Ethel waits patiently for Mark-8 to abandon his efforts at seduction.
When Mrs. Bennet split upon the arrival of Ethel back to Island Creek, Ethel took the opportunity to fly right into Nest 2 that Mrs. B had abandoned. Nearly immediately, Ethel began fighting a female intruder hopping between Nest 1 and Nest 2.
Mr. Bennet did not engage in the battle, he perched at the lip of his Nest 2 and let Ethel handle the pushing and shoving.
Note: Ospreys more enthusiastically remove an intruder of their own gender than the opposite, but they will ultimately get rid of any intruder imposing upon their territory.
Mark-8 wasn’t anywhere to be seen. And when the intruding female hopped to Nest 1, Ethel fought her off that nest as well. But Ethel mostly remained on Nest 2. She allowed Mr. B to mount her a few times and presented him with the same noncompliant behavior she’d given Mark-8.
By shifting her weight, Ethel could knock a male off balance and sometimes off her back entirely. Often that was the end of matters. When she leaned forward with a flat back, flat as a tabletop, she did not drop her head or lift her tail. Flat. When matters chanced to reach the stage of tail swishing, every view I caught, suggested she swished counterpoint to the needs of the male’s flailing tail.
Mr. Bennet, who had been happily mating away with Mrs. Bennet, had been abandoned by his preferred mate, twice, and was now being messed with by the bird who’d possibly caused it. He went fishing. 
He returned with his fish and ate it all, perched atop the Dock Pole, where he could look down into Nest 2, not 50 feet away. He ate the fish as he watched Ethel beg from the nest below. When he’d finished the fish he left and returned with another fish and did it again. And then he did it all yet again.
The day after Mr. B’s solo fish feast, on April 1, Mrs. Bennet returned and sent the females packing, which included not only Ethel but the recently arrived Martha. Although George had also returned, Martha hadn’t yet touched down on the hot mess of his beloved Purple Martin hotel.
Previous episode 2023-2: Big Mama Attacked
Next Episode 2023.3 Mrs. Bennet Guts It Out
Leave a Reply