Oliver & Olivia – July 2010
Our osprey family’s photos for July show how much our two chicks learned in such a short time with a lot of flight, more growth, eating, and trying to stay cool in the extreme heat we had. By July 7th and 8th, each chick had fledged and began quick flights and returns while they mastered flying. They also started learning to dive into and lift out of the water, including just floating around and cooling off. You can just tell they are enjoying themselves! There was so much activity this month, it was very difficult to narrow down the number of photos to show you, many are sequence shots. I hope I didn’t overdo your viewing!
Oliver & Olivia – June 2010
Photos from the month of June show amazing growth with the two chicks. Their curiosity of the outside world increased quickly with the growth, now being able to see out and around from their nest. Oliver continued with nest maintenance and dinner deliveries while Olivia maintained feedings and nest protection. By the middle of June, wing stretching became the norm while the chicks tried to balance their awkwardness. In addition, they began learning to preen as their pin feathers grew out and replaced their down. By the end of the June, it is evident the chicks have changed in size and look and are almost ready for their first flight!
Technical Problem…
For those of you who subscribe to my blog (thank you!), last night I posted June and July’s 2010 photos of our osprey family and had some technical issues. I realize a subscription post update emailed out last night for “July” but not “June’s”. When I tried to ‘fix’, I lost both month’s galleries! 😦 I will work on my technical issue tonight and hopefully get them both back in place. Thank you for your patience!
Nest Visitors – Eagles!
What a treat today! I was so lucky to be at the right place at the right time to photograph two young adult eagles on our nest as they rested for a while.
When they took flight, they flew over to Kent Narrows channel marker #3 where two other eagles were perched. They interacted a bit and then separated, two flying back and going over to CBEC to perch while the other two perched briefly on channel marker #5 before flying out of sight. I tried to captured all four in a single photo but lucked out with three.
As you’ve noticed in our area, an osprey sighting is becoming less and less as most are further down the migration highway or have already arrived to their winter destination. I haven’t seen one myself in our area for a couple of weeks but I luckily did see one briefly this afternoon in the distant over by Lipincott’s; he was circling and then nose-dived into the water, coming back up with a fish! Here’s his success photo, sorry it’s so blurry.
I also saw another osprey along the boardwalk on the Patuxent River in Solomons Island this past weekend. He too was searching for fish but he wasn’t finding any and flew off to search more. Hopefully, these osprey transients can keep on the move best they can as they make their way south.
Finally, I wanted to show you one of the painted fire hydrants on Solomons Island which caught my eye……can you guess what it is?
An osprey of course! 🙂 I thought it was cute.
To catch up on our Oyster Cove osprey family, I’m working on June’s gallery and should have up in a couple more days. Til then, have a great week!
Oliver & Olivia – May 2010 Photos
Here are Oliver & Olivia’s exciting photos from May! Dad Ollie continued to bring nesting materials to the nest for the anticipated arrival of the chicks. By the second week of May, both parents are seen sitting and observing within the nest which is a sign that maybe a chick was hatching or had hatched. By mid-May, we have two chicks visible! And by the end of May, the photos show just how much they have grown in just those two weeks. Amazing!! A reminder, if you click on the thumbnail photos, they will open up to a larger photo to view. Enjoy!
Oliver & Olivia’s 2010 Photo Gallery
Hello and welcome back! I apologize it took me so long to understand and figure out the way to present photo galleries through this blog program. I’ll continue to work out the bugs as I go along. So far, I’ve been working on setting up a monthly gallery from this year’s season of Oliver and Olivia and have uploaded their photos from March and April. I will continue to add each month as I complete them as quickly as I can. To access the galleries, select from the Categories Select Category section to the right through the drop-down menu.
I hope you enjoy reliving Oliver and Olivia’s past season through my photos and thank you for being patient!
Oliver & Olivia – April 2010 Photos
Here are photos of Oliver and Olivia from the month of April. Approximately April 6, Olivia started becoming a permanent fixture on the nest keeping her newly laid eggs warm while Oliver continued to add to the strength of the nest. When Olivia needed a break to stretch her wings and catch some fish, Oliver would take over egg-duty. The photos dated April 25th are in sequence showing the ‘changing of the guard’ with Olivia coming back to the nest to relieve Oliver who was patiently keeping the eggs warm for her. Also check out the nest’s drastic increase in size from March’s and the beginning of April’s photos to the end of April’s.
Oliver & Olivia – March 2010 Photos
Here are photos of Oliver and Olivia from the month of March. As you can see, they were very busy in just a short amount of time repairing and building back their nest. What commitment after both just returned from flying about 4,000+ miles from South America!
Our Osprey Have Migrated….
With a bit of sadness, it appears the end of our osprey family’s 2010 season with us is here. Since my last posting, I haven’t seen our last chick since last Saturday, and dad Ollie not at all. These last two days my instinct has been telling me they have all four left for their migration south. This morning while the sun was rising, I found this visitor on the nest.
He was a surprise and I felt our ‘sign’ that, yes, our osprey family are all officially enroute south. What makes them decide any given moment to up and leave? It isn’t exactly known but is guessed there is some type of magnetic pull, maybe from the sun’s solstice and the season’s change, that they feel; one day each feels it and just ups and goes without warning or a goodbye! It is also guessed that osprey have some type of inner ‘GPS’ that guides them on their long 4-5 week journey to South America. I can just imagine each of our family members are all now soaring the beautiful skies while they find new locations to fish and rest along the way. Let’s wish them a safe journey with the hopes of Ollie and Olivia’s safe return next March. If our two chicks succeed in surviving the many turmoils they will face in their migrations, they will stay in South America for a year and a half, returning two springs from now, most likely coming back to our general area to start their own families.
If you have a further interest in the osprey migration, Rob Bierregaard, Jr., a professor at the University of North Carolina, has been researching osprey since 1969. Since 2000, he has tagged 42 adult and juvenile osprey from Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Long Island, Westport, North Carolina, and Delaware with small satellite transmitters to track their actual migrations. The information they have learned is astounding. You can visit and subscribe to his website that shows exactly where each osprey and active transmitter are at the present. As we know, the osprey are on the move! In fact, don’t be surprised to see an osprey from the north come through our area as they fly down over the Chesapeake Bay in the next few weeks for a rest or bite to eat on their journey.
A quick recap, the Chestertown osprey cam has been taken down for the season, (what a wonderful livefeed local cam!), I will remention it next spring when their camera is back online. Blackwater’s popup cam is still running, with little Hope and her dad still around the last few days, but I’m sure it won’t be long before they have migrated as well. So check Blackwater NWR out for their final glimpses of their successful three-chick family!
As I promised, I am working on a photo gallery of this past season of photos prior to July, but I’m having a bit of a technical issue as I try to teach myself how to do it through trial and error! Quite frankly, I will admit I didn’t think I could even teach myself how to create a blog, let alone figure out how to maintain it. Gotta say, I’m tickled that I’ve been able to do what I have so far……and the awesome responses from all of you have told me I’m doing an A-OK job! 🙂 So a big THANK YOU to all of you for giving me the continued incentive and support to share our osprey family’s season and growth with you through words and photos. Now I’ll get working on those photo galleries!
Definitely One Chick Still Around
Hurricane Earl stayed far enough away from our area thankfully! Since my last post Tuesday, it wasn’t until Friday before I saw any of our osprey family on the nest. Here are photos from Friday. Again, this one hung out on the edge, keeping an eye on the surroundings.
Saturday, the same chick came around again. I didn’t catch a photo until he took flight. This chick definitely turned into one beautiful osprey. As he flew up over our building, there’s definitely an eye on me….that raptor look….I don’t think I’d want to tangle with an osprey, do you?!! 😉
With the osprey leaving our area for migration, I have seen more eagle sightings over at CBEC (one of Olivia’s roosting trees) and across the Narrows over on Kent Island; they are also interesting and beautiful to watch. Our local eagles do not migrate. During the fall they begin working on their nests and lay eggs late January. They will visit our osprey nest too! I’ve captured a few eagles visiting, here’s one from January 2010….
Oh boy, I bet Ollie and Olivia wouldn’t be too happy knowing who visited their nests while they’re south for the winter! We will have a sneek peek, I’ve got a file on photos of our visitors I’ve seen, I’ll post them at a later date. Have a safe and happy Labor Day!
Bay Photos by Donna 
