Observations & Images
18 May 2006
Age of nestling(s) in days: 37
|
|
Observations & Images
|
|
| A quiet day around the Osprey nest, unlike all of yesterday's excitement, which saw the female Osprey alert for trouble and one of the nestlings moving restlessly around the nest. The head of the second larger nestling is visible below and to the left of the female Osprey. | |
|
Close observation showed the head did not appear to move of its own volition. The activities of the adult Ospreys seemed to cause the head to slowly slide downward out of sight based on the pictures taken throughout the afternoon. Tragically, the bird could be dying or already dead. It should be noted that the bird looked ill on 15 May though it gave the impression of acting normally on 17 May. |
| The female Osprey got it in her mind to work on the nest which she did continuously for about twenty minutes. What was surprising was the amount of material she brought back in a flurry of flights during that short period of time. Here she lands after her first collecting trip with a talon-full of grass. | |
|
As soon as she dropped the grass off she was airborne again quickly returning to the nest with a second talon-full of grass. |
| Her third flight brought what appeared to be dried seaweed or, possibly, moss back to the nest. | |
|
She sets out on her fourth collecting flight. |
| She returned with more grass on her fourth flight. | |
|
Her fifth flight had her bringing a stick back. |
| Here she positions the branch which she carries in her bill. | |
|
Even more grass comes back on her sixth flight. |
| Her work was interrupted by a male Osprey stranger which had followed her back to the nest. Here she cranes her neck to get a good look at the trespasser hovering over the nest who she scared off with the usual warning cries. | |
|
After the Osprey stranger left the female was not interested in leaving the nest. |
| Soon afterward her mate appeared carrying a large fish which he took into the nearby pines. | |
|
The female flew toward the male and hovered near him getting a good view of his activity but the male ignored her. |
| He spent a long time working on removing the fish's head. | |
|
The female and the nestlings(?) let loose many hungry sounding cries to try and attract the male into bringing the fish to the nest but he continued to ignore them. |