Tag: Osprey

It was back to the Osprey nest this morning to see how things are progressing.

All three chicks appear to be growing and doing well.

Once the sun made an appearance, the chicks would rest in the shade of mom while awaiting the next food delivery.

This was the second food delivery of the morning since I arrived. While I took photos earlier, conditions were a little better now.

As is usually the case, the female will take the fish from the male,

… and then he will depart. A little crowded with them all in the nest at the same time.

Then she will start feeding the chicks. In this case, the smallest one.

Once it had its fill,

… she offered the others some who ate more than the little one at the earlier feeding.

Then it was time to digest and and enjoy the morning. I continued to watch a little longer and there was another food delivery as I was packing up the gear in preparation to leave. Three hungry mouths will keep the adults busy.

After the encouraging visit last weekend, it was back to the Osprey nest this morning.

A good sign on arriving was that all three chicks are still with us,

… and appear to be doing well.

Initially the female was keeping herself busy bringing sticks to the nest,

… and rearranging them.

When the male arrived with a fish, she was away from the nest.

On her return she took the fish,

… and moved it to the other side of the nest.

Then it was time to feed the chicks.

At first glance this may look like hungry mouths waiting to be fed,

… but is actually the dominant chick fighting with another. As you can see here it is actually biting the head of the other chick. Adds a whole new meaning to sibling rivalry and is quite normal. These struggles in the nest can result in the demise of the weaker chick.

Such was not the case today with all the chicks getting fed,

… and then settling down afterwards to enjoy the rest of the morning.

Happy Canada Day!

After the morning showers I made my way out to the Osprey nest.

What a difference a week makes (actually just over a week).

The chicks can be seen easily when they decide to poke their heads up.

Here you can see two as the male arrives with a fish.

Then the female started feeding the chicks.

Still hard to see, so here is more of a crop to get in a little closer.

Then she took a break from feeding to do a little rearranging of the nest. While she was feeding the chicks, two were readily visible at times. However, I also noticed she was feeding a third as yet unseen chick.

When she started feeding the chicks again I managed a shot of this smaller third chick. You can just make out the head through the branches. So far, so good this year at the Osprey nest.