Nesting Diaries
About two weeks after the two chicks took their first flight they disappeared on two successive nights. This coincided with the arrival of two Great Horned Owl fledglings nearby that could be heard begging for food every evening. I strongly suspect the fledgling or adult GHOWs captured and ate the Osprey fledglings. The adult female Osprey disappeared several days before the young made their first flight. She may have also fallen victim to the owls or perhaps departed early for fall migration as she has done in past years. The adult male Osprey remained around the nest site for three weeks after the young disappeared, calling for them several times per day.
The male first arrived at the nest around 7pm on 19 April 2021. The female made her first appearance around 6pm the following day (20 April 2021)
The mother departed for good around August 20 and the sole surviving nestling and the father continued at or around the n’est until their departure on September 20. The fledgling was extremely vocal when on the n’est and the father, who never seemed to be too far away, would deliver a fish several times a day. The fledgling would often be gone for an hour or two but I never saw it arrive at the n’est with its own fish.
The female returned to the nest after being absent for over a week. During her absence it appeared that the male wasn't bringing many fish to the nest and one of the chicks became very aggressive at feeding times and eventually seemed to kill the other two nestlings. The surviving nestling, under the female's constant attention at the nest, seems to be doing fine and has been making short flights away from and back to the nest in recent days.
The three young have been developing very well and a lot of wing-flapping in recent days but no flights yet. Great Horned Owls have been vocal nearby for a few nights and the female Osprey has not been seen for three days. The male only seems to show up once or twice a day with a fish so the strongest fledgling has become extremely aggressive resulting in the death of a sibling yesterday morning and his remaining sibling this morning!! For us, being able to watch over this nest from our living room has become both a blessing and a source of so much anguish.
So as of right now, one remains fledging, no sign of the mother, and very occasional visits by the father.
Female arrived at nest late on April 17, 2020. She was busy with housekeeping on 18th. A male arrived on the scene on the 19th but she wanted nothing to do with him and wouldn't allow him on the nest even though he tried for much of the day. My gut feeling was that this wasn't "the" male but I may be wrong. There was a second male on the scene late in the day but I wasn't able to keep track of all of the commotion. On the 20th I noticed both a male and a female on the nest at the same time. He brought a few sticks and she arranged them. Two days later they still seem to be getting along but haven't seen any copulation yet.
As of September 1, 2019, all continues well at this nest which I monitor constantly from my living room. One of the three large nestlings disappeared suddenly in mid July, probably to a Great Horned Owl. The two other nestlings fledged successfully and are both still visiting the nest several times a day where the father is providing food. The female seems to have departed in mid-August (like last year) leaving parenting duties to the male.
Both fledglings are rather white breasted/throated suggesting they are both males(?).
For the first time ever the female arrived back to the nest before the male. She arrived at 7:45pm (I had been watching closely all day) on April 17, 2019, and immediately started rearranging sticks. She then caught a small fish, had a snack on a pole adjacent to the nest, then flew upriver at dark.
The next day, April 18, 2019, she made a couple of visits to the nest to rearrange sticks but was away upriver when the male first arrived at 2pm and went immediately to the nest. He then got a fish and started doing an aerial display over the nest and the female arrived after about two minutes. They reunited at the nest, sat back to back, silently, for half an hour!
So wonderful to have them back!!
The adult male continued to provide fish in the nest several times per day until the fledgling finally disappeared on September 19. The adult male stayed an extra day but was not seen today (September 21).
Around July 20th two of the three nestlings disappeared from the nest over the course of two nights. As in the previous year it is strongly suspected that the birds were taken by Great Horned Owls, a pair of which nest nearby. The female disappeared about two days later and it was feared that she had also been predated (this proved not to be the case). The male continued to feed the remaining chick for about a week and then he also disappeared. The remaining chick, who had begun short flights to a nearby telephone pole around July 25, seemed abandoned and starving after being alone for about five days and on August 5th the chick flew into electrical wires and fell to the ground. We rushed to catch it as a rehab centre was standing by to rehabilitate but despite the best efforts of some volunteer firemen and a wildlife officer the bird was able to fly enough to avoid being captured.
We were amazed to see the young bird back in the nest the following morning and miraculously the male returned later that day and resumed bringing fish to the young bird. A few days later the female also returned and stayed with the young on the nest for about a week but then disappeared again. She hasn't been back now for over a week but the male continues to bring several fish per day and spends a lot of time perched near the nest (50-200 meters). The young bird is doing very well (as of August 25) and appears healthy and strong and frequently flies off for an hour or two at a time.
This morning the fledgling spent a couple of hours on the nest calling for food but no sign of the male. Has he finally moved out??
7PM UPDATE: The male appeared in mid afternoon and eventually delivered a fish to the fledgling at the nest at 6PM.
Single fledgling is still present in the area and visits nest 3-4 times per day and is very vocal when at nest. Sometimes the adult male (who hasn't migrated yet; female hasn't been seen for about a month) brings in a fish right away, sometimes it takes a while before the male shows up with or without a fish and sometimes the male doesn't show up and the fledgling gets impatient and departs. So far we have never seen the fledgling catch a fish or fly in to the nest with a fish. Hopefully he/she is learning to catch his/her own fish as it is time for them to migrate.