Nesting Diaries
Diane R reports:
No chicks in sight this year but Daisy and Duke continue to stay around the nest. Duke has been bringing material back to the nest so they can repair damage caused by wind and rain. Fingers crossed things go better for them next year.
Note: We will call this nest unproductive this season, and hope they succeed next year.
Diane R reports:
Duke and Daisy have both been leaving their nest for long periods of time and I no longer see them bringing food back so I'm assuming the little ones did not survive for some reason. Yesterday there were several crows hopping around the nest but no ospreys were around. Today there were four ospreys having quite an argument and two of them were actually in the nest flapping their wings at each other. Their nest is starting to fall apart a little bit so, if they stay, quite a bit of repair work will need to be done.
I'll continue to monitor and send updates if there are notable changes.
NOTE: Based on this, it is possible that the nestling did not survive. It would be big enough to be left alone for a time but the crows are a bad sign. We will see if anything developes, but this nest may be unsuccessful this season.
Diane R reports:
As I mentioned early on, the tree Duke and Daisy chose was not the best so the recent heavy rains and wind was very hard on their nest. In spite of that things seemed to be quite normal, we just haven't seen any little heads yet. Today at about 2pm I was watching and it was very quite There were two crows on branches around the nest but there were no ospreys squawking. Eventually one crow jumped right into the nest and stayed there for 2 or 3 minutes. I went back out about 4:30pm and the crows were back on the surrounding branches but about 5 minutes later Daisy flew back to the nest and had something small in her claws. She was very vocal for a long time so I looked around for Duke and found him eating a fish in a nearby tree. I never saw him bring a portion of the fish back to the nest and unfortunately I had leave. I will try and keep an eye out for activities again tomorrow but I am very concerned we may have lost the little ones.
NOTE: While a crow might injure a very young nestling, any young in this nest are over 3 weeks old and may still be ok.
Diane R reports: Carol T shared three photos which have been posted. we're confident there has been a hatching, we just don't know how many yet.
Diane R reports:
Nothing new to report, they are still in the incubation process. The only thing that has happened is three times in the past week a rogue osprey has been soaring near the nest. Duke and Daisy both stay in the nest and make a lot of noise. One time I watched the third osprey actually land on one of the supporting nest branches and Duke flapped his wings and chased it away.
It shouldn't be much longer before we see or hear the hatchlings.
Diane R reports: I think Daisy and Duke have begun the incubation process. I noticed on Saturday, April 8th, Daisy stayed in the nest until Duke brought her a fish. When she left to eat he remained in the nest until she returned and then he flew away. I watched their nest again today, 4/11/23, and they followed the same procedure. Their nest must be more of a bowl shape because I haven't been able to see them when they settle in.
Diane R reports: closeup pictures of Duke and Daisy on March 23rd. They are both still sitting outside the nest so no eggs yet. 2 Photos posted from Carol T.
Diane R reports:
I took this picture on March 15th with my cell phone so it's not great but at least it shows the nest they've built.
The dog walkers in my neighborhood decided our birds needed to be named so they are now referred to as Daisy and Duke.
They continue to improve on their nest and Duke has faithfully been giving Daisy a portion of each fish he catches. They both continue to be out of the nest at the same time so I assume there are no eggs yet.
Diane R reports: The male arrived on Feb. 19th and the female arrived on Feb. 27th. Observed them mating on March 2nd and on March 7th and 8th the male brought a fish to the female.
They are quite active trying to build a secure nest. The top of this tree was twisted off during hurricane Matthew and there are not that many branches for them to work with. They attempted to build a nest last year but were very unsuccessful and from what I've read this is very common because they are just learning.
Two monitors, Diane R and Sue A, will report on this nest, which was first added to the database March 6, 2023.