Bird Watching: Raising Aussie Osprey #7, 0 by MargaretK

MargaretK wrote:
Thanks folks. Nanny, the Ospreys eat at a leisurely pace. I've noticed that it will take them roughly an hour to eat a fish.

Resin, that's interesting and by sheer coincidence I was speaking to a Swedish visitor at the nest site this evening and she said that a friend of hers who had considerable knowledge of Ospreys said the Aussie birds were smaller. Her own observations are similar, that the Aussie birds are noticeably smaller and whiter around the head and neck. She also said that the head shape was a little different, our birds having a less rounded shape - more eagle like.

There was high drama at the nest this evening and I was taking a "movie" (if you could call it that) with my little point and shoot because the nest was in shadow and a cloud cover had built up. Mum and Aussie were on the nest when I arrived there late afternoon. They were doing a lot of calling and looking towards the tree where the male hangs out.

Their calling got louder and both mother and Aussie became more agitated and sure enough, the male arrived with a fish, dropped it off like a Fed Ex delivery and departed to the tree directly above me. I'm not sure exactly what happened next as I've yet to download the little bit of video footage, but Mum and Aussie were fighting over the fish. There were sounds of high expressed emotion but no sound of either bird being in real distress and after about 10-15 seconds, Mum flew off and Aussie had the fish firmly clasped in her talons.

There's a number of shots I took after I put the P & S down. They don't capture the drama completely, but will give an idea of the battle. Remember, by the time I got my still camera the major drama was nearly over. These shots are the remnants.