No one can tell me that watching a single Osprey rise out of the sea with a fish in its talons can’t be a life changing experience. That’s exactly what happened to me so I am absolutely sure of it.
And it’s why I’m so excited that The Little Egg Foundation and I have been asked to build the next generation of software for OspreyWatch: the citizen science program created by the Center for Conservation Biology to collect data about nesting Osprey all over the world. Even our own Ben Wurst, the NJ Osprey Project, and The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ use OspreyWatch!
I’m thrilled to share all of the innovative data collection and analysis strategies we’ve developed at NestStory with this new effort. I’ve got the chills right now; mostly from that sudden realization I’ve been walking down a road for years, never realizing it was taking to me to exactly where I was most needed, and therefore, where I am supposed to be.
I miss writing Readings From The Northside, very, very much. NestStory had me so busy this year I’m now sitting on piles of photos, videos, and stories so vast I wonder if even I will get a chance to enjoy them! I had hoped to carve out some time this winter but it looks like that won’t happen now either. There is a real urgency to getting OspreyWatch launched by the spring. Too many areas close to my heart suffered catastrophic losses of Osprey and horrific starvation last spring due to a lack of fish. Collecting and quantifying these tragedies are the foundational step in reversing them.
I pray that good people who love wild animals will step forward this year and help support The Little Egg Foundation. This will no doubt be our most challenging season yet; not only being consumed by launching the new OspreyWatch, but it will be our biggest season at NestStory with lots of new species and organizations joining us. Even New York City’s beach nesting birds will be documented in NestStory this year. Big city Plovers! Who knew?
So if you find this post, please consider joining us in helping to support animals and the people who help them with our software; from Burrowing Owls in Florida, to Peregrine Falcons in Maine, and now, with over 10,000 Osprey nests located all over the world.
I’m terrified of the responsibility facing me. But I’m game. And to keep myself sane I’m going to do my best to post a little nugget to the Readings every now and then, just to remind myself of what it’s all for, and to make sure these memories live on somewhere other than just my heart.
So here is one I don’t want to lose…
The situation here is that an Osprey nest near some power lines caught fire this summer. The three tiny chicks in the nest miraculously survived, but the nest was destroyed and the babies had no place to go. So Ben urgently hopped on his boat and started looking for a nest to foster them. He found one in Barnegat Bay that looked to be a pretty good fit. And the adults were Project Red Band alumni too!
Even though it felt like it was meant to be, fostering is a difficult gamble. But it’s an important technique to develop and master. So I offered a live feed camera from The Little Egg Foundation to put at the nest so we could monitor, record, and try understand why the fostering may or may not have been successful.
We had just installed the three chicks, the camera, and a big, fat, fresh bunker at the foster nest and were racing back across the bay as the sun set and darkness enveloped us. We couldn’t help but nervously check the camera for the first time before we even got back to the dock. We were amazed by what we saw.
Not only was mom already incubating the mysterious, new babies, but dad was there too. And he was feeding mom! We hadn’t even gotten off the bay and we already knew it was a home run. Knowing those young were safe and warm under mom, while dad gently and patiently fed her, was more that we could have ever hoped to see as evidence that this was going to be a success.
So of course I hit “Record”.
Seeing a male Osprey feed an incubating female beak-to-beak is as sweet as it is rare.
Happy Holidays. I hope all of your stories have happy endings too.