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August 4 - Two Ospreys return to the nest. We
believe the Osprey towards the front that is a lighter brown to be one of the three young
Osprey that have fledged and the darker one towards the back to be an adult. |
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July 23 - Here we see an adult Osprey return to the
nest with small fresh tree branch. |
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July 19 - Studies show that young Osprey migrate south
later than the adult Osprey do. The reason for this may be that the young Osprey
have less time to maintain good flying habits as well as foraging skills. |
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July 18 - At least one young Osprey continues to return
to the nest accepting food from its parents. Notice the difference in plumage
between the young Osprey (left) and the adult Osprey (right). |
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July 15 - Generally, after the young have fledged, they
will depend on their parents for food for another 10-20 days. |
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July 14 - After their first flight, Osprey young will
return to perch in or nearby the nest. Normally at this time, the adults will
continue to bring prey back to their young. |
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July 13 - The Ospreys have finally fledged! The
young left the nest some time between July 10th and July 13th. |
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July 10 - The young Ospreys are approximately 54 days
old today. Osprey young typically fledge at between 50 and 55 days of age. |
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July 9 - Notice the young Osprey's orange-red iris,
which will stay that color for about a year. |
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July 7 - Normally when fledge time comes near, the
adults will make short flights to and from the nest in order to teach their young how to
fly. The young will practice raising and flapping their wings many times before
actually leaving the nest. |
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July 6 - It has been found that when Osprey siblings
fledge, they are more successful in capturing prey when they stick together rather than
when they forage on their own. |
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July 4 - With only days left until normal fledge time,
these birds spend much of their time watching the parents outside of the nest. |
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July 2 - At 46 days old, the young Ospreys begin
feeding on their own, gladly accepting prey brought back by the adult male. |
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July 1 - With wings spread, this Osprey chick gives us
our first glimpse of its soon to be 5-foot wing span. |
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June 28 - This photo provides a visual of the relative
sizes of the adult and a 5-6 week old chick. Also notice, the increasing dark adult
plumage. |
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June 27 - With the presentation of a fresh catch, one
of the parents gets the attention of all three chicks. |
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June 26 - One of the parents takes flight as the three
chicks await their next meal. |
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June 24 - Notice the emerging facial features of the
young bird in the lower half of the screen. |
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June 23 - If these young birds can survive their first
year of life, their chances of survinging subsequent years will nearly double. |
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June 20 - The oldest chick is now five weeks old, and
has just complete the period of most rapid growth. |
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June 19 - One of the parents is seen breaking off
pieces of a fish to an eager chick. |
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June 17 - Looking closely at the heads of the young
ospreys, we can begin to see the distinctive dark line through the eye. |
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June 16 - These young Ospreys will have just 6 or 8
weeks outside the nest before beginning their migration to the southern portion of their
range. |
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June 15 - At this early stage, the best way to
differentiate male and female chicks is by measuring wing length. |
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June 14 - Osprey parents, unlike many songbird
parents, make no attempt to clean nests of fecal matter or decaying fish parts. |
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June 12 - The young chicks are all seen
looking out over the nest, presumably at one of their parents on nearby perches. |
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June 11 - The three-week old chicks are
showing early signs of their emerging juvenile plumage on their primary wing feathers,
head and upperparts. |
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June 9 - Both parents sit along the edge of
the nest, one with a freshly caught breakfast. |
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June 8 - When food is scarce, sibling
aggression can be very high. We have seen little aggression, probably due to an abundant
food supply. |
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June 5 - At approximately three weeks old, the
chicks will enter a peak growth period for the next two weeks and gain about 50-75 grams
per day. |
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June 3 - We are glad to see both parents on the nest.
Just a few days ago, the cam host saw the female struggling in the water. Due to intense
competition for nest sites, she may have been knocked to the water by
another osprey or even an eagle. |
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June 1 - While we lost power to the site, we are glad
to see that the powerful weekend storms and tornadoes did not adversely affect the birds
and nest. |
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May 31 - All three chicks are lined up with their eyes
and beaks to the right of the nest where one of the parents, likely the female, is
offering a meal. |
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May 29 - The oldest chick is now almost two weeks old,
and entering the 20-day period of fastest growth. |
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May 27 - The last egg will probably not hatch. In this
image however, the three chicks can be accurately aged counterclockwise from oldest (at
top) to youngest. |
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May 25 - One of the adults—likely the
female—rips small bits of flesh from a live fish, which make up 99% of the Osprey
diet. |
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May 24 - The nest contains three chicks, one egg, and
one dead fish. Presumably, the parents are nearby. |
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May 23 - Typically the male brings food to the nest,
eats a bit, and then offers the rest to the female who then distributes food to the
chicks begging most aggressively. |
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May 22 - The arrows are pointing to the three chicks,
the oldest of which is now four days old. |
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May 21 - It is not known whether parents dispose of
eggshells, but this pair of Osprey seem content to leave the shells in the nest. |
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May 20 - Another broken eggshell means the third egg
hatched some time today! Powerful storms have caused the system to shut down. We hope to
restore connections again. |
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May 19 - Early this morning, the second egg hatched.
Chicks are born semiprecocial, i.e, covered in down, and capable of slight begging
movements. |
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May 18 - Dinner time at the Osprey nest! One of the
parents tears off pieces of a freshly caught fish to feed to the young chick. |
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May 18 - The top arrow is pointing to the first chick
which hatched some time in the last two days! The other arrow is pointing to the discarded
eggshell. |
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May 16 - The first egg is seen with a slight crack on
this, the 37th day of incubation. The young chick will break the shell with its beak
several hours before hatching. |
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May 14 - Today is the 35th day of incubation, and the
earliest expected first hatch date. |
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May 13 - Like songbirds, birds of prey also need to
frequently turn and rotate eggs in order to prevent amniotic fluid from sticking to the
eggshell wall. |
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May 12 - The eggs may show signs of first cracks two or
three days before they actually hatch. |
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May 11 - Osprey populations crashed between the 1950's
and 70's largely because of contamination by the pesticide DDT which caused eggshell
thinning, and eventual breakage, during incubation. The plight of the Ospreys was a major
factor in banning the use of DDT in North America. |
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May 10 - Rarely are the eggs left unprotected. Taking
turns, both the male and female use a nearby perch from which to hunt and feed. |
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May 9 - Factors influencing clutch size include
food availability, latitudinal variation (with smaller clutches occurring in the south),
and lay date. |
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May 8 - Thanks to a string of sunny days, the solar
panels have been able to effectively power the camera and computer. |
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May 7 - The larger female sits atop the eggs while the
male guards her closely. The pair is entering into the fifth and final week of incubation. |
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April 27 - The camera system has experienced
difficulties in the past week. This image came through of one of the adults incubating the
eggs with what appears to be garbage in the nest. |
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April 24 - Unlike most songbirds, both the male and
female Osprey incubate the eggs. The female, however, typically incubates more,
particularly during the day. |
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April 21 - The male and female are both at the nest
looking at what appears to be a fourth, creamy white egg! |
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April 18 - Typical incubation period for Ospreys varies
between 34 - 40 days. |
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April 17 - Despite frequent power losses at the site,
the camera reveals three eggs in the nest. Clutch sizes can range between one and four
eggs. |
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April 15 - The Osprey couple view the surroundings from
their lofty vantage point. We have been unable to determine if there are more eggs yet. |
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April 10 - At approximately, 6:30 a.m., the female lays
the first heavily spotted, reddish-brown egg! |
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April 9 - It appears the Ospreys have added a piece of
paper, or some other material to their nest. |
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April 8 - The arrow is pointing to what could be
the first egg, but the image is not very clear. |
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April 7 - Here one of the Ospreys appears to be calling
right in the direction of the camera. |
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April 6 - The camera captures the male as he prepares
to land on the female and copulate. |
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April 5 - A nice look at the conspicuous yellow iris,
indicative of adults. |
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April 4 - Outside the breeding season, Ospreys are
usually solitary birds. |
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April 3 - After learning of Osprey population crashes
due to DDT use during the 1950s and 70s, students at Caldwell Elementary decided to erect
nesting platforms along Barkley and Kentucky Lakes. So far, 21 nesting platforms
have been erected by the school! |
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April 2 - The Osprey has a magnificent wing span
measuring nearly six feet wide. |
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March 31 - Prior to egg-laying and until fledging of
young, the female is fed a steady diet of live fish almost exclusively by her mate. |
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March 30 - The male attempts to mate with the female.
It is estimated that less than half of all copulations are successful. |
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March 26 - The large 3-4 foot diameter nest is built
with sticks and lined with vines, grass, and bark. It appears as though the nest cup
is fully lined and ready for eggs! |
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March 25 - The male is seen here mounting the female. |
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March 22 - The handsome couple sit atop the nest which
is still in the process of being built. While they look very similar, the female is
usually larger. |
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March 21 - The Osprey has landed! One Osprey is seen
flying into the nest while the other sits on the nest. Notice the increased amount of
nesting material brought in during the past few days. |
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March 17 - During a recent visit to the Osprey
platform, our cam hosts witnessed a male on the nest and additional nest material on the
platform. |
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March 13 - This beautiful Osprey appears to be a lone
female without a mate. When the camera and power source are working, we have seen her
spending considerable time on the nesting platform. |
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March 11 - HOORAY! We are ecstatic to see first
images of an Osprey on the platform!!! The Osprey stayed on the nest for a little over an
hour. |
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March 3 - The nesting material was placed there by our
cam hosts to entice an Osprey to check out the platform as a potential nest site. |
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February 28 - The team from Caldwell County Elementary
successfully set up one of sixteen Osprey platforms atop channel markers on Barkley Lake. |
