A Dinner Delivery From Oliver

The past few days have produced all types of weather. I was away Saturday but heard the weather was stormy and I’m sure scary for Olivia sitting on her egg clutch trying to protect them from the winds and rain. I was glad to see their nest still intact and both parents active Sunday evening. Olivia is the primary sitter, but Oliver quickly takes over when Olivia takes a break from the nest. The first sequence of photos shows Olivia leaving with a small fish in her beak that Oliver had brought to her, and then flying off while transferring the fish to her talons.

And here’s Oliver taking over egg-duty while Olivia is off to enjoy a well-deserved break and dinner!

I’ve seen an eagle flying in the area late evenings, occasionally coming a bit close to the nest which neither Oliver or Olivia take too lightly. Olivia will leave the nest and eggs unattended in pursuit of the eagle while broadcasting loudly her distress. And each time Oliver came from nowhere in to take over the chase while Olivia would speed back to her nest and clutch. Here she is again last night, rapidly descending back to the nest while Oliver was already on the eagle’s tail, warning him to stay away.

Oliver soon returned as well, staying on the nest for just a moment, maybe to check to see if Olivia and their egg(s) were safe. And then he was off and gone, flying up and over my left.

I captured Olivia about 7:00 pm last night deep in her nest. With the late sun, the photo gives us a good look at the materials and structure of their huge nest to date. Although the platform is actually a bit lop-sided, you will notice our osprey pair work to build their nest as level as possible. It looks like it’s at least 12-15″ high too.

Last early Friday morning, the sunrise was shining bright on a couple of mallards resting on the rocks at the base of the nest. I decided to take a couple of shots and caught the male doing his morning stretch before catching a nap along with his mate.