April 30, 2005
A New Season
We had planned to start the 2005 Osprey Cam Web Log upon the arrival of the first chick, but since this has already turned into a notable season, we thought we'd start the log a little early.
First, if you'd like to know more about ospreys, be sure to check out our Osprey page. On that page you can find links to last year's Web Log, as well as links to our new and old galleries. You can also find a link to our Osprey Curriculum.
To recap where we are this year -- our original cam pair has moved to another nest. Normally osprey pairs are very loyal to a successful nesting site, but when a new platform went up not far from the cam platform, our old pair decided they liked that one better, and they moved. They are not very far from the cam platform, which is why it might have been an easy move for them.
From what we hear, a few other osprey pairs were competing for the cam platform, and the pair we are now watching won out. We do not know anything about this new pair, so all our information regarding egg and chick production isn't very helpful because we're starting fresh with a new couple.
From what we can tell, there is a chance that this pair might be new parents. They were late taking over this nest, then they were a little late laying their egg, and now they seem to be a little lacking in their egg monitoring skills.
Over Friday night and Saturday morning, we saw the couple leave the egg uncovered for what seemed like a long time. Later on Saturday, the parents started sitting on the egg again and also began using sod to cover it -- something our old pair used to do, which is a good sign.
An average osprey pair can be expected to lay 3-4 eggs, although our cam pairs have never laid more than 3 eggs. Since this might be an inexperienced pair, we're not sure if they will lay that many. Only time will tell.
Finally, we wanted to mention the egg itself -- a couple cam watchers have mentioned that it looks like something is on the egg. Osprey eggs are not white like eagle eggs; instead they have a great variety in their coloring and often have brownish spots or mottling on the egg surface. What might look like a crack is likely the coloring on the egg. You can see some osprey egg samples here where the spotty coloring is visible.
We want to thank you for joining us for our 2005 Osprey Cam adventure. We don't know what's coming, but we're happy that you've decided to join us as we see whatever Mother Nature might have in store for our new couple.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster