Big Daddy delivers a fish to Big Mama, whose crop looks depleted, so she’s probably hungry.
2021 – What I Knew Then, What I Know Now – 2026
The Bennets’ two chicks behaved like characters in a Sesame Street episode about sharing. One would take a bite from a parent as the other watched and waited for the next bite. They were so considerate of one another I named them Jane and Elizabeth Bennet. Ornithologists would attribute such an idyllic first clutch to Mr. B’s true excellence at fishing.
Note: Food shortages create bullies, according to ornithologists. Fish provide everything for Ospreys including hydration. Everything. There is no second choice.
I never saw more than two hatchlings at the Bennets’ nest, but three heads initially popped above the lip at Ethel’s and the Perfects’ nests. The eldest in those two nests bullied and the youngest in each nest quickly perished, a pattern in nests on internet Osprey cams as well. Osplet bullying can become violent and can result in siblicide.
Note: I think “Osplet” and “nestorations” might be words created by contemporary, online birders. They mean exactly what they sound like they mean.
Ample food at the Perfects’ nest ultimately allowed the second chick to catch up in size and gradually reduced that bully’s aggression. The nest calmed down and the two surviving Perfect chicks fledged on equal terms.
Conversely to the other families’ nests, Ethel drudged mostly solo to fledge two chicks from Nest 1. Which led to her ultimately inappropriate name, in honor of Vivian Vance’s character on “I Love Lucy.” Ms. Vance, it was reported, resented Ethel’s characterization as a drudge. But that was the job.
Ethel’s job, as a young, first-time mother, was to fledge Osplets with her nest-mate, who didn’t always bring home the fish. That’s not quite accurate. He’d sometimes bring fish home that he could not relinquish to Ethel or his hungry chicks.
I ended up calling him Mark-8, partially because he resembled Mark-6, taller, leaner, both with pure white chests, minimal and similar dark feather markings on their heads. And I’d seen them fly in tandem as if choreographed, swooping above the creek. And I’d seen Mark-8 fly like that with Ethel, before the eggs arrived. The Marks and Ethel occasionally flew as a trio.
Nevertheless, Mark-8 just couldn’t let go of his fish.
Previous Episode 2021-4: Pride and Prejudice
Upcoming Episode 2021-6: Mark-8, What Else?
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