June 17. Day 22 for the chick! As many have noted, there are noticeable growth changes over the course of a day during this high growth-rate period. The absolute fastest rate is approximately between days 30 to 35, but the pace now is close to that. The wings will continue to elongate and get a little awkward as strength catches up. So far, there’s been plenty of fish to fuel that growth!
The chick watched dad move a stick then gave it a try. Last year’s trio all moved sticks regularly, and original dad’s only occasionally. It will be interesting to see if that’s an actual trend as years go on or just a coincidence.
Sunday, June 16. The chick is 3 weeks old today and seems to grow moment to moment! They seem strong, curious, and unhesitant to urge mom to call for fish.
UPDATE: Dad accidentally carried off the netting! (This is why jumping to quick intervention is often not the ideal choice.)
Bird netting has been in the nest for a day now, but so far, it hasn’t caused a problem. It’s stiff nature makes it less of an entanglement hazard than a more flexible netting like fish net, thankfully. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a hazard, just less of one. The chick has been on top of it multiple times without entangling, so that’s somewhat encouraging. With luck mom or dad will hook it and carry it off accidentally.
Boulder County has a non-intervention policy, but they have been notified as a heads up. We’ve had many potential dangerous items in the nest, and they are typically resolved by the ospreys. With this being a human-made item, should it cause a true entanglement issue, any action or non-action decision will be made by wildlife biologists.