sometimes ospreys surprise me and today was one of those days, the male was on the nest feeding the female. i could clearly see 2 small chicks in the nest and i think the female may have fed one tiny head but mostly she was eating what the adult male was feeding her! this is the 3rd osprey male i have seen do this behavior but the first time it appeared the female was eating more than she was feeding her chicks... interesting for sure.
not certain my incubation date is accurate, the female is laying flat in the nest however she is high as it doesnt appear she has a nest bowl. male was on nest with her then he flew off, a second ospr pair was perched on poles across the gut, i believe they are why this pair is later in incubating. theres been territorial issues.
the runt has been slow to exercise but today i saw it ping ponging across the nest and flying up onto the platforms tall t perch. the adult female came and fed it fish. i did not see the adult male or other 2 juveniles. I believe this runt will be flying tmr if not later today!
one chick took advantage of the SSW 12 mph winds and gusts this morning and fledged landing on the gravel by the condos, then in about 30 minutes took off over the water, cricled back and landed on the condo roof but made it back about 2 hours later. the second chick is helicoptering high above the nest and should be in the air tomorrow. there is a smaller chick that is still laying deep in the nest for large parts of the day and may not fly for few more days at least.
8:00 pm 2 chicks visible in the nest with adult female perched on the pole by the water. i am getting reports all 3 chicks are still in the nest but did not confirm that this evening
getting reports of aggression in the nest from larger 2 chicks on the runt, but today at 7 pm the nestlings seemed calm.the adult female was feeding one larger chick while 2 other chicks were laying in the nest. the adult male flew in for a brief flyover of the nest then landed on his favorite sign perch at the waters edge.
3:00 today, female was on nest feeding what initially looked like 2 chicks but eventually I saw a small third chick, appears to be a runt. The adult male was on a post at water's edge.
4 pm today observed both ospr at nest and waters edge. male brought large stick and later the female brought in grass and seaweed. not much digging in the nest bowl. the female is not banded.
10:45 this morning, lots of action out over Assawoman bay. The male was on his fave pole at the water line and the female was standing in the nest making it impossible to see if she has a leg band. There was a few interlopers that caused the male to take off to guard the airspace and then the female joined him in a chase and eventually they were started their own scrapping but ended up with the female landing on the nest and the male coming in to copulate. Marriage is tough but then you make up! I still could not see her legs. Maybe next visit.
female up on plat/T perch, male on fave pole at waters edge. It was extremely windy around 2 pm, SW 20 mph with gusts, warm 69, sunny.I did not have my scope because of the high winds and so I could not confirm if female is banded. Male flew to nest.
large sticks have been added to the nest. have been seeing the female staying at the nest and the male bringing her fish after he has his share on the waters edge dining pole.
after at least 2 days of scuffling with a few ospreys today one pair was settled on the nest and then they both flew to the waters edge to perch on the 2x4 poles they love. I can not see if the female is banded.
the day after I last saw this juvenile the weather was clear skies, temp 82, NNE winds at 19 mph. It may have been the perfect day for this youngster to migrate as I have not seen him since. godspeed to "my" last juvenile of the 2017 osprey nesting season.
9-25 11:30 1 juvenile perched on small pole at waters edge. 1 adult male flew in from ocean area with a fish and circled the juvenile, landed on the old duck blind for just a second, flew back over the juvenile who opened its wings a bit and softly called then it followed the adult towards the ocean but returned in a few minutes and appeared to fish along the nearby marina lagoon but was out of my sight line.
9-26-17 juvenile with a fish at nest. a pair of adult osprey harassed the juvenile briefly then flew away. I wonder if the original pair was trying to reclaim their nest site before migration...
today around 3 pm one adult male on the favorite duck blind frame as the juvenile perched on the pole at waters edge peering into the water. neither had a fish.
will wait a few more days to close the data on this nest. adult female last seen8-30-17 altho she may have been in the area just farther from nest as often occurs, adult male last seen9-15-17. juvenile on nest crying softly on 9-18-17. it appears to be a male. he did not have much time with his parents, just 19 days. hope he is a good fisherman and makes it south at such a young age. will update his departure closer to end of September for fish and wildlifes closing of the data for 2017. often I still see osprey into October so will continue to monitor this nest site.
yesterday I observed the osprey family at this nest and can confirm the adult female does not have a rt leg band. This most likely explains the late nesting activity since I noted a rt leg banded female at the nest 5-26 -17. This female also has a light necklace unlike the original female at the nest in the spring. she had a dark necklace. lets see who is the female nester in 2018. finally today the very large chikc fledged off the nest around 8 am in NE 14mph winds with gusts near 20 mph. She was in the air or on a light post or nearby roof all day until she was finally able to land back on the nest around 4:45 pm. She was rewarded with dinner from her father. This is officially my last fledgling of the 2017 osprey nesting season. Now I hope this very late osprey baby can survive to migrate for the winter. I will continue to monitor the adults to see how long the adult female remains to help rear this new flyer.
chick is still no very active but is very large. it still spends a lot of time laying in the nest. both adults are very attentive. I have not been able to confirm the rt leg band on the adult female and there is a possibility that this is a different female then the beginning activity/data for the new platform. may explain the late nesting....
Nest check, male was on his favorite pole with a fish and female was deep in nest. I waited and soon he took fish to nest and female took it up onto perch to eat and male rocked down onto eggs. I must soon be time for hatchlings.
indeed the female was incubating today. I arrived to see her turning her eggs and then she settled down into the nest and remained there the entire 30 minutes I observed. I did not see the male as he was not on his fave perch. This is very late to begin incubation. Why it took this pair to lay eggs is any-one's guess. We assumed it was the pair from last year but perhaps it is actually a new pair. Or perhaps there was some kind of disturbance or they simply had to acclimate to finally having a nest platform after past few years of hanging out on the old duck blind frame all summer long? All that is certain is the chicks, should they live to fledging, will have a tough start in life. This may be one of the latest incubation dates in my five years of monitoring osprey. The key is will the adult female stick around long enough to care for the youngsters or will it fall to the adult male to rear them? Lets see how incubation goes first....
checked this pair at 6 pm yesterday 5/24/17 and the male was on his fave perch along waters edge and the female came from direction of the ocean and landed on the nest. the male quickly flew to her and then back to his perch. the nest looked very built up but no incubating behavior. today the homeowner text me and said the female was low in the nest past 2 days... hmmm, not what I observed. but homeowner believes incubation has begun so I will confirm this weekend.
no spreys on the nest today. the male was on his fave pole at waters edge. a local homeowner tells me there has been quite a bit of osprey squabbling over the platform but I do not see other osprey when I visit this location. she also said she thought a hawk was harassing the pair and I have never seen that either. I do see many eagles bothering osprey but usually just air battles to steal the ospreys fish.
checked on the pair at this new platform today, male was on his favorite 2x4 at waters edge and female was bringing large pieces of seaweed material. the nest has some shredded plastic bag hanging down but doesn't look like a concern. hoping this pair incubates this season.
The male likes to perch on an old 2X4 at the marsh edge. he eats his fish there. The female hangs out father away on another old duck blind frame. Today she was eating a fish and the male flew to her and attempted to copulate.She then flew over to the nest and perched on the nest perch.The male landed on her back very briefly but went back to his 2x4. The female has a very large necklace, is rt. leg banded and the male the pure white head with black diamond on forehead. This is a common trait of the inland bays males..
homeowner states the pair has been at the nest since last Tuesday or so so I will date that as the actual arrival as I have seen one at a time with one perched on a channel pole and this was their behavior 2016 nest season. new nest material in nest so I feel comfortable in listing the nest site as active.
reports of an osprey pair visiting the platform and an air battle at the nest site but when I checked today I saw just one osprey a few hundred feet away perched on a wood pole along the main channel.
Early this morning I helped place this new platform in the marsh near the Fenwick Rt. 54 bridge, Lighthouse Cove. The local townhome community requested this platform and the landowner gave permission to place it in his marsh. years past the osprey have nested on 2 different dilapidated duck-blinds. last year they just spent their time on the duck-blind framing. the platform is far enough off the water to keep the osprey safe from kayakers and SUP's...we hope.
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