nest is swaying in the 40 mph NW wind event all day today and we had heavy rains last night, reports of many snag nests down in Delaware, the female is on the nest and digging in the nest bowl today, she may incubate soon, i just hope the nest holds this entire season....
they are trying to build a nest on 2 different spindly snag tops, neither looks like it will hold a nest, they are bringing in fish and scuffling with other osprey but staying true to their territory when they could just go to the creek and use the empty BM# platform!
still not seeing any tree chosen for a nest and only seeing glimpses of this pair, mostly in a far snag to eat fish and some sparring with the Pine Needle nest pair.
the pair is here but their snag came down in early winter so they are just looking around, visiting some of the nearby platforms, bringing in fish and obviously searching for a new nest snag... interesting to see what they decide on...
2 juveniles chasing one another and crying loudly for fish, one adult brought in a fish and a battle ensued. i have not ID'd the adult female but from the number of ospreys flying around in the tree area at the nest i am pretty sure she is still around.
early morning 7-26 the nest had just one chick on it so i knew one had flown. then the nest was often empty ( i can see from my house)today at 2:30 both fledge were on the nest and both were eating so that tells me most likely both adults still in town tho i usually can see just one thru the tree.
both chicks and both adults on the nest at 8:30 this morning, one adult, most likely the female, was feeding the chicks. chicks are getting very big and should fly soon if not already
2 chicks clearly visible at evening feeding yesterday. we went past with our boat as that is the best vantage point for this very tall snag nest. the adult male was on a nearby snag tree eating his own fish while momma osprey fed her 2 chicks.
finally! I see the pair together on the nest with one clearly feeding..I dont know if my incubation date is off or I just missed feeding behavior but something doesn't add up here! it was a crazy early season for these 2 as they seemed to be off and on the nest for a few weeks after arrival. no matter, there are chicks right now!if they grow to show their little heads perhaps i can figure it out then.
I wonder if there wasn't a different male or even female on this nest since I began monitoring. That might explain all the shuffling off and on the nest and apparent incubating then not incubating and then more copulating that for today has been at least past 2 days of consistent incubating behavior with one on nest early morning and at dark.
I have no idea what this pair is doing. I can watch from my home and any time I check this nest something different is happening. I saw one deep in the nest off and on all day, I saw female on the branch and the male came and they attempted to copulate. Who knows what is going on. The nest is active and there is some deep nesting.. otherwise its anyone's guess.
this pair is just not serious about their nest. I know now they are no longer incubating if they truly were before. they come and go and seem to harass the other pairs around the colony. will wait to change the incubation date, assuming they get down to business this season.
earlier today i did not see the osprey at the nest, and again now during a lull in the heavy rain storm. perhaps the bird is too deep for me to see. if not, she is up off her egg(s).
2 osprey at the nest this morning at 7:30 AM but I will wait to confirm their occupancy as there has been quite a bit of shuffling around the colony past few days.
end of season: the nest is still intact after all the storms. adult female last seen 8-16-17. adult male last seen 9-17-17 having a fish on a nearby snag. I hope the great horned owl pair moves away for the 2018 season.
This day I saw the adult male on a nearby tree sleeping and the adult female was on another tree nearby calling softly. They were not next to the nest. I saw some nest material brought to the nest a few ties but I could tell there was no longer any chicks. I would guess the owl got this nest too but of course I do not know fro certain. this was the owls nest in 2015.
yesterday I was wondering if the great horned owl that took both chicks from the nearby nest had gotten to this nest but I finally saw an adult feeding one chick. Today I saw an adult on the nest just once and no feeding. hard to see whats going on.
No feeding observed past few days, no chicks visible. Today I rarely saw any birds on the nest except near sunset I saw one eating on the nest but no feeding. I believe the nest may have failed, I hope this is not another great horned owl attack.
the nest is much bigger and really lopsided, oh my. it doesn't seem like it is big enough to hold chicks.I think there is another pair trying to build a nest really close to this pair so not much of anything is getting done although I do see both osprey at the nest regularly now.
this pair sees to spend more time off the nest than on it. and since some branches broke off the snag during the winter I wonder if they have enough base to build up the nest.i have not seen them work on it. at sunset tonight all other pairs were on their respective nests but this pair was no where to be seen.
No birds seen on the nest past few days but I have seen ospreys in the trees nearby and calling. Yesterday 5 crows were in the nest. Today I see both at nest. The nest may not be able to be built up as some branches have broken off the snag over the winter and the nest is falling.
This family did well this season and at least one fledgling and the adult male stayed late into September. There were 3 female fledglings and they remained together till about 8-28-16. 8-21-16 I kayaked down their lagoon and all 3 fledglings were perched on a snag just over the water and I could almost touch all 3 of them as I paddled by. They were so intent on staring into the water they didn't respond to me. Beautiful big females with dark necklaces. the adult male had his hands full with at least one still on the nest begging for food on 9-2016 when a bald eagle felw by and she quited for just a few minutes. But the adult male regularly dropped fish to her on the nest and he remained a few days after she had migrated around the 24th....I believe he left around the 2nd of october.Their disheveled snag nest is still holding up under many high wind storms but I hope it comes down this winter because I think its precarious at best.
I am not seeing all 3 chicks now and I am concerned because the nest is not very big. But I do see 2 chicks now and then and both adults tending to them regularly. There may be 3 chicks but not confirming at this time. I can watch this nest from my home with a scope but its a little obscured by other trees especially when it is windy which is just about every day here on the bay! The chicks are not exercising as they are still a bit young.
Condensed dairy-6-17-16, both adults on the nest, one is feeding chicks. 6-23-16, first appearance of 2 chicks visible! 7-1-16, 1 adult is feeding 3 very small, hungry chicks that are jockeying for feeding position. I can watch this nest with my scope through a window at my home. I have been waiting to confirm the 3 chicks as I thought there may have been 4! A rarity! But it does appear now that there are 3.
Definitely one chicks has hatched as both adults are on the nest fussing deep down into it. The female then seemed to lay down to eat and then seemed to be picking at something in the nest a she sat a bit higher. She may still be incubating. The male just stared down into the nest as I have so often observed the adults do when the chicks have recently hatched.
This afternoon the male osprey was pretty upset with a great blue heron that has a nest nearby and he chased him back and forth amongst the loblolly pines for about 5 minutes. The female just incubated calmly in the nest :)
I can view this nest from my home so I check it many times each day. For the past few weeks this pair has been quietly incubating and sharing duties. I haven't even seen any other ospreys harass this pair, perhaps because it is amongst a tree line and next to a home construction site. The nest seems a bit precarious the way it is built on a snag that is dangling its top but maybe that dangling branch is somewhat of a cantilevering effect for the nest material? It does blow freely in the wind anyway! I sure hope this pair will finally have a few- heck even just one chick this season!
I could write a short story about this pair! They built a snag nest in 2014 when I believe they were sub adults. They returned to it 2015 only to find a great horned owl raising two owlets in it. They built a new snag nest a few hundred feet away and incubated eggs up until a few days from hatching date but lost the nest during a storm. They then moved to the original nest (owls had vacated) for the remainder of the 2015 season, no egg laying. Then in winter 2015 the nest blew down. They arrived this year with very little snags to choose from and spent 3 weeks building a pitiful nest on another downed tree. The nest doesn't look very strong and is quite small. But they just started incubating. I hope they have success this year!!!
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