Bird Cams Around the World

This could be three??? I'm back to work...but should be off before dark.



Jazzel

I'm very sure, now, after comparing countless pics of head markings, that these are the original resident WHOI Cam Ospreys. It's very difficult to compare pics from the old cam and new cam.

The intruder issues on the WHOI nest, this season, have been well documented by many cam viewers…both in commentary and pics.

This is Dr. Rob Bierregaard's answer to questions I had about the intruder issues Hilton Head, SC, Cape Coral, FL, this season and Conanicut, RI, Cape Henlopen, DE last season. I posted this on the Hilton Head blog.


"I don't know exactly how long they have to get going. We've had young fledge in mid-late August on the Vineyard, so that pair probably didn't lay until late May. It may have been a renesting after a lost clutch, or it could have been one of these turn-over in the breeding pair situations, which very often result in no nesting for that year. I suspect that most of the intruder situations occur when one of the adults doesn't return and the fight to fill the vacancy is really protracted because none of the contestants has the psychological advantage of having been there the previous year. "Home-court advantage" is really a big deal in birds.
Eggs are produced about 2-3 days apart (more if the female is not in really good condition). I suspect that they could recycle only if it's really early in the nesting season. Whether they recycle or not would depend on physiological condition, and what the levels of estrogen were in the female's blood."

PICS COMPARING HEAD MARKINGS



POSSIBLE INTRUDERS



Looking back at nest caps, I don't believe there was a third egg….but I have more screen recordings to check

The male is doing the incubating. But part time incubating will not result in a hatch.

The intruders are not an issue now...but they were at the start of the season, resulting in a very late start for the resident pair. It makes perfect sense that the male would incubate and fish...he would be doing this, at this stage in a normal season. It also makes sense that the female is not incubating, consider what Dr. Bierregaard said about the females estrogen blood level...

As I said I believe this is the resident pair from past seasons.

A "young inexperienced" female would be three or four years old, and fishing for herself since her first migration, she would also be fishing for herself until her eggs hatched, while the male took over incubation duty. I think she's simply guarding her nest.

There are many ospreys in the area...including the new nesting pair on a building 500 yards from the cam nest, and more young ones arriving...a distraction, but not a intruder take over issue.

The WHOI pair are guarding the nest...insuring their claim for next season....note Dr. Bierregaard's comment on "Home-court advantage"

Hope this helps. This is a great learning experience..take notes : - )

Thanks for all this, Jazzel! I am reminded that when the eggs failed to hatch in the Oregon eagle nest this spring, Dad continued incubating for a while after Mom had stopped - which had made me wonder if the late start here had meant that while Mom is laying eggs, her instinct to incubate had passed. It is interesting - though I admit I'd prefer a boring, happy nest.

Catching up a bit, here's a slideshow to show why I think there might have been a third egg laid the afternoon of Sunday, May 23. It's also possible that one of them dug up one of the eggs that was laid earlier and partially buried/hidden by the new nesting material they brought in the day before. The slideshow starts on Saturday the 22nd, and as I was away all day so have no s'caps, I borrowed one (thanks, Jazzel!) to show the time when it looked as if there might be a third egg or something white sitting with the eggs; several people on various forums got pics during that time, and none of them really seemed to show three complete eggs - which is why I'm guessing the white thing wasn't an egg (though it is possible that one of the eggs broke, and one of the two eggs that looked intact at that point wasn't.

I am convinced it was Mom who was in the nest Sunday afternoon, and I honestly can't remember another time when I've seen her in an incubating position. There probably have been times, but it is very rare.

I put the timeline in the captions, but am not sure if there's time to read them, am also putting it here:

May 22, 5:50 am – 2 eggs, Mom bringing in straw, Dad leaving
May 22, 6:03 am – 2 eggs, partly covered
May 22, 4:28 pm – 2 eggs plus something (Jazzel's pic – thanks!)
May 22, 8:03 pm – eggs appear covered/hidden
May 22, 8:30 pm – Dad on nest, Mom on perch
May 23, 8:15 am – eggs at least partly buried/hidden
May 23, 10:46 am – green rope added, eggs not visible
May 23, 12:18 pm – Mom in nest
May 23, 12:42 pm – egg sitting on top of fluff in nest
May 23, 1:26 pm – Mom still in nest standing over egg
May 23, 3:02 pm – Dad incubates while Mom watches
May 24, 4:09 pm – looks like two brown eggs
May 25, 6:30 am – and back to one reddish brown egg
May 25, 1:37 pm – and then a brown egg and something white
May 25, 1:56 pm – Mom protecting the egg
May 25, 1:58 pm – one reddish-brown egg

Click for slideshow - 18 pics

What's the consensus? 4 eggs or no? Appears to be 4, with R rear kind of buried in the nest. What do others think?

Looks to be only 2 eggs there now. Strange, strange, strange behavior.

BOTH STILL ON THE NEST PROTECTING THOSE EGGS




JAZZEL