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| Name | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Shelley | 07/31/09 07:51 am | Call me a psychotherapist wannabe, but here goes: sometimes a stick is just a stick, but damn if I can figure out what's going on in this nest. All this grass and seaweed nesting material, Betty just brought yet another twig, fussed with its placement, etc. This has been going on for days. Osprey aren't known to have second broods, besides, it's way too late in the season even if it were possible. Surely there are easier ways to encourage the chicks to get out and learn the basic lessons (fishing) they need to learn before they are ready to migrate. As someone mentioned in a previous thread, nest-building is not something that happens AFTER chicks have fledged. I have always thought that in the animal world, no behaviour is done without a purpose, a reason. But unless they are preparing a campfire in the centre of the nest, I am mystified as to the reason for this current trend. Could Betty and Dennis be displaying some signs of confusion? Birdie Alzheimers? |
| Pam | 07/31/09 07:58 am | This is just another reason for having us all observe the nest. Intriguing behaviour that may not have been witnessed without this camera. It really is a mystery. |
| Melanie | 07/31/09 09:08 am | My birds down here in Maryland have frequently seen carrying sticks this past week. Maybe they are doing it for the same reason a retriever has to have a ball in its mouth - just because he has to. Maybe the kids are just learning how to carry things. |
| Celeste | 07/31/09 12:24 pm | I think because of all the rain, wind etc , picking and decorating for a nest must be too perfect to resist..and who can not take advantage of a great Sale:-) |
| Liz | 07/31/09 02:57 pm | Shelley, you therapist wannabe, you're funny! lol I just got back from a bird trip with Mass Audubon this morning, and the leader (one with a great reputation for his expertise) said that this is a very strange year. They've seen lots of strange things. We saw some osprey flying overhead (we were on the ocean at inlets and marshes), and wow, I didn't even think to ask the stick question. However, his assistant, who is a banding project mgr, so to speak, said they just saw an osprey egg in a nest recently. I doubt he thought it was an egg that's been there for weeks and didn't hatch (like the one at WHOI this season) or he would have said that. He also said he just saw some hatch on June 30, I believe. I asked why a strange season, was it the weather, and they said yes....been so cold, so rainy that it's thrown everything off. I just wonder if this is a factor in Denni's behavior....usually they don't have another brood, right? BUT what IF the climate has confused them? I wonder if there's ever been a case of this? I've just been thinking he's trying to crowd the juvies to get them to be on their own....but that's probably too simple. |
| Melanie | 07/31/09 03:49 pm | An unhatched egg is precisely what it was. A late hatch (especially a June 30 hatch date) has a very low chance of survival because chances are it will not gain enough size to survive migration. There were a very high number of unhatched eggs this year where I go banding. If they don't get buried in nest then they can explode from sitting out in the sun. And that does happen. The weather has been horrible on osprey everywhere from the mid-atlantic states to the northeast because of the weather. If a pair has a second brood it is because something happened very early to the first brood (like crows getting the eggs) and it has to happen immediately following. There is a short window that the female can produce eggs and by this time of year their reproductive organs have returned to their normal size and the breeding year is over. There will be no more broods this year. |
| Madeline | 07/31/09 04:54 pm | Another bunch of grass brought in! I think you're right Celeste, they just can't stop trying to decorate the nest, too bad it keeps blowing off. |
| Kathy | 07/31/09 05:18 pm | They're preparing for the thunderstorms headed this way tonight...they need something to soak up the rain. |