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A Harsh Spring Causes Failures in Many Other Maurice River Nests
Although our subject nest has thus far escaped tragedy, many others in our river system are not doing as well. The cold rainy spring (2003) has had dramatically negative impacts on the osprey population. We have discovered nests with extreme variations in size and vigor among siblings, with one chick likely starved to death discovered with two healthy chicks. Many nests that had eggs were abandoned and empty. In these photos of two other nests, we see a runt with its much healthier sibling, and then two robust chicks (12”) with their starved nest mate. Often a runt is killed by the stronger, but in this case interestingly there are no signs of hostility, simply of starvation (as evidenced by a protruding breast bone and sunken abdomen). Last year we banded 60 chicks; this year the best case scenario will be about 35.
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