now down for a quick getaway

 

I think she likes me, hasn’t flown away yet, but I am further away than it looks in this photo

 

Audrey relocates to the top of the piling.  Look ma, I can balance on the other leg, too!

 

Audrey figures Tom has had enough time at the nest, and decides this is good time to vacate the piling

 

Incoming!

 

Everyone’s home for a minute

 

Tom has been relieved of egg duty (although he really likes egg duty), and decides to visit our neighbor’s new boat two houses to the south of us:

 

Tom leaves the nest and heads south

 

Flying low, cool reflection

 

 

Almost there

 

Here is the new boat, without poop producing ospreys.  The swim ladder where Tom and Audrey like to perch is visible to the left of the boat and the two dock chairs.  The poop dock is at the end of the dock in the foreground:

 

Poop dock in the foreground and sparkling new boat one dock down to the south

 

Poop dock and one of our COM modified bluebird houses next to my garden. Our neighbor’s new boat and the swim ladder are visible to the right

 

Tom at his destination, demonstrating why he is not welcome on top of my neighbor’s new boat

 

Caught! Please let me stay!

 

Tom then flew to COM’s boat lift on our dock.  Unfortunately, he didn’t choose the best place for a photo, but boys will be boys.  The two two photos are similar, but I couldn’t decide which one I like best, so decided to use both of them:

 

Tom on the boat lift, Option #1

 

Tom on the boat lift, Option #2

 

So which is your favorite?

Tom is not feeling like humoring Mrs. COM, and continues to the north, where he makes a stop on our neighbor’s dock two houses to the north of us:

 

Tom has continued on to the north, trying to get some alone time

 

This swim ladder is one of Tom’s favorite haunts:

 

Tom on the swim ladder on the dock with the new boat two houses to the south of us. Both Tom and Audrey like this perch

 

It’s so good to see Tom back at the nest with more regularity.  He likes to stand on the nest support:

 

Tom and Audrey together again

 

 

“Reunited and it feels so good” Audrey is singing to Tom (somehow I don’t think these are the lyrics she is singing)

 

This will give you some perspective of the nest pole in the water:

 

Can you see another pile of COM’s prefab sticks? Look closely

 

Well, it is 2:44 a.m. on Thursday morning, and I have to leave for work at 6:45, so I think it is time for a wrap.  Tom and Audrey may be parents again when next we meet. I will leave you with a glorious sunrise here at the secret location.  Someone has been getting up early, guess who?

 

Sunrise at the secret location. Thank you, Mother Nature!

 

Until next time, we remain-

Crazy Osprey Man (COM), Mrs. Crazy Osprey Man (Mrs. COM) and Osprey Girl.

 

If you are enjoying the osprey camera and blog, please consider a donation to the Chesapeake Conservancy so they are able to continue supporting programs such as this one.  Go to http://chesapeakeconservancy.org today.  Thanks very much!