Osprey Male In Nest photos by Larry Jordan
This is the male Osprey of the pair nesting atop the bridge I reported on at the end of March when they were mating. I wanted to follow up on the pair and their nestlings, now almost exactly two months later.
When I arrived I saw one of the adults standing on the edge of the nest as I drove under it. By the time I had parked the car and walked out on the bridge with my camera, it had flown so I concluded that they were no longer brooding the nestlings.
According to Birds of North America Online, both parents incubate the eggs but the female does the brooding, which is continuous for the first couple of weeks, then intermittent for a couple more.
Osprey may lay from 1 to 4 eggs but most of the time three, laid at two to three day intervals. The eggs are incubated for a month. So if this pair laid three eggs beginning on April 1st, the nestlings would be about four weeks old.
When this male flew back into the nest and looked around, he looked down at one point and shifted position. Like he was tending to nestlings, unseen by me.
Then he took off and I got a descent in-flight shot of him (my first in-flight digiscoped shot) although he was quite far off.
You can see in this flight shot that this is the male because he lacks the darker, more obvious necklace seen on the female in the previous post.
I observed no nestlings in the hour and a half I was there and the adult bird only visited the nest twice. Neither visit was for feeding the young. I was hoping they would pop their little heads up so I could see how many there were but no luck.
I will take another trip to the bridge soon. In the meantime, check out the other great Skywatch Friday posts.
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Excellent shot of the ospreys. Too bad no little ones. In Washington they heralded spring and had a nest on a bridge.
They certainly look in the Now.
The osprey shots are wonderful–the face views show some real personality. I’ve never been able to get much in the way of close-up “face time.” Except when I’m presented with a dubious gift like the fledgling Cedar Waxwing I found in my garden a few weeks ago.
There’s really nothing like a good shot of a bird against the sky for a Skywatch Friday entry. Thanks for these.
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Such superb shots of the Osprey! Such beautiful birds! I hope you get a shot of the little ones when the time comes! Would love to see them. Owlfarmer is right, nothing like a Sky Watch photo of a bird against the sky! Perfect! Hope you have a terrific weekend, Larry! And thank you for your visit and comment, always appreciated!
Sylvia
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@Gaelyn thanks. I’m sure I’ll catch the nestlings before too long and yes, they are definitely in the “now” 😉
@Candace you are very welcome. Did you get any photos of the waxwing?
@Sylvia thanks. The nestlings are always obvious once they are big enough to start looking over the edge of the nest. I can’t wait. they are so expressive!
Really cool shots of the Osprey, Larry! They are wonderful birds to watch.
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Your captures of the male Osprey are wonderful! I agree with owlframer—the close-ups really show the personally of this bird. I hope you have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
beautifully captured photos!!
Pixellicious Photos
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I can tell that I must be too tired to be making the rounds to my favorite blogs, when that first picture conjured up the image of King Julien from the movie Madagascar.
He certainly had his eye on you!
.-= Amber Coakley´s last blog ..Darth Vader Fly =-.
I swear that osprey is looking right at me (you). Are you using your lens or digiscope? It appears you are able to get fairly close especially since all eyes appeared to be on you in that first photo.
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