77, E 4mph, sun, good vis, 8:30 am lone chick made first successful flight off and soon back onto nest. later in the day was taking more short flights and landing very smoothly back on the nest next to momma. have not seen the male in a few day but told by homeowner he is bringing fish regularly.
only one osprey chick seen since 6-27-18.female was shaing on 7-1-18 but could not count heads that day. today one was clearly visible during feeding, no others seen. there may be just the one remaining. during the feeding the male returned and took the fish away. when is see a male do that it doesn't look like he is bringing enough fish for the entire family. more established mature males usually drop a fish for the family and go and get themselves a second one.
just 2 chicks seen today with the adult female perched in the nest and watching the sky. one chick was on the nest rim and one was barely visible deep in the middle of the nest bowl.
watched the pair switch incubation duties as the female took her fish to the dining tree last evening so I knew there was no hatchling yet. but today both were on the nest as the female was eating and appeared to feed
report of possible chick feeding behavior early this morning. i watched the pair at the nest for 30 minutes around noon and there was some fussing in the nest but I did not see feeding, male then flew off toward the beach and the female settled deep down in the nest quite low so I would guess chicks are on the way
both at nest today and appeared to switch incubation duties. expecting first hatchling sometime after the 24th if the osprey can keep the eggs dry from the prior 7 days plus of heavy rain with a few more days of rain forecast..
yesterday I observed the female deep in the nest early in the day and then again when I returned late afternoon. Today I checked the nest again 3 times and each time one osprey was very flat in the nest. I believe its incubation time! I have not seen the male ospreys closer guard tree but I do know they eat in a pine grove east of the platform.
the nest looks great , maybe a bit too great. It is already very high and the power company placed a very shallow nesting box on the pole so the nest looks like a storm could still blow it away! There should be some deeper sides or corner boards. Otherwise the pair is doing very well, the female is on the nest often and i watched her bring in seaweed and grasses today. She spent much time digging deep in the nest bowl There should be eggs soon.
the pair is building the nest up every day and today I watched the male soar over the nest with the female perched on the edge and he was carrying a huge fish and headed straight to his favorite dining tree east of the nesting location. The female applauded with her soft call to share that fish. Very happy to see this pair finally have a platform for their nest and of course the property owners are thrilled!
After emails and phone calls from property owners, myself and Tristate Bird Rescue from fall 2017 and then again late Jan.2018 the Power company today installed a wooden nesting platform at the top of the power line. the pole is not active except for cable line at the lower portion of the pole. Finally the (hopefully) returning pair will have a safe place to rear chicks. Thank you Pepco!
end of season: both adults last seen8-20-17 attempting to rebuild a nest on the power pole but it keeps falling down from storms. still waiting to hear if power company will allow a platform placed at top of power pole.
adult pair does sit on power pole, not much nest building, hoping to get a platform extension for the pole, power company will need to give permission as there does not seem to be any other suitable location to relocate the pair that has been there for past 4 years.
yesterday Pete McGowan, US F&W was unable to find a suitable nest for Power Point lone chick and Tri-State needed chick to be released. they approached me to find a suitable nest, it was decided to try 6004, CM 9A.
osprey chick was ready for release fro Tri-State Bird rescue yesterday. Talked with US F&W biologist and he has possible suitable nesting pair for re-homing at Poplar Island, MD. Otherwise we could try nest 6004 as nestling(s) are same age.
A storm came through early this morning and the high winds took the nest down. I was called by TriState Bird Rescue to respond to a call that nearby homeowners had 2 osprey chicks but one was dead. When I arrived the nest was strewn across the gravel road and in a water filled ditch. The adult female was on the power pole attempting to rebuild the nest. I went into the home where the man was feeding the surviving osprey chick some fresh minnow. There was a second smaller osprey chick wrapped in newspaper and an un-hatched osprey egg without a crack in it. I asked the man to please not feed the chick. He had it in a box with a heat lamp. I drove the 2 chicks and the egg to another volunteer with TriState and it is now being assessed at their bird center. I subsequently was told by the homeowner that when he heard the nest was down he found the larger chick laying in the nest material on dry ground and the smaller chick was lying in the water filled ditch. Both were alive when he took them into the house but the smallest one died shortly thereafter. No doubt it had drowned. The chicks were just 8-10 days old at my best guess. We will wait now to see if the lone chick survives and if there is a possibility to re-home the chick. I do not see any possibility to reunite the chick with it's parents as there is not a suitable way to deter the adults from the power line or a suitable location for a temporary platform.
the pair is once again building up the nest on the power line. the nest is very sloppy with strips of something hanging off and nest material all over the electric "stuff" on the poles. I see the second osprey on a pole at the street and the other in the nest most days.
today the pair was back on the nest after a few days of being AWOL. there nest is very sparse and wind damaged from the winter. it doesn't appear they have been working on it. but I have seen them harassing their nearby nesting pairs!
Last log entry that mentions adults on the nest was 7-5-16. On that day they appeared to be busy in the nest with chicks. 7-8-16 no birds seen at the nest. There was a few days of heavy rains. 7-10-16 no birds seen. on 7-12-16 the 2 adults were back on the nest but no nesting activity was seen. Today I saw one adult with a fish do a fly around the nest and then head for the tee line where the pair hangs out. So they are still at the nest but no chicks this year!
Finally I see second adult bring fish to the adult on the nest who feeds a chick. Finally!!! This nest is high and a bit harder to see from the water but I can say for certain there is at least one chick. It will be awhile before I will be able to count heads though!
Just one in the nest. It appears to be sitting higher in the nest so I am not certain it is incubating. The weather today is more 18 mph wind with much higher wind gusts. Such extreme and unrelenting wind must affect the nests.
One osprey is incubating and one arrives to the nest. They do not change duties and no fish was brought. Hmm, I hope this male is a better fish provider when the chicks arrive:)
I finally see the second bird arrive to the nest to relieve the one that is incubating. I still have no idea where the guard perch is. There are a lot of live trees surrounding the house and nest site so the second bird must be hidden from my vantage point across the waterway. Also I have not seen the second bird bring a fish.
I saw a bird in the nest on the 23rd of May and today I confirm its deep in the nest so I will guess incubation began sometime between the 23rd and today. I normally view this nest with my binoculars from a road on another waterway so as not to disturb the nesting bird but I do not get a good vantage point from either location. If I drive up to the nest I am pretty much right under it.
I have continually seen only one bird on the nest since my first sighting of the pair. I can not find the guard perch for the second bird. Today the bird on the nest flew off the nest when I approached in my car. The nest is almost directly above a house and I would guess the birds will have to acclimate to the humans that live there and approach down the gravel road on foot or in cars. It very quiet now but the neighborhood will come alive soon!
I see a pair of osprey circling this nest. The nest was built in 2015, late in the nesting season and seemed to be a single sub adult or solitary bird during that season.
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