With heavy heart it must now be reported that the late but beautiful
Osprey nest on our platform in Leeds Creek is now empty.   The little ones
hatched in mid-June, with the first one showing up on Father's Day.  The
second must have hatched within a day or two after that.  By some
coincidence the hatch date almost exactly matched that for the 1999 pair
that managed the first successful nest on this spot.
    For almost a full month things seemed to be going fine.  Oh, the little
ones squabbled a bit at feeding time, but 'pop' was a good hunter, and there
seemed to be so much food around that these little ones never did seem
famished when the new meals were brought in.  The past week with its very
hot days did seem to be making it pretty hard for them.  Mother Osprey did
all she could each day to give them some shade from her wings, but the two
were so big that her shading was not really very effective.  All four Osprey
were seen to be panting and panting - a situation recorded beautifully with
even my low technology coupling of digital camera and spotting scope - on
July 17th.
    And then - on the morning of July 19 - there was only one baby in the
nest!  What could have happened?  These little ones were still nearly a
month away from normal fledging.  Did the bigger one kick the little one out
of the nest?  Had nature played the normal scene of letting the bigger one
survive in conditions of high heat like this?  We did not know, and tended
to blame the aggressive larger chick for some kind of untoward action with
respect to the younger brother (or sister).
    And then - on the morning of July 20 - the second baby was also gone!
Quite promptly we now felt the mystery was solved.  At 1:30 a.m. on July 20,
I had heard lots of frantic calling by one of the Osprey - I think it was
the adult female doing the calling.  It was a moonlight night, but still too
dark to see any details at the nest.  But with the vacant nest the next
morning, the story is pretty clear.  Great Horned Owl!  The Great Horned
Owls have been regularly heard in our yard in other years and at other times
of the year.  I guess they have to eat too, but I watch up to six rabbits on
our lawn at any given time - why couldn't the owls be satisfied with an
occasional rabbit?
    So endeth another year is the on-going sequence of nesting attempts on
our Osprey platform.  This adult pair seemed very nice.  Perhaps they will
try again next year.  But the track record on this site is not really very
good.  Osprey successful in 1999 and 2002.  Canada Goose hatched and fledged
four in 2004.  And Owls 2 - Ospreys 0 in 2005.
 
Les Roslund

Talbot County
Easton MD 21601