July 3-Waiting for answers

July 3 started with one of the contacts distributing the e-mail asking for assistance to other contacts.  Through the day there were 11 e-mails, numerous phone calls and no solid answers.  Two pieces of advice I kept getting over and over was to contact Sue Meech or the Ontario Ministy of Natural Resources (MNR).  Well Sue does not own a 50 foot boom truck and the MNR is pretty much impossible to get a hold of on a long weekend.  In fact when I finally got a response from the MNR..they recommended I get in touch with Sue Meech...

We also went out once in the morning and once in the afternoon to check on the family.  Our big concern was the carcass attracting predators or illness.  Sue explained we were a little off target, but was more concerned with maggots infesting the chicks with the heat (28 C/82 F) speeding up decomposition.  She was also concerned the cause of death may have been entanglement and the chicks could have been trapped as well.

There was of course also the concern that the dad would abandon the chicks and a full scale intervention would be required.  Within seconds of arriving in the morning, we confirmed dad with the chicks, alleviating part of that concern.  And when he took off, he had a fish in tow, proving to us he was still able to hunt.

Proof dad is participating.

Proof dad is still hunting.

Proof of three chicks still alive.

One of the chicks shows off their wing.

Late in the morning, still trying to get some help, I sent this update out to all the concerned parties I had been in contact with:

Good Morning:

I have talked or heard back from a number of you but wanted to give a blanket update:

The Mother still has had no natural movement in over 24 hours, and is draped awkwardly. I am 95% sure she is dead. My biggest concern (and shared by at least a few of you) at this point is removing the body to avoid attracting attention from birds that may harm the chicks. That is something I am obviously not able to do on my own, given the 50-60 foot pole she is on.

Dad Osprey has stepped up to the plate and has delivered at least one fish this morning (9AM) and was standing guard. I hope if someone has a contact who can remove the mother, the dad can take it from there. All three chick are active as of the 9AM status check.

Any other ideas, guidance or assistance would be appreciated.

Even in our limited time watching the family, we had become quite aware of the gender roles.  Dad was often away hunting, and when he was not, he was on a different pole, watching mama with the chick.  Mama's role, when alive, was to protect and watch over the family, and it appeared to us, show flight techniques.  With mom out of the picture, those roles became a concern, in addition to the ability of a single male to hunt for enough food for all the family. 

That is when one of the coolest things happened.  At 3:30, another Osprey appeared overhead.  There was a dramatic increase in noise from the nest as dad and the chick appeared to be communicating with the family.  We were able to determine the overhead Osprey was female and knew dad was in the nest at the time.  Although the female never came within 50 feet of the nest, it was apparent to us that the tone of communication was not one of alarm, and the dad never looked threatened or defensive.  We could not help feeling help was at hand!  We began referring to her as an Aunt.

Although it is hard to tell from the altitude, this is a female, and the dad was in the nest at the time.

Confirmation of all 3 chicks.  At this stage we have named them Winkin, Blinkin and Nod.  (Larry Moe and Curly was apparently to masculine since we believe two are female)

Then at 4 O'clock, dad had shifted to his backup platform and a male Osprey flew over his head, chattering the whole time.  The feeling we could help but have was one of the dad getting support from another pair of nesting Osprey.  So we felt real progress on that front.  It was a shame how little progress we felt on the human side.

Male Osprey (Uncle)

That night, I sent out some feelers to the local Newspaper, the (Kingston Whig-Standard) and a local radio station.  We could not help feeling maybe getting the press involved would get some progress in finding a group willing to provide some assistance...But we were cautiously optimistic given the start of the work week and less people on holidays.