Decided to head out this morning before the rain started to check on the Osprey nest. The female was on the nest when I arrived and,
Osprey
… it was not long before the male showed up with a fish.
Osprey
The good news was she did not leave with the fish, but started feeding some new arrivals. You can just make out that small white patch between the branches in front of her.
Osprey
The chicks are still too small to be able to see them all at once, so I could not tell how many there are. You can tell from how she moved around there is more than one. Here’s hoping they do better than the last few years.
Went to check on the Osprey nest again today, but still no sign of chicks. It should not be long now though. The male was making the usual fish deliveries for the female and she returned with another stick for the nest. At one point she started calling,
Osprey
… and he returned to the nest.
Osprey
Then he started preening or moving her feathers around. A behaviour I have not observed previously while watching them.
Bonus bird of the day,
Spotted Sandpiper
… was this Spotted Sandpiper that showed up along the river bank. Made me wonder if it might be nesting somewhere nearby.
It has been about three weeks since I last checked on the Osprey, so I headed out there this morning. My last couple of visits I observed mating behaviour and today I wanted to see if they were on eggs yet.
Osprey
On arriving the female was on the nest and appeared to be incubating eggs. She always starts calling when the male is near or approaching. This is handy because,
Osprey
… it gives you a heads up to prepare for shots like this of him arriving with a fish for her.
Osprey
She then takes the fish and flies off to a nearby tree to eat it and he will sit on the eggs. Now the countdown to when the chicks will hatch has begun. After this I headed out to Reifel. In part to help out on the trails and there was a Ruff sighted their yesterday afternoon. The Ruff being a fairly rare shorebird to see in these parts. On making my out to the outer ponds there was no sign of the Ruff, but there were a couple of other interesting shorebirds mixed in with the Dowitchers. A Stilt Sandpiper too far off for photos,
Wilson's Phalarope
… and a Wilson’s Phalarope which did come in a little closer to the trail.
Wilson's Phalarope
With Phalaropes it is the female that has the colourful plumage and dominant behaviour. This one being a female Wilson’s Phalarope.
