News From Other Nests 2017

A tense night at Hog Island nest in Maine. Rachel repeatedly repels a GHO and forcibly calms the chick (Bailey). I've never seen that calming behavior before .

EDIT: Or is it defensive behavior because she thinks the owl is back on the nest?

Oh my,that was pretty tense, poor wee chick, but mum looked after, and calmed it down. Hope it keeps away.

Youngest chick fledges 1st at Borders ospreys

"We had our first fledge of 2017 at 1550 today at Border Ospreys. Surprisingly, it was our youngest chick, Rabbie (only 7 weeks old today), who took the plunge. To be fair, he overbalanced rather than carried out an intended launch but, once he realised his wings did what they were designed for, he did a confident circuit and landed back in the nest (on top of his brother, Walter) at the second attempt. He did a further few circuits about an hour later. Both Lilliard and Walter have been doing lots of wing flapping and helicoptering and I'm sure they won't be far behind their kid brother in getting airborne."

c/o Rosie Shields on Facebook

Pandy said:

A tense night at Hog Island nest in Maine. Rachel repeatedly repels a GHO.

One expert weighs in, but doesn't completely clarify Rachel's behavior.

"This is an excerpt of National Audubon Societie's latest blog post, inluding words from Steve Kress:
'We once again asked Steve Kress, who works on Hog Island and is Audubon's vice president of conservation and director of seabird restoration program, for his thoughts on this latest news. Here's what he wrote back in an email:

"There is a lot of insight about how individual predators learn new and ingenious ways to capture prey. What is surprising here is that Rachel seems to be learning new ways to defend her remaining chick. Predator-prey interfaces are often thought to be driven by selection favoring specific behaviors that then become genetically hard-wired, but if Rachel is changing her behavior by perching lower and closer to her chick, it appears she is learning from her experience and adapting her behavior to be a more successful parent. The camera is once again showing new and very exciting insight to bird behavior." '

Hog Island, Maine, 23 July

"Rachel the Warrior Osprey" takes on the GHO again. Just two nights after twice knocking a GHO off the back of chick Bailey (video here), last night she wouldn't even let the owl on the nest. If she can win enough battles, she may just win the war,

Amazing footage thanks Pandy. Fantastic to see her succeeding so far and as you say, let's hope it continues. A few observations. I wonder if on occasion she is struggling to see to land in the dark? I think there's been something about their eyesight in the dark on another blog/trail but I can't remember which. Secondly, the duck quack noise - I've heard this before and I think it's like an extreme alarm call? I'm sure someone out there can advise. The video goes slo-mo for me after a while and I lose the sound but will try it on a different browser. Thanks again!

Live chat today at 4:00pm EDT (9:00pm in UK) with Dr. Rob Bierregaard about the Hog Island Ospreys Probable topics include Rachel's adaptive behavior toward the GHO threat, chick Bailey's (apparently) minor wing injury sustained the night of the first attacks, and of course the ever-popular question of intervention.

https://blog.explore.org/live-chat-with-dr-rob-bierregaard-725/

Overnight at Hog Island, an unseen osprey enemy (presumed to be a GHO) was spotted by Rachel, who successfully repelled it. Of particular interest is how their protective behavior on the nest continues to develop. At about 3:20 in the video, Rachel nudges Bailey towards the more sheltered spot on the nest by the perch. And for her part, Bailey has learned to stay in pancake mode for prolonged periods of time.

(c) Explore.org

From a nest in Gribskov, Denmark, a small hawk lands on one of the chicks. As mom returns, the hawk pulls the chick just over the side of the nest. Mom goes after the hawk at full speed. The chick manages to hang on to the side of the nest, and the next morning climbs back onto it!

(c) Naturstyrelsen

(c) Naturstyrelsen

There is more information at this blog post.

Thanks Pandy, I like a happy ending.