Why There Are No Ospreys at the Hog Island Nest Cam

The Great Horned Owl didn't come back, but another intruder caused Rachel, Steve, and their surviving chick to move in a hurry: wasps.

Baby Bailey, the last remaining Osprey chick of Hog Island nest-cam stars Rachel and Steve, just can’t seem to catch a break.

After being tormented by a predatory Great Horned Owltwice in the,the family needed some time to rest and recoup. But a smallerwinged intruder recentlytook up residencevery close to home.Recently, sharp-eyed viewers of the from Hog Island, Maine, discovered that wasps had built their colony right inthe Ospreys’ nest. On Saturday, the stinging horde grew too much for the two-month-old Bailey. In the clip above, the chickwhipsits head and scratches at its face as it's surrounded by insects. Finally, around 2:38, it leaps off the platform, plunging 35 feet down to the ground and out of sight of the camera. The bird was found unharmed: It wasable to break itsfall by using itswings—askillthat many growing avians share.

Bailey's daring divewas just thestart of an eventful weekend.As the vulnerable chick flopped around, it byEric Snyder, Hog Island facilities manager and seasoned raptor rescuer, toa second nesting site on the mainland. Snyder built thealternate “boathouseplatform”last year to create a local Osprey network that couldhelp Rachel and Steve defend against Bald Eagle attacks. Another pair nested there earlier this season, but they went M.I.A. after their sole egg failed to hatch. Relocating Bailey to the boathouse would keep the birdclose enough for Rachel and Steve to find and feedit, Snyder says. “There’s evidence that moving a chick—or even an egg—up to a quarter mile away will still allow the parents to attend to it.”

Turns out, though, the platform wasn’t quite so abandoned; afemale Osprey began threatening the chick as soon as it settled in. So Snyder decided to build the young bird a place of its own, about 90 feet away from its original home. It took Snyder and his fellow staffers an hour to assemble slats of wood and sticks to create a brand new nest on the island. The same evening he scaled the boathouse to retrieve Bailey for yet another change of venue—one that doesn't currently have a camera trained on it.

While the young raptor may be old enough to jump ship, it needs a platform until it’s ready to fend for itself completely. Ospreys prefer to land on elevated snags and limbs, so chicks have to stay put as long as their parents are feeding them. Even when they’re close to fledging “it takes a while for these birds to exercise their wings and take off,” Snyder says. Once they do,it requires a few more weeks for them to learn how to fish. Until then they continue living off of mom and dad.

Despite all this drama, Bailey is expected tostart flying soon, though the timelinecould be delayed given all the bird hasfaced. Whenever it does finally get off the new nest, live-cam viewers should be treated to regular visits again. Roving fledglings typically come back to their first home, Snyder says.For now, however, people can enjoy fantasticscenes of Hog Island and its wild waterfront. And who knows, maybe a far-adrift guest,,will drop by to fill the spotlight.

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