All three chicks have fledged.

Big Hook staring at her leg is fabulous. She is so beautiful. Thanks for updating us Margaret.

Happy New Year to you, too, BeaHive. Speaking of updates, how's the pond coming along?

Thanks, GG. She just sat like that and stared for several moments, then she'd gaze around and resume that pose. I wish she'd share what was so fascinating.

This afternoon there was a fair bit of activity. A Brown Goshawk was manoeuvring round the nest, which had two juveniles on it. Big Hook was on the pole branch. Of course, the nest was in shadow at the time, so no shots, but I did get a few of it standing on the right hand branch staring at the nest occupants. It poses no threat to them at this stage.

It was so funny watching the young ones reactions to this intruder. One of them became really agitated and flew to the pole branch, except Big Hook was there. It actually landed on top of Big Hook and got such a fright it took off and circled a couple of times, screaming all the while. I've had to enhance this shot quite a bit in Elements.

So, it headed back towards the nest but decided again to land on the pole branch - where Big Hook remained. Very clumsy shots, but you'll get the idea.

Big Hook was effectively displaced and I didn't see her again for the remainder of the afternoon. The young one went to a branch below the nest and had a snooze. That's all for now.

Margaret, thank you for the update. It's interesting that Harry caught a blowfish and your analogy of the poisonous fish being 'training wheels' for young Ospreys. Was it the youngster Harmony that was seen catching one and dropped the fished when she fledged? Geez, how time flies!

Love the young one trying to land. Wonder what Big Hook was thinking? BRAT!! LOL

difficult children, but so glad that all 3 are there.

The pond I suppose is doing OK. It has been netted for months now to keep all the oak leaves out. Some algea but I see the Koi moving around down there. So looking forward to spring! :)

This message was edited Jan 9, 2012 7:50 PM

Hey, so great to see the chicks and Mom again. Trial and errors, will eventually make perfectly smooth landing. ;) But it must be fun to watch it all happening. Thanks for the good report on them catching fish, and knowing to select the good ones.

Beautiful shots Margaret!! Happy New Year to you also! Glad all 3 birds are still doing well!

Margaret, Thanks for the updates, so that we can follow what is happening with your/our ospreys. Here in my area we have so far had very little real winter weather, actually very dry for this time of year.

Happy New Year.

Donna

Beautiful photos Margaret. I'll bet it was exciting to watch the little one land on Big Hook.

Well, it's been a long time between drinks. I haven't gone to the nest very often because of the heat and we're in for a horrendous run of it this week and I really don't have much to show for yesterday's visit. When I arrived, an Australian Raven was walking around the now very flattened nest, doing a good job of cleaning up fish scraps. The sun is moving back around to the north and the nest is in shadow a lot of the time in the late afternoon.

I saw one juvenile and thought I heard two, but it may have been Big Hook, who joined young Harry on the nest (picture). The last time I went, which was a week ago, I saw two juveniles, but I haven't seen or heard the third for probably 3 weeks. It was spending its time in the trees below Madam X's place, but she hasn't been aware of it for some time. Let's hope that not hearing or seeing it doesn't mean that it has come to grief.

I've seen the young ones with blowfish which they have caught themselves, but are still being brought fish by Big Hook.

I'll update if anything special occurs, but it looks like this season is winding down early.

Best wishes to the new generation. Hope the young ones will spread their wings and continue to thrive Margaret. It's so nice to get to see them, the mum and child, once again. Thank you.

Sure hope that old branch withstands more seasons. It was nice to see some of the family again. Hope all of them do fine.

Thanks, Kim.

GG, I watch that nest swaying in the wind and wonder the same thing. If it does go, let's hope it's not when the birds are nesting.

Thanks for this season report. It was intersting to follow. So glad it was a successful year for the family. Hoping for much more good result in the future.

Mags, I get daily weather report from Perth. Y'all have been HOT...might as well live here ;o) Except we get hotter for longer...nah...I will come live in Perth ;o) Nice to see the nest again. Was this season much shorter than the others? Maybe it just seemed short due to fact there was not any major drama.

It'll be interesting to see what happens this comings season, Burn.

Hi Kim, you also have those nasty tornadoes on top of the heat. That's scary. It seems shorter to me as well. Maybe it's because the chicks hatched so early in September and yes, maybe because it was free of dramas.

I can't be the most observant person on earth. I had notice that the nest looked flat and put it down to lots of comings and goings and no sticks being added to it. However, I was just speaking to Madam x and part of the nest actually fell away during some wild winds we've been having. The part of the nest where that white plastic bag was, is no more. Compare the nest on the 26th December to the two shots from yesterday.

I thought the plastic was missing. That's good, but I hope the nest can be rebuilt safely.

My gosh, there is a little chunk missing!

It's probably a good thing that part of it has fallen off. It reduces the overall weight.

Just to make you feel better about the ice and snow you're having. We're in for a WEEK of record breaking temperatures. The bureau keeps amending the temperature upwards. 40C today and 42 on Saturday. Where we are, close to the coast, we will typically be even hotter than the temps forecast because we're the last point that the the hot desert reaches, before hitting the ocean. We're also first to get any cooling sea breeze, which is a real bonus.

Here's a shot of Harry with his catch - a blowfish, which he eventually dropped -from more than a week ago. Uncropped.

He has become a very handsome boy!

Try to keep cool!

What Nanny said!

A handsome boy Harry is!

Blowfish must be easy to catch? Or there must be a lot of them!

What a handsome boy!

Wow, all the girls will sure be going after Harry soon. He's gorgeous. That 7D was perfect for you Margaret.

I do hope the third chick will show up. It would really hurt to think all the chicks made it this far only to lose one.

Glad that old plastic bag is gone. I've seen what the winds here do to our osprey nests and yours looks beautiful compared to any of ours.

It was extraordinarily windy the day before yesterday so I was at the nest by 7am and went scrambling down the rocky cliffs to a spot below the nest in the hope of getting some hovering shots. The lighting wasn't right, so nothing to write home about, but I did get a few shots I'd like to share.

I know this thread is now very long and if anyone is having a hard time loading it, let me know, but I haven't started a new one, because I keep thinking there won't be much to add to this one.

Kim, blowfish are both very easy to catch and are there in huge numbers.

Duc, no sign of sound of the third juvenile. Even though I haven't been going down there very often, because of the continued heat, I'd think I would have been aware of it by now, if it's still around.

Here, Big Hook comes towards the nest with a small fish in her talons. The juvenile on the nest reaches forward with its beak to try to take hold of it, but Big Hook was having none of it and flew away, circling the nest several times over a period of some minutes. Maybe encouraging the juvenile to follow and be stimulated to search for its own fish. Because the nest was so far above me, I have no idea which one it was.

"Hey, come baaaaaack".

One of the juveniles arrives at the nest with a fish

Closer to the nest.

Up to this point, it didn't seem to realise that its sibling was one the nest and was beginning to respond to a fish conveniently about to land.

A look of shock and horror as it realises that it may have to fight with its sibling over its hard-caught breakfast.

It screeches as it leaps into the air.

.. and starts to fly off as the sibling makes a serious move towards the fish.

It was still flying around with it several minutes later, looking for somewhere to land where it could eat the poor fish in peace.

Mystery bird. It is an adult, but isn't Big Hook, who was off eating the fish she had almost delivered a while earlier. It was accepted around the area of the nest, so unless it's dad, sporting a bib of new, dark feathers, I wonder if it could be Whopper. Looking at its eye one the computer, I can see a dark mark on the iris of its right eye, where dad's mark is, so it probably is him, just not 100% certain.