Tag: #OspreyNest

Food Fight

In the US, when one thinks of a food fight, it means food is thrown. In the animal world, animals might be playing tug of war with food or trying to steal it from each other.

Food Fight – This is the dad with a fish.

The dad had the fish at this location for a while taking bites out of it. Meanwhile, at the nest nearby, the babies were going crazy making noise. These pictures were taken in New Jersey. The water in the background is the Atlantic Ocean.

Food Fight

After a long wait, the dad finally brought the fish over to the nesting platform. This nest has three babies on the right. The mom is on the left. It appears these young osprey have not fledged from the nest yet. Happy Friday!

Always Adding On

Most days when I go down to watch this nest, I see the mom or dad get additional sticks to add to the nest pile. Most of the time they are sticks floating nearby on the Hudson River, or from the nearby shore.

Always Adding On

Dad was out, so the adult appears to be the mom. Sometimes I think it is also an excuse for her to cool down by landing in the water for a few seconds.

Always Adding On

In the above picture it appears she is mulling over where to place the stick in the nest. Maybe the chicks are giving her input. Have a great Monday!

Osprey Family 6/8

It was a hazy day, but I figured I would try my luck with the osprey. We are supposed to have more rainy days this week. Despite the haze, I saw a lot.

Osprey Family 6/8 -You can see to babies by the parent on the right side of the photo.

The babies are starting to look more like Osprey. They are also peeking their heads above the nest more.

Osprey Family 6/8 -One being fed and the other looking in the same direction as the other parent.

These are all taken at a distance with a zoom lens and are cropped.

Osprey Family 6/8- One of the parents with both kids in the photo in the bottom of the photo. One head is just visible under the other baby.

Even hazy days can be good days! Have a great week!

The Babies Are Visible!

The Babies Are Visible! Osprey Babies

The Osprey babies stuck their heads above the top of the nest several times today. I could not get them in sharp focus. This is with a zoom lens and heavily cropped. When they grow bigger I hope to get some better images. Most of the time I was looking at the nest I did not see them, and sometimes I saw one head. I have a few images where two heads were visible. They are very small. Have a great Monday!

Sizing Up Dinner

We continue to have a lot of rainy days. I did view the osprey in between storms. No baby osprey heads visible yet as of Friday night. This nest is deep.

Sizing Up Dinner

In the above picture it appears the female osprey is sizing up the fish the male is bringing in.

Sizing up dinner- Battle Scars?

The above piture appears to be the male. He has some white areas on his wing. I wonder if that is normal or batle scars from chasing off eagles and other osprey or them chasing him.

Sizing up dinner- This fish he appears to ate completely himself. I believe I was told this one is a herring.

The fishermen wanted to see what fish the osprey was bringing in, so I showed them the back of my camera. I think it was this image. They thought it was a herring based on what they saw in the back of my camera. The one fisherman said he was using herring as bait to catch stripper.

Here’s hoping we get some clear days. Here’s hoping we will get a clear night or two. They are saying here that Sunday night has a possibility to be a great night to see the Northern Lights, if it is not cloudy and everything pans out as they are thinking. Happy Sunday!

Intruder and Pursuit

I thought two adults were already in the nest I was watching today. People kept stopping to talk and ask questions, so maybe I missed the mate leaving. However, this adult coming to the nest was an intruder, probably from the other nest that was within sight.

Intruder and Pursuit – Intruder is approaching the nest

From the pictures you can see the one osprey in the nest looks quite perturbed. The other adult osprey was laying low in the nest. The intruder actually landed on the nest for a few seconds.

Intruder and Pursuit- Both do not look happy

Then one of the adults from the nest went in hot pursuit. Luckily for me some of the action was fairly close, and I was able to capture some shots.

Intruder and Pursuit

The adult from the nest chased him in circles in front of me. Meanwhile the mate in the nest was loudly protesting, or were they cheering their mate on?

Intruder and Pursuit

Although it appears they got fairly close at some points, it does not looks like from any of my images that any blood was shed. Not sure if they even actually touched each other.

Intruder and Pursuit

Eventually they flew farther away over land chasing each other in the direction of another body of water. I thought these two nests were getting along, but there was drama today. I hope your week is drama free.

Osprey DIY Repairs

The is the first morning I made it to this location. I usually stop by this spot on the Hudson River on my way home from work. I am usually facing the sun at those times when I face the nest. In the morning the sun is behind you. I was really hoping to get a shot in good light of an osprey bringing in a fish. In the 4 hours I was there no fish were brought in. I did see a stick brought in multiple times. I guess they were doing DIY (Do it yourself) nest repair.

Osprey DIY Repairs p- A short stick

Both of the sticks I am showing they picked up floating in the river. We have experienced a lot of rain lately and some flooding. There is a lot of debris in the river.

Osprey DIY Repairs – Bringing in a floating stick or vine from the river

I like the above picture because it appears he is looking right at me. You can see the head of the mate appearing just above the nest on the right side. The nest is deep and so far I am not seeing the heads of any young osprey, so I have to assume they have not hatched yet. I hope you had a great Mother’s Day if you live in the U.S. Have a great week.

If You Build it, They Will Come: Osprey

I believe in order to control where osprey build nests in different spots in New York they are building platforms on top of telephone / power poles etc, to attract their nest building to that location. I usually see these as active osprey nests once they are built.

If You Build it, They Will Come: Osprey. – It even has a pole to perch on.

This osprey nest had two osprey on it when I first saw it , but one flew away to an area with possibly a creek or river nearby. I assume this is an adult. I do not think I saw any young. I am guessing they fledged already.

It was a nice find. My GPS actually led me the wrong way to get to the nearby location I was stopping at. I’m actually glad it did. It had me backtrack and go a different way when I continued ahead after it readjusted. A mistake by the GPS worked out to be a good thing. Take advantage of these moments. Have a great week!

Busy Osprey Family

I went to check on the Osprey family this weekend. Parents were flying in and out of the nest, which is a good sign the baby or babies hatched.

Busy Osprey Family

I was hoping to see a parent bring in a fish, but not this time.

Busy Osprey Family – Baby head pops up

I only got a few pictures that included a baby osprey. This is one of them. I do not know if this is the only one.

Busy Osprey Family – Feeding the young fish

I do not think the parent was feeding herself here. They seemed to be handing off low to a baby in the nest.

Busy Osprey Family – Reinforcing the nest

I did not witness a fish being brought in, but saw one of the parents bring in a stick, Considering there is visible in this picture a big hole in this nest, it is probably a good idea. Were you busy this weekend? I hope you had time to relax.