Eating and Fishing
We are still having some activity here and there at the nest, mostly the chicks. One morning this past week, one was hanging out at the nest and caught sight of the school of small fish surfacing in the water below. He took flight three different times and dove down towards them. Here’s the third time, note how the talons and legs are extended, then the chick brings the legs forward to try and snag a fish. The force and even the water spray is impressive!
To show again the legs and talons extended, here’s two more photos from the first dive.
The chick was unsuccessful each of the times so a rest and talon cleaning were in order.
I’ve seen Ollie twice this week, a couple mornings ago he brought a stick to the nest, with a chick landing shortly thereafter appearing to have expected a fish. He made a lot of begging cries but Ollie was too busy working on the nest.
Ollie stopped by again yesterday morning with a headless fish. He patiently waited, made a few low calls, upon which a chick appeared within minutes. In the following photos you can see how aggressive the female chick is taking the fish from her dad (note the chick is larger than her dad which is a sign this chick is female). Ollie willingly passes the fish and then leaves to skim and wash his talons.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Olivia. If anyone within the community possibly sights her, let me know. For identification, her chest is speckled brown whereas Ollie’s is mostly white with only slight speckling. Thank you!
Our Family’s Upcoming Migration
Even though our osprey family are scarce on their nest, I have seen the chicks do an occasion drop-by for a visit and rest or to eat their dinner. I still have not witnessed a chick bringing a fish to the nest; but by this time, they should be mastering their fishing skills to perfection. Here’s one of the chicks leaving the nest with his dinner, he had been watching the sky while hovering over his fish and must have felt threatened by something.
I have seen either Ollie or Olivia several times roosting in a tree across at CBEC. With the haze, I couldn’t get a clear enough view each time to confirm which it was but I haven’t seen them both together perched. As is the usual pattern, the migration instinct will soon draw Olivia any day now in these next few weeks to leave her family and us to migrate south for the winter. Ollie will hang around to oversee the final 3-4 weeks of the chicks’ lives, making sure they have their necessary survival skills and their migration instincts kick in. Once our final chick leaves for migration in September, Ollie will begin his own journey. Please check out Lisa at Friends of Blackwater’s recent blog where she discusses the osprey migration in further detail.
Lisa also discusses the perils of plastic and trash to the osprey, and featured a picture I had sent her of our Ollie when he had a major entanglement with a plastic shopping bag that had been brought as nesting material on April 6 of this year. I watched him for several minutes as he fought to get the bag handle off his neck. Unsuccessful, Ollie took flight, circled around, landing back on the nest, and then off again to the sky and out of my sight. Here are a few photos, sorry they aren’t too clear.
I will admit I panicked, I didn’t know what to do (except scream for my husband!). I just stood and watched in horror as he flew away. I waited (and said a couple little prayers) for over a half hour when out of the sky Ollie came cruising back to the nest bag-free! Thankfully!! He remained at the nest for awhile, I imagine for a much deserved rest from all the turmoil.
Here’s a cute photo from a couple days ago of one of our chicks on the nest, who I was sure was going to fall off or the branch break! LOL But she didn’t….. 🙂
This morning, I happen to see one of the parents land on the nest and immediately both chicks were in the area and descending onto their nest as well. I was not able to distinguish which parent was there, but he/she took back off when the chicks landed, as if there was no space with all the wings flapping and excitement landing. A fish was not brought to the nest. Here’s a photo of our two chicks after the parent flew off and over to CBEC. For a little comparison, I followed that photo with two photos back from May 29 & 30 when our chicks were oh-so tiny and fragile. Can you believe how much they have grown?! It is amazing!!
Finally, a quick note, Lisa at Blackwater did review many photos I sent of our chicks alongside the parents to try and guess the chicks’ genders. It was very difficult and I’m not sure we were clearly able to guess, but it appears we may have at least one female and one male each or both could be female. No matter, we love them both!
August Is Here
Temps have been more comfortable this past week, although still hot. And our osprey family continue to delight with just their everyday life activities. While on the nest whether they are sitting alone quietly, or eating a brought fish, or someone approaches on the walkway, or an intruder appears in the sky, their strength and resilience proves to be fascinating.
One of the chicks was trying to enjoy a fish and yet didn’t seem comfortable. He quickly took flight with his dinner. 
Another evening, a chick was preparing to eat a really small fish. I didn’t see the chick land on the nest or how the fish arrived, but I’m wondering if it was a catch of his one. I haven’t seen either parent bring a fish so small.
It’s hard to say exactly when they begin to fish for themselves, each one is different, but maybe we’re seeing one of the their first successes! It is a fact that the parents will begin to feed the chicks less often to encourage their instinct to fish and feed themselves. A couple evenings ago, a chick was quite loud calling and looking over to the marker where a parent and the other chick were resting. That chick was also crying loudly, yet the parent just sat there and continued to ignore either one of them. Maybe the parent was trying to encourage that instinct?
Finally here’s another interesting photo of a chick standing on one leg. I’ve seen all of them do this at times while resting. The first time I remember seeing Olivia doing this last year for a real long time and I actually worried she had lost her leg. An adult osprey weighs approximately four pounds but I guess that little weight tires their legs too!
Dinner’s Ready!
This week continued with crazy weather. When it’s just too hot, we see an empty nest. But the brief periods in early morning and late evening brings our osprey family back to the nest for some very brief home-visits. I did get a clearer photo of one of their roosting trees over at CBEC, but only one of our adults was present at the time.
Mom Olivia continues to care for her chicks, even when she’s not so sure where they are. I watched her for quite some time on her channel marker Tuesday afternoon, calling out that dinner was ready, but I didn’t witness any chicks arriving. In the second photo, she looks back to make sure that fish is still there! Now where are those kids?! 🙂
That evening, Olivia did meet up with both chicks on the nest with dinner and proceeded to feed one of them. In the past couple weeks, the chicks have been feeding themselves while Olivia looked on. So maybe she was showing some motherly love and care! She was just as patient with the feeding as if it were the first time. Although the second chick kept her eye on the feeding, she never interrupted.
I said ‘she’ for the second chick if anyone picked up on that! 🙂 I’ve accumulated a few shots from the last couple weeks to send to Lisa at Friends of Blackwater Refuge to help determine if our chicks are male or female (based on size). A female chick should be about the same size as the mother at this point, while a male chick would show to be smaller than his mother. In the above photo, the far left chick definitely appears to be the same size as Olivia. It’s harder to tell in this photo about the chick feeding because he/she is hunched over and not upright. Both our chicks are pretty much full grown now in size so hopefully the recent photos will help determine. Here’s one I took yesterday where they both look very close to same size.
So do we have two females or maybe one of each?? Hopefully in my next blog we’ll have an answer! By the way, two of Blackwater Refuge’s three chicks on the cam have recently fledged. And at the Chestertown osprey cam, I believe one of the two have fledged. Since no one blogs on the Chestertown nest, I am not 100% positive but I believe I saw only one chick on their nest, hopefully the other wasn’t up under the cam hiding!
Finally this morning, I saw Olivia land on the nest with a nice-size fish. As she did at the channel marker, she called out continuously, alerting that dinner was ready. After 20 minutes with no one showing, she took flight with the fish, possibly to find a quiet spot to enjoy it all to herself this time!
I bet Olivia enjoyed it!
Where Did Our Osprey Family Go?
We thought it couldn’t get any hotter but it has. So hot we haven’t seen much of our osprey family on the nest. But I have located one of their roosts, a nice shady tree over at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center. With the haze and the distance, I haven’t been able to get a clear photo but I’ve watched them a few times with binoculars. Of course, they still fave Lippincott’s channel marker. Yesterday, a seagull was perched on the marker, and one of the osprey flew from the trees and chased him off and took his place. Yes, that marker is theirs!
Late this afternoon, we had a wicked thunderstorm. After it cleared, I found a chick on the marker and a parent brought him a fish to eat there. So we know two of our family are okay! The osprey families at Blackwater Rufuge and at the Chestertown cam both made through the storms fine too. It is amazing how resilient the osprey are.
A few days ago, I did see one of the chicks come to the nest and dad Ollie followed soon after with a fish. Ollie did as usual, he landed, released the headless fish, and took off. As our chick enjoyed his meal, someone approached on the walk-way which caused the chick to get quite vocal. He then took flight with his dinner and flew towards me. He came to my left and then flew in front of me, all the while keeping his eye on me. He was definitely checking me out….
The weather reports are calling for lower temps and lower humidity for the coming week so maybe our osprey family will be seen more around and on their nest. Since there may be less sightings to photograph, I will be starting up a photo gallery page of more osprey photos from the past as well as other waterfowl and wildlife favorites of mine. Here’s a cormorant roosting quietly on the piling at Mears Point Marina the other night. Sometimes called diving ducks, they get up to 32″ tall and feed on fish.
Now Those Chicks Are Vocal!
Thankfully, our osprey family has survived these last few days of severe storms, and both parents have been seen rebuilding and adding to the nest to keep it strong.
Has anyone walked by our osprey nest and noticed how much more vocal our chicks are now? Parents Olivia and Ollie don’t seem to mind too much of walkers or boats passing by, but the chicks just don’t like it! They have become quite protective of their nest now; which is great, they do need to show their aggressiveness for territory and personal protection. They even let me know if they don’t like me taking their picture or watching them through binoculars! No wonder, their eyesight is 3-5 times greater than a humans.
A couple nights ago at dusk I captured the entire family on Lippincott’s channel marker…..hmmmmm a nice large strong nest and all four are crowded on that one marker just hanging out. I thought it was a bit comical!
Here’s a photo of one of the chicks landing on one of our community’s chimneys. I’ve seen them land on this one chimney several times in the last week; but there’s another osprey family on a Kent Narrows channel marker and one of them usually chases the chick away. I guess that other family considers that chimney and roof their territory. Our chick high-tails it back to his nest every time!
We haven’t witnessed any of the chicks bringing any fish to the nest themselves yet. But they are practicing beautiful aerials with direct dives downward and then swooping back up before hitting the water. It won’t be long before they bring home their own first catch! Here’s a photo of dad Ollie bringing in a fish for one of the chicks. If you can tell, notice the fish’s head is missing. I’ve read that the parent will at times eat the fish’s head while enroute back to the nest before passing it on to the family. Ollie has consistently done this, but I’ve noticed Olivia consistently brings a full fish.
Once Ollie dropped the fish to the chick, he took back off and did a sweep of the water. Probably washing his feet of that stinky fish! 🙂 LOL
Finally, I thought this was nice. We had a momma mallard duck and her 15 ducklings swim across to our grassy area under the osprey nest from Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center, spend 15 minutes hiding in the flowers, and then she quacked them back over the berm and into the water for the long swim back to CBEC. Those poor little ducklings had a rough time climbing up and down the berm rocks, but they all made it! Here’s their family photo…
Let’s Go Diving!
The humidity has risen again with temps in the mid to upper 90’s and the heat indexes registering over 100 degrees in our area. Our osprey chicks continue to immerse themselves in the water below the nest to stay cool as well as learn the skill of diving. Can’t blame them!! Two nights ago, I got a nice photo of one of the chicks who left the nest and flew down to the rock berm below.
After a few minutes, he flew directly to the water and dropped in for a quick cool-off and flew back up to the nest.
Last night, I noticed the two chicks standing on the nest’s edge peering down to the water. With a blink of an eye, one chick jumped and dove straight down to the water with such a force. Just as quickly, he lifted back up and landed on the nest. He did this four more times, it was captivating to watch. I put together a short sequence of one of the dives.
What strength the chicks have attained since fledging less than two weeks ago! Finally, tonight I got some shots of mom Olivia bringing in a fish to one of the chicks.
What ensued thereafter was something! The following photos show the chick almost attacking the fish trying to take it from Olivia, but he caught her foot by accident. Notice in the last two photos how the chick bowed down and away from glaring Olivia. Once the chick stayed calm and looking away, Olivia dropped the fish and took off the nest.
I bet the chick doesn’t do that again! 🙂
Olivia and Blue Heron ‘Dog Fight’
The chicks are still out and about, their wings getting stronger each day. They continue to use the rocks below the nest as resting points, maybe more swims, it must feel safe to them down there and they can cool off easily. We don’t see much of dad Ollie, but I did capture him perched with Olivia on Lippincott’s channel marker, so we know he’s still around. He’s probably real busy trying to keep food in the nest. It was nice to see them together again! What great parents they have been!!
If you’re able to watch them, you’ll see the chicks are pretty much feeding themselves each time now. Mom Olivia just watches them and the skies around for protection. Before we know it, they will be bringing their own catches to the nest!
Speaking of protection, Olivia is still quite ardent that no one comes around her nest and territory. Did anyone in the community see yesterday morning, when a blue heron came way too close to Olivia’s liking and she took off after him. Here are a few sequence photos of the ‘dog fight’ they ensued. Olivia did get a strike on the blue heron who went down to the water. Both birds continued to try and attack each other before the blue heron took a turn to the south and away from her area.
Shortly after, another adult osprey came by, and Olivia took off after him too. He didn’t waste any time getting out of her area.
Good job, Olivia!! Finally, for fun I took the following photo of the latest ‘accessory’ to make it into our nest this morning. Yesterday, there was a piece of blue fabric but it’s either been removed or worked into the nest.
As The Song Goes — It’s HOT HOT HOT!
With not much reprieve from the heat and humidity, I’m thankful our osprey chicks have fledged so they can cool off better while flying. This morning’s steady thundershower is certainly helping. Not sure what was up in the sky this morning, our chicks kept looking up for quite a while, thought it was cute. (the streaks is rain…) Mom Olivia doesn’t seem to care.
Both chicks are constantly in the air now, strengthening their wings and you can see just enjoying themselves! In addition, they are learning about the water that surrounds them. One of the chicks left the nest and circled around it going lower and lower to the water. He then landed on a rock under the nest.
He rested a bit, then flew up and around and around, eventually landing back down on a different rock underneath the nest. Mom Olivia and his sibling watched him and then she left the nest to go perch on the channel marker. It was going on low tide when the berm becomes visible and pools some of the tidal water. Our chick surveyed the water and then proceeded to step into the shallow pool. Here are a sequence of photos showing him going for a swim! After which he spread his wings and floated for a few minutes. You know that felt good with all this heat.
When he pulled up and out of the water from floating, our chick had difficulty getting airborne and had to land on another rock on the other side of the nest. He stayed on that rock for quite some time, opening and closing his wings. The distress calls he made were quite different than usual. Mom Olivia did not leave her perch on the channel marker.
However, our second chick who was up in the nest returned calls and seemed concerned for his sibling. I thought he was going to fall off the nest trying to see below!
Our chick eventually took flight and had no difficulty this time. He did go directly to the nest and land, but it wasn’t long before he was off again as well as the other chick.
Another observation I want to mention is the chicks are now doing some self-feeding while Olivia watches or there is no parent present on the nest. I’ve seen some sibling rivalry on each not sharing their piece if the other’s is gone.
Finally, if you are not a web visitor of Friends of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge’s site, check out their website (link to the right) and webcam of their osprey family with three chicks. Lisa, the webmaster, gives awesome information in their blog as well as facts, photos, videos, and more. (She even featured our OC family in her latest blog, I’m tickled, thank you Lisa!) Be sure to check out the nifty pop-up cam feature, it is fantastic! They have an eagle page as well which is most active when the osprey migrate. I have emailed Lisa this year with many Q&A’s and she has helped me learn and understand more about our OC osprey family. I’ve been wondering how to tell the gender of our chicks and Lisa has discussed this in detail in her latest blog, be sure to read it if interested. I’m thinking we do have a female chick for sure, but I’m not sure on our second one, I’ve been leaning towards male. I will send Lisa some photos to see if she can determine for sure what our chicks’ genders are. Then I can correctly say ‘he or she’! Visiting the refuge is awesome too, the beauty and wildlife there is year round. And it’s so close for our community to visit!
One more site our neighbor Patti sent me, it is a live-feed webcam in Chestertown (also not too far from us) on an osprey family with two chicks. I love this one too! If you love osprey, these local cams are a treat. Their link is to the right.
Our Second Chick Has Fledged!
I received information yesterday that our osprey parents were named by a group of neighbors of mine three years ago. (Thanks for letting me know, CJ!) The mother osprey is Olivia and the father is Oliver (Ollie). So from this point forward I will use their names in my posts. 🙂
At dawn this morning, I checked our osprey nest and found mom Olivia feeding a single chick. The other chick wasn’t in sight, but I could just imagine him soaring our area. After the feeding, Olivia took flight, and the single chick followed her. I couldn’t believe it! And, of course, I was wasn’t prepared with my camera. I lost sight of the chick but Olivia perched herself again on Lippincott’s entrance channel marker just as yesterday and watched from there. Shortly thereafter, she took flight and disappeared. When I checked again 15 minutes later, the chick was just landing back on the nest and mom Olivia was coming in right behind. Here’s Olivia landing with a small fish for our successful second chick, what a great reward!
And then she proceeded to feed her chick. She has such patience!
Now that both chicks have fledged, they will work on improving their flying and landing skills and begin to learn on how catch their own fish. For now, they will still depend on Olivia and Ollie to bring fish to the nest, which will continue to be their home-base until they migrate in September.
Again, while waiting and watching, this seagull happen to fly by with his breakfast catch…
Although there will be less activity at the nest as weeks go on, I will keep us up-to-date on my sightings, in addition to posting past photos of our osprey family as well as other waterfowl photos of mine.
