The Ospreys of River Road
Right place, right time!
For a variety of reasons I won't get into here, it is not easy to get good photographs of the ospreys of River Road in flight. The Sunday Brunch album is something of an exception and so are the pictures in this gallery. And, for those of you keeping score at home: the eggs have not yet hatched!
Not the sharpest of pictures because the bird was at the end of what is possible with my camera. But I do think they deserve to be seen so here they are.
The first two pictures in this gallery were taken early on May 27. They show the female osprey standing to the side of the nest, sometimes looking down at whatever is off camera in the nest.
The remaining pictures were taken early the next day. When I arrived the male osprey was on the roof of the house nearby. The female was on the nest. Within seconds of my arrival she flew to join the male on the roof. I imagine she told him to chase away that nasty man with the camera because he immediately took flight. She then flew back to the nest. The male made several circuits of the nest (and me). He exploited the prevailing wind to stall very nearly over the nest - hence the relatively large number of pictures of him in flight that are actually in focus. Twice, he landed to the side of the nest (also shown in the photographs). When I came back he left the nest and flew to a nearby power pole and...
Does the fact that the female was not sitting and the male was being more aggressive mean that one or more eggs have hatched? Time will tell.
Update for May 29. Today the female was back in sitting position and the male was nowhere to be seen (at least when I went by).
The pictures in this gallery were taken early on May 31, 2020. The first few show the female tearing pieces off a fish that is caught in her left claw. (Had she been fishing? Perhaps, although usually it is the male that brings food to the nest during this time. I did see her land on the side of the nest just moments before these pictures were taken - but I was not able to get my camera up in time.) After several morsels she leaned forward and reached deep into the nest. She did this several times while I watched (and took pictures). Was she feeding young osprey? That is my belief. She is tipped too far forward to be tearing off more slices of the fish in her claws.
Meanwhile, the male was perched on a branch of a nearby dead tree - a branch that looks barely able to take his weight. He was out of my sight during the earliest pictures in this set. After observing me he took off flew to the nest and after a very brief visit took off again and flew circles around me before landing back on the side of the nest. About 90 minutes later when I returned the male was gone and the female had resumed standard sitting position.
The pictures in this gallery were taken late afternoon on June 1, 2020. The female was in sitting position while the male was high in a tree overlooking the road and Goose Bay. He barely gives passing cars a look, but he clearly does not like me and if I get too close to the foot of his tree he will fly off. Of course, it's not just me he does not like, any passing human is too many to tolerate.
Maybe baby - June 2, 2020
The pictures in this album were taken late afternoon on June 2, 2020. The male had just landed on the east side of the nest (left in these pictures). The female was perched high on the west side and was making gentle - for an osprey - sounds. Occasionally she would look down into the nest. After a few minutes she walked around the nest and started tearing pieces off the fish that was in the claws of the male. She soon took the fish from him and moved away. She continued to eat for some minutes and then leaned forward deep into the nest. She did this several times. Apologies for the angle - not much I could do about that at the time. As before, I make up that she was feeding one or more young osprey. When done she walked back around and settled into the nest as though sheltering the young (it was raining very lightly at the time). Notice that she was not as deep in the nest as she was when sitting on eggs.
No News - June 4, 2020
June 4, 2020. Nothing to report today. The male was photographed perched on branches near the nest. The female was in what I call "shelter position." This is a somewhat higher position than "sitting" because it is possible to see her back from the place where I take most of the pictures you see in these albums.
Home Renovations - June 5, 2020
June 5, 2020. Still no definitive sightings of young ospreys (but I do think there is at least one hiding in the nest). The male brings home a large fish for dinner, then leaves and the female gets on with a spot of home renovation. Even an osprey nest could do with a tidy now and again. Actually, especially an osprey nest, what with that tangle of sticks!
DEFINITELY Baby - June 6, 2020
June 6, 2020: B-day (for Baby)! We have suspected that there was at least one young osprey in the nest for a few days. And here is proof! Three of the pictures in this album show the youngster poking his head up above the level of the nest so its picture can be taken.
More Baby Pictures- June 6, 2020
Who does not love baby pictures? (Even if your baby looks like a small dinosaur!)
These pictures were taken shortly before 3 pm on June 6, 2020. We see a young osprey sticking its head above the level of the nest. Look carefully at this sequence and the last. The pictures in this album are mere seconds apart. Either the young osprey is already quite mobile or there is more than one! (Birding sources say that ospreys generally lay from 1-4 eggs with 3 being the most common number.) Notice that the female often appears to be looking down and not at the young one in the picture. Is this a clue that there is more than one? Time will tell.
Bad Hair Day - June 10, 2020
June 10, 2020: In the first photograph in this sequence we get our only glimpse today of a young osprey, and only the top of its head. Still no evidence that there is more than one.
When I arrived the female was eating (fish, again!) but she was not feeding the youngster. Very soon she took flight, making a brief visit to the power pole just up the road before flying circuits very low over the lake. From time to time she would drag her claws though the water (I imagined her washing her feet of the remains of the fish that was between her claws earlier). She splashed into the water near the island (no good photos of that, sorry), and then settled on rock out near the island.
Meanwhile, back at the nest, the male tucks into the remains of the fish that she left behind. He looks up to see his mate flying back home. It was only a few minutes she was gone, but surely well worth it!
Growing Fast - June 12, 2020
June 12, 2020: After no sightings of the young osprey for two days I was able to get these new photographs today. The young one seems to be growing very rapidly (perhaps not so surprising if there are no other young ones with whom to share the sushi).
Daddy's Bird - June 14, 2020
June 14, 2020: No sightings of the young osprey yesterday, but today the little one was sat with the male, not that he was paying his offspring much attention. My presence led to the male taking flight and looping around and back to the nest. That let me get the sequence of him landing on the nest shown in this album.
And then there were two - June 15, 2020
June 15, 2020: My first glimpse of the nest early today was mildly alarming. No adults present and no young visible! Then I heard (but could not yet see) the familiar call the the female osprey makes when she is annoyed with my presence. A few more steps and I could see her on the roof of the house nearby. Seconds later she landed back on the nest.
The sequence that starts with the 5th picture was taken this afternoon around 3:00 pm. Notice that some fairly significant home reconstruction appears to have been done between my visits. The male arrives seconds after I do; he has brought dinner (as the pictures from the far side of the nest make clear (I did not witness any fish consumption by any bird while I was there).
Look very carefully at this sequence. You will see the body of a second young osprey appear to the right (in the picture) of the female (there is one young in front of her). The second young one then tries exercising a wing before putting its head above the edge of the nest. Shortly afterwards it moves right to visit with daddy who moves left and then right again as youngster number two moves back to its mother's side of the nest.
June 16-28, 2020
June 28, 2020: I realized today that I have not posted any new osprey pictures in nearly two weeks! I had over 900 photographs to peruse to make this album which covers those two weeks.
Notice how the nest keeps changing as the birds continuously renovate. There now are several large twigs at the base of the pole that supports their nest.
Much more importantly, notice how fast the young ospreys are growing. In the last sequence in this album you can see one of the young ones taking a brief nap with its head resting on a branch. Then, the female starts screaming because the male is bringing home lunch and dinner. The young ones wake up and impatiently wait to be fed. But, the adults ate first (and did not feed the young ones while I was watching).
Hot Days in the Sun - July 1-6, 2020
July 5, 2020: This album contains pictures from 4 separate visits to the nest that I made on July 1 and 2 of 2020. The first set shows the female adult watching over the young ones. The second set shows her feeding one of the young ospreys. In the third set the female osprey became decidedly agitated by the presence of a jogger and she took wing carrying the partially eaten fish she had in her claws. (Note to self: look up osprey feet because they seem to have difficulty letting go of fish once caught.) She flew several loops around the nest (there was no other adult home for these minutes) during which time she was repeatedly mobbed by a kingbird. These insect eating birds are tiny in comparison to an osprey and the fish hawk surely poses no threat to a kingbird, yet there it was, attempting to fly into the body of the osprey. Eventually the osprey flew far enough away that the kingbird gave up that attack and the osprey came back to land on the nest. Some of my pictures from that landing are in this album. (I witnessed a kingbird mobbing the male osprey the day after.) July 2 was a very hot day and in the last set of pictures you can see the birds with their beaks wide open to cool down as much as possible. It must get very warm on top of that pole in the baking sun all day!
Update: July 6, 2020: Added 11 new pictures from earlier today.
Sibling Rivalry - Stabbed in the Back - July 7-12, 2020
July 12, 2020: This album contains pictures from visits to the nest that I made between July 7 and July 12, 2020. Witnessed the adult female bringing yet another stick to the nest (why she thinks it needs more sticks is something I cannot comprehend). Again I witnessed, but did not film, a kingbird mobbing an adult osprey.
Note the young bird flapping its wings. In a couple of weeks or so they will be trying them out for real!
Lift Off! - July 18, 2020
These pictures were taken around 11:00 AM on July 18, 2020. I'd already heard that the young birds had been flapping their wings for an extended period earlier that day. So I came down and parked myself by the guard rail and waited. Note that in the first pictures here, neither of the adults are on the nest. And you know what happens when the grown-ups are away!
One of the young birds started to flap its wings, paused, flapped again, and then it lifted off the nest. There was a stiff breeze blowing that day which meant that the young osprey could fly without going anyway, essentially stalling right above the nest. Was that this birds first flight? it is not possible to know for sure but if it wasn't then today was surely the day of its first flight.
After a couple of turns airborne, the other osprey stretched its wings but did not attempt to fly (at least not while I was there).
Shortly after, the adult female came home carrying a big stick. The young ones pretended as though nothing was any different. But everything is different now!
Family Time - July 21, 2020
July 21, 2020: The pictures in this album were taken around 10:30 AM on July 21, 2020. They are being posted on August 9. I have not seen all of the family together since these photographs were taken.
Ospreys in the Mist - July 24, 2020
Visibility was extremely limited early on July 24, 2020. As the mist burns away the adult female can be seen on the roof of the nearby house. My best guess is at this stage only one of the young ospreys has flown (we will call it Young 1 for future reference and the other bird will be Young 2). (I was tempted call them Ozzie and Harriett but I have no idea of their sex so Young 1 and 2 it is.)
Anyway, it was easy to tell that Young 1 was itching to take wing. And, as soon as the visibility was acceptable it did so, flying a few circles around the nesting pole and out over the water before joining its mother on the roof where it stayed for a long time.
The second sequence of pictures in this album were taken around 2:00 PM the same day. Young 1 is back on the roof (or, more likely in my opinion, had never left). I was taking pictures of the adult female on the power pole when suddenly she carried out what I can only describe as an emergency take off (pictured below). She flew out over the water to meet an incoming osprey. It soon became apparent that this was not her mate, but another bird arriving from who knows where. She was soon joined by the adult male (arriving quickly despite having been quite invisible to me earlier). Together they chased off the new bird. One of the adults continued the chase far to the west while the other circled higher and higher over the nest and the two young osprey.
Flying Lessons - July 25, 2020
July 25, 2020: The pictures in this album were taken late afternoon on July 25, 2020. In the first shot Young 2 (yes, it is Young 2) appears to be taking a nap on the nest. Young 1 is on the top of the nearby power pole and the adult female on the cross bar of the power pole carefully observing the behavior of her offspring. Young 1 does not appear to be particularly happy with its position. It was calling out more or less continuously and looking round, often towards the house up the hill. After a few minutes it ruffled up its feathers and launched itself into the air, flying directly to the nest. Shortly after the adult took off, also flying back to the nest. The take-off and landing of both birds are shown here.
Back at the nest, Young 1 moves around quite a lot while Young 2 flaps its wings a few times.
Anything you can do - July 28, 2020
July 28, 2020: Both young ospreys now have their wings (pun intended). On this occasion one of the young birds launches itself into the air, does a quick loop and returns to the nest. It did this a couple of times before screaming in delight (I make that up, of course) when its sibling returned.
The Osprey and the Dragonfly
July 30, 2020 - The first sequence was taken in the early morning of July 30. I may be imagining something that does not actually exist, but I do wonder if the two young ospreys rather like spending time together. Compared to last years triplets that does seem to be the case.
The second sequence was taken early afternoon on July 30. One young osprey was atop a long dead tree trunk, the other high up on a branch of another dead tree. I did not see either of them go for a fish, but clearly the first one is at least wondering "what do I do now?" The second one has other things on its mind, a dragonfly that invaded its space (see the last picture in this set).
Ospreys Having Fun - August 8, 2020
July 30, 2020 - Both of the young osprey were flying loops over Goose Bay and dropping in the water. I did not observe either of them catch a fish so I am unsure if they were failed attempts to do so, or they were dunking themselves for fun. To me it looked like they were just having a good time!
The Osprey and the Rainbow
September 5, 2020 - A short HEAVY shower followed by clearing sky from the west left this young osprey tearing up fish strips under a spectacular double rainbow.
The Last of This Summer's Ospreys
The pictures in this album were taken during the last three weeks of August and the first two weeks of September. The adults and young were rarely together. The adult female spent several evenings on the branch of a dead tree opposite our house. The last day we saw her was August 27. The last photographs of the adult male were taken August 23. The two young ones were seen together on September 12. We did not see either of them again. All of them have gone their separate ways. The young ones won't fly north again for two or three years.
Until we meet again!
