Chesapeake Bay Osprey
Our beautiful Osprey have been back for two months now and are in abundance everywhere around the Chesapeake Bay.
Old nests are renovated and new ones constructed, wherever they could find suitable real estate near or over water. Here are just a few of my local nests.
Osprey do get creative with their nests!
Usually by the end of April, the Chesapeake Bay Osprey have laid 2-4 eggs; so it is now brooding time, which is the female’s primary job.
The male will continue to bring materials to strengthen the nest. In addition, he needs to ramp up his fishing skills to bring home the bacon…..er…..fish for his lady in waiting and upcoming family.
Oh, Mr Osprey, you better do better than that or the Mrs will not be happy!
Huh?
Mr Osprey is back at it, fishing!
Next post I’ll share an Osprey in fishing action!
Wonderful pics!
Thank you!
Awesome photos. Interesting read. 👌
Thank you, Michael!
You’re most welcome.
Great captures. I really enjoyed.
Thank you!
Such amazing ingenuity when it comes to finding places to live, sad just to see the plastic. But, that’s what it looks like near urban areas these days.
Thanks, Hans! We even have them being built atop boats, much to the dismay of boat owners. The plastic is definitely a problem, seen in the Osprey nests all the time. I even have photos several years back of a small stuffed animal in an Osprey nest.
Thoroughly enjoyed each memorable gem and the read.
Thank you, Cindy!
A very interesting post Donna, seeing the creative ways Osprey nest. Some great shots. Good to read you sharing your favourite bird again. We have not seen ours for some time.
Thank you, Ashley! I do love my Osprey. What is the situation with your Osprey? Is it off-season now and that’s why you’re not seeing them?
No we don’t see them where we live, usually only on our trips away
👍
Fabulous photos
Thank you, Sheree!
Pleasure Donna
Awesome shots, Donna. The nests surely are varied. Not so sure about the trash decor though, lol!
Thank you, Eliza! Yes, Osprey are trashy birds, lol. Remember my photos of Bella bringing a stuffed animal to the nest several years back? That was my favorite ‘trash’ decor! 😉
I do remember that. At the time, I wondered where she found it? What a story it could tell!
Excellent story-telling series, Donna!
Thank you, Indira!
Lots of nests, though #15 has me feeling somewhat doubtful. I hope it is packed in tight. Very exciting to anticipate this year’s offspring. I enjoyed the laugh from the fellow with the tousled head. This is my favourite time of year to watch birds but mostly staying indoors due to very poor air quality from forest fires. Got my sites in mind, hopefully get out soon.
Thank you, Jane! We are truly fortunate to have so many Osprey around the Chesapeake Bay, and now they vie for those great real estate locations. I’m looking forward to seeing those curious little dinosaur-looking heads popping up soon. 🙂 I hope winds shift soon so you can get out and about with your birds!!
It rained! A reprieve, but not over until it is over.
Wonderful images, Donna, and amazing birds, and nests! The shopping bag hanging off the one nest is funny.
Thank you, Deborah! Yes, our Osprey are trashy birds, lol. 😉
LOL!!
Those must have been time consuming. The pic. with the Osprey dragging a twig in flight is what caught my eye. All do interesting. Thank you Donna.
The Osprey get right to it once they return, all day long bringing sticks. It gets really funny to watch the male bring in a stick and place it, only to watch the Mrs decide she doesn’t like it there and move it. Almost like just because! 😂
How cute just like is!
“Huh?” is my favorite by far.
✋😁😊
Amazing images. You’re the best, Donna. 😉
Thank you, Pepper, I love my Osprey! 🙂
Amazing catalogue of nests!
This time of year is so neat as our local Ospreys are teaching the recently fledged young ones how to fish.
Wonderful photographs!
Thank you, Wally! We really have some doozys, lol. You are having some great entertainment now with the teachings and family drama! 🙂
Many of those nests look incredibly precarious! Let’s hope they stand up to the job! 🤞🤞
The nests on the triangle channel markers are the ones that are almost doomed to fail, it is heartbreaking. The nests collapse inside the tubular metal pier. And if a couple chicks do make it, the space quickly becomes too small. I saw one chick that had fallen off and was trying its best to swim to a small sandbar. A wildlife rescuer came and saved it but I don’t know what ever happened. 🙁 The rest of those nests are good to go and will be quite noisy very soon! 🙂
Can you feel the waves in envy coming across the ocean? If we have an osprey here, it’s nest location is a secret and approaching it is a crime.
Stunning, Donna! We see a couple osprey nests but too hard to see inside the nest from my angle.
Thank you, Terri! Even if we can get a good angle, Mama Osprey will increase the wall height and keep us from looking in, lol.
Oh, how fun to watch these wonderful creatures! And I sure do love face photo near the bottom!! Cute!
Thank you, Lisa! They are definitely fun to watch!
Love that close up with the messy head feathers!
One of those bad hair days hehe 😊
Lovely set…(Suzanne)
So beautiful.
Gwen.
Thank you, Gwen!
That second to last shot made me laugh out loud – soooo many funny captions leap to mind. Always interesting to see all the building skills and creativity in these Osprey nests. Pretty soon they will learn about brick and siding ha.
Thank you! I was wondering how I’d entwine that close-up shot in my ‘story’. lol Yes, great building skills, I laughed out loud about you saying brick and siding 😂
All fantastic shots, the first one in particular 😊
Thank you, Belinda!
Some of these facial expressions are priceless, Donna.
While I admire the ospreys’ creativity in nest building, I always hate to see plastic bags and string in their nests, as I worry about suffocation and strangulation of both adults and nestlings. 🙁
Osprey are great for expressions lol. I do worry about all that plastic they pick up for nesting materials. I actually watched in horror of an Osprey having a plastic bag handle wrapped around its foot for a day; when it went in the water to get a fish (as if the bag was not attached), and entered the water, the bag filled and the Osprey could not lift out. It swam to the side and finally tore the darn bag off it. I was in a true panic, I was already trying to call someone to come help it. Trash is such a bad deal for all birds. 🙁
Bad for the birds, and bad for all other creatures on this planet. Yet we don’t seem to be able to get away from it.
Love the expression in ‘Huh?’ !
That was a photo that could have sooooo many captions, hehehe. Thanks, Denise! And thanks for stopping by! I do not know why but I am not able to leave comments on your blog. 🙁 I keep trying when I visit!
Huh? If you let me know what happens when you try I can look into it.
I unchecked a couple boxes. Sometimes if you haven’t commented in a while WordPress has you fill in name and email again.
I just left a comment on your “Road Trip Relics” post. It didn’t show up when submitted. My wordpress login was no problem, I haven’t had to fill in. Am I in your spam folder?