Raising Aussie Osprey. Number 2

I've started page number 2 as the first one was getting too long. Hope you'll continue to join me in little Aussie's progress.

We came from here.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/915026/

Looks like she's saying Hi and Happy Birthday to you.

Margaret, you are so fortunate to be able to witness this in person. This little one is adorable!

Can you believe how big it is getting?

Margaret, the chick is indeed growing. Now, I think h/she is pretty not to mention cute. Glad you started a new post. Lee

Now that is a cute chick pic!! lol

What a great start to the new thread!

I certainly do consider myself very fortunate to be able to go to this place whenever I please (which is quite often). I spent about an hour there this afternoon. In the two or three days since I was last there, the chick has grown considerably and is even more active.

In this shot, little Aussie had been sleeping, but woke up when the male arrived with a fish. The female takes the fish from the male with a combination of beak and talons. Here the chick had just woken up and was eagerly anticipating the first beak full.

Waiting patiently

By the time I took this shot, the chick had been fed several times, but the mother obliterated the view. She obligingly moved aside a little. You should be able to see his crop starting to fill up.

The focus is dodgy, but I love the way it's looking at its mother, waiting for the next morsel.

I'll post this one twice, first uncropped to show how much bigger it appears in the nest,

and then cropped to show how much like an Osprey the chick looks.

How aquiline.

It moved to another position in the nest and the sun came out.

Another one

Wonderful pics Margaret! The chick really looks like an obvious Osprey now.

Sorry I wasn't on when you tried to contact me last night.

Margaret what great pics and that first one is sooo cute! What a darling baby and it is growing so fast, before you know it it will be wanting to borrow your car!

Oh my golly, Margaret! I just started from the "plucked chicken" phase all the way up to the present. The feathers are really coming in, and you can see how strong it's getting. Any bets folks on if it's a she or he?

Thanks folks. I've read that the female is larger than the male, but in observing them, I can't detect any difference in size. Its progress is absorbing. I'll go back to the nest tomorrow or Sunday

Great shots! It's starting to look like a 'proper' bird. Is there any way you can tell males and females apart other than at nesting time?

No, Wallaby, if there is a difference, I can't tell.  With this pair, it's easy to tell which is which, because the female has the band on her right leg and the bung left eye.

I only stopped off at the nest for about half an hour today. Mum was dozing, Dad was out fishing and Aussie was either napping or looking around. It is so obviously now looking outside the nest at what's going on.


This message was edited Nov 15, 2008 6:40 PM

A turboprop aircraft went slowly overhead and because of the incredible wind we're experiencing at present, not on one of the regular flight paths. The chick looked up, following the passage of the aircraft. The female dozed on.

The shadow of the airplane passed over us and little Aussie hit the deck, flattening itself into the nest. But if you look closely, you should be able to see it still looking at that "dirty great big bird". Mum dozed on. Ooooooh, I want a bigger lens.

Whew, thank goodness THAT'S gone.

On average, females have a more obvious brown breast band than males, but there's some overlap. They also average 5-10% larger than males.

You'd think the youngster would take a cue from mummy that the thing going over could be ignored!

Resin

"Wow! That was a BIG BIRD!" Amazing how the baby knew to flatten itself like that. He/she has gotten so big!

5-10% bigger than males? I feel a lot better about myself now. Thanks Resin.

Aussie sure is camouflaged well.

Such great pics Margaret! It's such a pleasure to come see the updates on this thread!

Grow little one. Grow!

LOL, I was thinking just the opposite. Please don't grow little one. :-)

Great opportunity to capture that Margaret, lol, I saw the slightly older baby Blue Tits carefully watching light aircraft going over. Mom must have seen them before.

LOL, pell.

LOL Nancy!

I just can't believe how fast it is growing. awwww.

What great captures Margaret!! It's so interesting to see its reaction.

I'm so glad you're all enjoying this thread.

I went to the Osprey's nest this afternoon. It's remarkable how much the chick has grown in the two days since I last saw it. Here's the three of them together. The male's on the right and Aussie is half sitting - half laying between them.

The chick is now very obvious in the nest. Mother Osprey was up on a branch to the right.

A piece of plastic has blown onto the nest during the strong winds we've had over the last few days. Fortunately it didn't get tangled in the nest material.

This is the same picture, cropped. Have a look at the extraordinary talon.

She was making different sounds to those I've heard before as she worked her way down the branch towards the chick. Really hard to describe, but almost like a clicking sound. I may be completely wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't make those sounds when the time comes for her to encourage the chick to venture out onto a branch with her.

Edited for bad grammar.

This message was edited Nov 17, 2008 5:48 PM