Osprey nest is on top of a communications tower at the Hilton Head Island office of Palmetto Electric Cooperative. The Co-op created a platform for the ospreys to nest. The platform is roughly 6.5' x 7' chain link fence with hardware cloth underneath.
observer Carol T. reports:Nest 2514
On recent visits to the nest, I was continuing to observe incubation and the web cam supported this as well. However, the web cam blog posted this information on April 19th:
“Unfortunately for the pair, Bea and Jasper, they will not have any chicks to raise this summer. The chicks should have hatched the first full week of April. Today marks the 59th day since the 3rd egg was laid and the 54th day for the 4th egg. This is a first for the pair to not have any chicks hatch. The last two years the chicks and eggs fell through the nest leaving the pair with no offspring. As you may recall the first and second egg were from a different male.
Bea and Jasper will likely cover the eggs where they will break apart and decompose. We are not sure how long the pair will continue to incubate the eggs. After so many years of successful osprey seasons, it's hard to believe we are in our third consecutive year with no juvenile ospreys to see fledge. It is our conclusion that the eggs failed due to infertility.”
Very sad news. Let’s hope that next season will bring an end to this trend.
observer reports:
According to the blog on April 10:
“Today marks the 48th day since the 3rd egg was laid. Chicks normally hatch 34 - 42 days after being laid. It's very possible that these eggs are not viable. We keep watching and wishing the pair the best of luck.”
I observed an adult in nest incubating on April 4th, 6th, and 10th.
The webcam verifies this, and I’ve viewed the webcam when both Jasper and Bea were in the nest together, and a few times when Jasper was on the eggs alone.
Observer reports:
Not much activity at this nest when I’ve visited. The web cam reports that March 28 and March 31 mark the the fifth week for the 3rd and 4th eggs.
Jasper continues to bring fish to the nest and takes over incubation duties while Bea takes a break. Should be getting pretty close to the eggs hatching!
Observer notes: Bea continues to incubate the eggs, which is verified by the web cam and blog, and I am able to get a glimpse of her in the nest when I visit. No major drama this past week!
Bea laid egg #4 on Saturday, Feb. 24th.
She is now incubating two eggs (#3 and #4) On 2/28 an intruder tried to land on the platform. This was later reported on the blog, but I was actually on site when it took place and watched the entire incident which lasted for about an hour. When the intruder tried to land, Bea was in the nest alone and had to fend off the intruder for a short while until Jasper returned and took over. At that point Bea went back to incubating the eggs. It was a very intense situation, as Jasper and the intruder were involved in an aerial chase for close to an hour until Jasper finally prevailed and the intruder flew away. This was very stressful for Bea during this time as the culprit would fly down quite close to the nest with Jasper in constant pursuit.
The pair in nest #2513 was watching on high alert, so I imagine this ordeal was causing them quite a bit of stress too.
According to the Palmetto blog, It’s not clear when Bea arrived, but it was sometime in January.
A male arrived January 26th that was believed to be her mate Jasper from previous years.
Bea laid her first egg February 12th, but did not incubate it and it was lost almost immediately.
This first male turned out not to be Jasper, who actually was confirmed to arrive on February 14th. Now the real Jasper and Bea settled down and began to mate.
Bea laid a second egg February 16. (This egg was undoubtedly from the previous male). This egg was covered over.
Bea laid a third egg on February 21st and it is possible this egg is from Jasper. She immediately incubated this egg and continues to do so.
When I visited the nest today, February 23rd, I observed her sitting down in the nest exhibiting a posture with a flat back. So this matches up with the blog reports. She was in this posture for the 30 minutes I was there, while Jasper was in and out of the nest.
Past Seasons
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Nesting Diaries