Nesting Diaries
male at nest, flushed off nest by a woman who walked far back into the gut, stay back signs need to be updated , osprey season in DE is Mar thru Sept. not Apr thru Aug. Ospreys are arriving earlier and need to be able to remain at nest to prepare for egg laying in a timely way...
adult male in favorite tree
juvenile in far tree with fish, adult male nearby, juvie crying and eating...
docent day at the preserve, people keeping a safe distance, one incubating most of my shift
observed copulating today while i was at the beach area, very nice day, sun and 63 degrees with SE winds at 6 mph
finally confirmed a pair, copulating in NW wind 13 mph, cold . 34, overcast gusty wind day
yay, one at nest at 5 pm. S 5 mph, sun, 60
adult male guarding nest area today
ad male in far tree this afternoon
one juvie on tree crying for the fish the ad male had on another branch
one juvenile on begging tree today, did not see ad m
one adult and one juvei in separate trees this afternoon, juvie crying for fish and adult took off, later juvie went to the nest and cried, did not see adult return while i was at the preserve
consistently seeing 2 chicks at nest now
feeding today at 4pm no chicks seen
observed many people approaching the nest area today, warm sunny day, so doubt the eggs were harmed in any way by the humans flushing the birds off the nest, at least I hope not.
male brought in big fish to nest today, no incubating behavior observed yet, female happy to see mate
last day to see a juvenile
observed feeding time today, 2 chicks visible
have not been able to get a chick count but everything continues normally with shading and feeding and fishing
both at nest, switch duties and bringing in fish
Native plant sale day with many visitors down at the cove beach and some like to get very close to this nest especially since it is on the preserve map. i monitored the 4 nests from 9-2 and just one group of 6 people and 1 dog went past the stay back sign and of flushed the female off the eggs and both osprey were flying around the peoples heads but for some reason people do not understand why the osprey are at the nest...pretty basic -nests are for incubating eggs and young. i was able to get them to move pretty quick.
2 consistently at nest when I visit, some disturbance from people getting too close
one juvenile hanging its wings to dry on the V of the platform
adult male in back treeline
yesterday 8-17-18 2 juveniles were on the nest, today just one. i do see a few of them in the back tree line with the adults, the female is still here and the male perches on the old platform pole at the cove beach when its not too crowded.
all 3 are coming and going with usually at least one on the nest begging, they are flying to the far back tree line to perch, the adult male has always enjoyed just standing in the shallows of the cove, whenever there are no people or dogs close by.
3 chicks on the nest calling for fish, adult female was on nest then flew out over the cove and i watched her make 3 attempts to get a fish and she failed, then flew back to the v perch and dried her wings but her chicks kept crying. did not see the adult male during my hour there. i expect these 3 to fly soon
3 very large chicks on the nest with one adult female calling for food and then the male arrived carrying a huge fish that he dropped in the nest for mom to feed. these chicks should be in the air very soon.
3 chicks visible all day with mom feeding and dad bringing the fish. i was able to watch them for about 4 hours during my docent duties at the preserve and then again for an evening boat ride.
3 chicks visible with one adult shading today around 3 pm
During my docent duty today i was able to confirm 3 chicks in the nest, at 3:30 pm momma was feeding all 3
So far just one chick seen during feeding
observed male bring fish and the female feeding hatchlings
one incubating today in rain. we have had 7 days or more of heavy rain so it will be interesting to see how it affects the osprey numbers along white creek this season
while this nesting platform is close to an ever widening gut where people continuosly pass a stay back sign and get way too close the osprey seem to be staying on the eggs.
one ospr deep in the nest today, did not see mate.52, sun, SE 9 mph.
female was digging around in the nest this morning and the male was on his pole with a fish. It was so cold and windy i did not stay more than about 10 minutes so cant say if egg laying has occurred. will check again tmr.
one picking around at the side of the nest in downpour this afternoon. I would expect incubation soon but was not able to stay long enough to see if the osprey settled deep in the nest on this miserable day.
just one osprey on the nest perch today with a few more osprey at the other 'farm" nest sites.
Both osprey on the nest chatting loudly today. One was in the nest and the other on the V portion of the nesting platform.
one osprey on the V perch of the platform but about 30 minutes later I saw a single osprey on the platform out on the point so this may be the same bird visiting all the nesting platforms out of boredom.
end of season: adult male last seen 8-17-17 but at least one juvenile remained for quite awhile and was enjoying the fishing at the cove on quieter days.
this family seems to be doing ok even with all the dogs and people hanging out near the nest. I have a feeling the adult male has really stepped it up this season. The chicks are growing fast and look very healthy and well fed
Can not count heads yet but I am consistently seeing the adult pair at the nest and feeding behavior. I am pleased the pair is able to go about their lives with so many people near the nesting platform. Perhaps the stay back signs we placed nearby are working.
incubating osprey flushed off nest today when a man walked past stay back sign and allowed 3 dogs to run close to platform. osprey got back on eggs quickly. this pair abandoned their eggs last season.
still incubating in spite of people passing by a sign placed at 100 feet from the platform and asking people stay 100 feet from the platform. people walk right around the brown sign. this day the nesting pair nearby have abandoned their eggs so I hope this pair is tougher and sits tight.
incubating in a high traffic marsh area of the farm. today she was calling for fish as she was deep in the nest. no mate in sight. I hope she stays very deep as that way people may not even be aware she is in the nest:)
I noticed the male on this platform is rt. leg banded. I do not believe there has been a rt. leg banded male on this nest the past 4 years. in fact the male was often absent. hmm, maybe this female found herself a new mate, or maybe this is a new pair altogether...we will never know unless Delaware starts a color band program. In any case, this is the second rt. leg banded male on my 2017 monitored nests. We may have some ospreys from 2014, the year I helped band in my area...that would be coo l:) This pair is interesting, the female has a very dark broad necklace and the male has a smaller but distinct necklace also.
today first day I confirm a pair on this platform. there was some scuffling for air space a few days ago and I think the female from this nest was here but today her mate arrived and she seems very happy. He brought her a fish while I was at the beach observing. but before that a red tail hawk flew over her and she was very stressed.
After this nest pair failed they dispersed to the far tree line and I did not see them on the nest again. The gut simply had too many people and dogs walking along it directly up to the nesting platform. I will hope for a better 2017 season with permanent stay back signs and respect for the wildlife in this ecological preserve.
5-24-16, incubating.5-26-16, incubating with mate coming and going to nest. 5-27-6, incubating.6-1-16, 1 incubating, one on nest perch. 6-4-6, 1 incubating and one fly off nest. 6-5-16. 1 remains on nest incubating as people walk back the gut and get very close to the nest platform in spite of 4 signs telling them the area was closed and they need to stay back from nest. They leave after some time and osprey male then returns to nest to join incubating female. 6-7-16, one still incubating second bird not nearby. 6-10-16, one in the nest and appears to be turning eggs. 6-12-16 one adult still incubating as 2 people are back in the gut and walked around the sign that tells them to not enter the area. the osprey is sounding a loud warning call. I ask the people to please move back and ask them to obey the signs so this nest pair can have young this year. They move away but as I leave the beach area I see the guy go back to the nest area to retrieve a bait bucket. 6-13-16, one low in the nest incubating. 6-15-16 nest failed. I watch both adults just perched in the nest and then they both fly over to a snag tree they often use as a guard tree and they remain on the snag for over 45 minutes. I believe this nest failed either due to high volume of people at James Farm and no compliance with the osprey stay back signs, or the eggs became water logged during the rains we had last few days. But unless we can watch a nest 24/7 we can never know for sure. I do know this nest platform was moved once due to human disturbance and it is still vulnerable as the gut widens and more people use the James Farm beach unmonitored. This is supposed to be an ecological preserve but it is not monitored or properly protected.
Still incubating. There is some disturbance from osprey that visit the cove to fish as well as the new next door osprey neighbors that I imagine are sub adults. But so far so good at James Farm.
Stay back signs were placed near to the James Farm osprey platforms. I hope people respect the nesting pairs. so far this pair continues to incubate with just an occasional visit from other osprey.
It appears this pair is finally incubating. People continue to walk up close to the nest to photograph and they allow their dogs to wander very close also.
Sadly this pair has not settled down. I think the next door nest has sub adults who harass this pair as well as the many dogs and people that get quite close to the site. Last season the male from this nest disappeared for days on end.. maybe its best they do not lay eggs?? I think he is back because he has the habit of standing at waters edge and there he was today!
This pair spent 4/22/16 on the next platform north(6240) possibly due to a man flying his kite near their platform. As the weather improves James Farm beach has quite a few people and dogs walking close to the platforms.
The pair is doing well and bringing fish and nest material and generally tolerating the flow of human and dog traffic nearby. No signs of incubating yet and there have been some squirmishs with the other nest site pairs as well as some eagle chase and fish stealing excitement.
Finally can confirm both adult osprey on the nest. There has been activity for a few days but too many birds circling over the bay to be certain if they were claiming any of the now 4 platforms in the James Farm cove area. This pair is fiercely guarding their territory against many interlopers.