Osprey Gallery
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The Chesapeake Bay Osprey have returned! Local feeds are abuzz and I’m feeling the excitement. In my travels since returning home, I’ve seen quite a few in flight. I’m anxious to check out some local nests, hopefully soon!
Many Osprey in Florida are year-round residents.
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Florida Osprey with fish meal
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While we were in Everglades City the last couple months, I photographed the local Osprey already in high gear with incubating and having chicks by February. Here’s a gallery of some favorites of them and their different nests.
The first set of photos are of a pair who created a nest atop a utility transfer station. 😟
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Mr & Mrs Osprey starting a new nesting season together
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Osprey nest is established one month later
Mama is incubating eggs while Dad is eating a fish and on guard duty
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Male Osprey on guard duty
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Male Osprey on guard duty while finishing a fish
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Male Osprey departing nest
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More eating and guarding the nest
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That nest really seemed to be in a dangerous place. Seems Osprey are daredevils with their nest location selections.
Here are more nests around town…..
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Everglades City Fire Station – Female
Everglades City Fire Station – Male
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Osprey nest in palm tree berry branches
Osprey nest in palm tree berry branches
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Osprey chick!
Osprey Nest
On guard while eating
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Osprey Family
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Osprey nest along Barron River’s riverwalk
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Same Osprey nest on Barron River a month later
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Osprey Nest on satellite dish, dwarfed by Mexican Fan Palms that grow up to 100 feet
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A Waiting Osprey Home – “First Come, First Serve”
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Male Osprey fluffing and shaking to dry its feathers
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Handsome Osprey – “Almost Dry”
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And now all of this is repeating on the Chesapeake Bay…….minus the palm trees!
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Another osprey story is unfolding….great work, Donna!!
Thank you, Indira!
Nice series 👏👏
Thank you, Ted!
Great pictures, and what imaginative nest sites! Most osprey around the Chesapeake pick navigational markers or ready-made platforms, but anywhere the nests take hold apparently works. Our “Betty and Barney” have returned to our cove and I have witnessed them mating, so hopefully this year, unlike last year, they will have some chicks.
Osprey can really get creative with their locations! Glad to hear Betty & Barney returned! Fingers crossed for a successful breeding season!!
Amazing captures. 😊
Thank you, Irene! 🙂
Absolutely stunning photographs! Thank you, Donna.
Thank you, Isabel! 🙂
You certainly have a lot of Ospreys over there, but I sense your excitement at the arrival of ‘your’ local Ospreys!
The Osprey have made a major comeback in in the U.S.,, and they love our Chesapeake bay area for all the great fishing! It’s amazing to see these now arriving that just flew anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 miles from their winter grounds. Whew!
That’s a beautiful gallery of Osprey’s, Donna. I’m hoping Bella and Beau return and to see them through your images again this year.
Thank you, Deborah! Sadly, we no longer live where Bella and Beau resided. 😦 I still wonder about them, and whether Beau ever learned to build a nest! 😅 What a grand Osprey couple they were!!
They were! Well, I’m looking forward to the Osprey’s you do see this season. I know your images and tales of them will be top notch! 😀
The one at the first with the two of them holding the same pose is priceless! I couldn’t help but compare the nest for size. Some are quite massive. Love the one on the palm where the image is in colour, as well as silhouetted in black and white..
Thank you, Jane, I love that pair posing shot too. 🙂 The really massive nests are layers of more than one year’s season. The nest on the palm berry branches was a risky location. The berries and branches are green but I wondered how long before the berries ripened and they began to deteriorate and the weight of the nest baring down on them. Hopefully, any chicks will have fledged!!
Another Superb gallery!
Thank you, Jyothi!
Great captures of these breeding ospreys.
Thank you, Rudi! This is one of my top favorite birds. 🙂
Great Osprey images Donna! Enjoyed seeing them!
Thank you, Reed!
Most interesting places to put a nest on.
Our U.S. Osprey can really get creative with their waterfront property. 😉
Good to see you settled again after your long journey and sharing your local Osprey family again Donna.
Thank you, Ashley! So far I’ve seen our local Osprey flying all around, but this post’s Osprey photos were taken in last couple months in Florida. 🙂
Seems like you’re surrounded by Ospreys this time! Can you handle it? I know that you will never forget all your past Osprey family. These new groups look very strong and healthy, I wonder if they are kin to your old friends. Good birding, Donna. 🙂
Thank you, HJ! It’s big news with all of the Osprey sightings around the Chesapeake Bay, very exciting! The photos I shared in this post were taken in Florida in past couple months. Those nests probably have fledglings almost ready, yay!
A great selection of nest sites. As you say, ospreys don’t seem to bother about health and safety.
Thank you, Tom! 🙂
Excellent series, Donna! Now you get to enjoy it once again. 😊
Thank you Belinda! Yay!! 🤗🤗
Beautiful birds — they certainly know how to make do with what is available for housing. 🙂 Great pictures, Donna!
Thank you, Barbara! Yes, the Osprey do like to get creative! 🙂
Lovely nest photos! They don’t look too comfortable to be. Maybe it’s not that bad.
Thank you! They look terribly uncomfortable to me too, all those sticks poking and such. Yikes, I don’t know how they don’t get impaled at times. 😟