July 17, 2005
Flapping Times
First, thanks to everyone for their photos from the last week -- we saw a lot of great shots. Also, a quick reminder that the Name the Chicks Competition is on until July 31.
During the week, some cam watchers had commented on the fact that the ospreys seemed to spend a lot of time on the edge of the nest. We're not sure why that was, but our cam technician did say that when he went out in his boat, the ospreys that he observed in other local nests were showing similar behavior. We think it might have had something to do with the hot, humid weather. Possibly the mother gets more breeze on the edge, and we know the chicks are using her for shade.
Domination continues to be the story between the two chicks. We've seen many shots where the youngest takes a submissive posture in response to the oldest chick's actions, especially during meal time. It's safe to say that the youngest will probably be the happiest chick in the world when the oldest learns to fly and leaves the nest to eat.
In the last two years of our Osprey Cam we had multiple chicks in each nest, but we never saw this dynamic where one chick aggressively asserted its "first-chick" privileges over a long period of time. In the past, both chicks fed together and neither was forced to wait for the other to finish. This year it's different.
What's especially interesting is that this year we have a new adult pair at the nest, so we have to wonder if it has anything to do with the parents. The father is seen regularly bringing fish, but earlier in the week we did see the mother go catch some fish herself on a couple of occasions. Then on one occasion when the father came back empty-taloned, the mother looked very unhappy about it. Maybe the father is spending too much time just sitting on his perch.
A new wrench was thrown into the situation early Sunday morning when a cam watcher caught one of the first shots of the oldest trying to eat a fish by itself -- indicating the oldest is getting close to being able to tear off fish without the mother's help. We're not sure how this will affect the youngest getting any food because the oldest isn't likely to share food that it wrestles away from the mother osprey.
The one visible penalty of the second chick's situation is that it's developing more slowly than the oldest. This means the youngest will fledge later than its sibling. Based on past fledglings at our cam nest, we expect the oldest to attempt its first flight in about two weeks. The oldest looks rather large and has been doing a lot of flapping, so its probably on target for leaving the nest. [Note that once the chicks fledge, they will still use the nest regularly for feeding, perching, and sleeping up until they migrate around the end of August].
Speaking of the flapping photos, we did see a cute set of photos where the chicks played Simon Says and showed off their flapping skills to each other.
Finally, another interesting behavior that we saw in the Gallery photos occurred on one afternoon when the father landed on the far side of the nest during dinner time. The youngest moved towards the father as if hoping he might provide some food, but the father looked on and did not have any food to offer. Later we saw the father drop off a fish for the two chicks when the mother was not in the nest, and the oldest chick made it clear that the fish was his, but the father did not attempt to feed the young.
At other osprey nests that have been observed, some fathers have shown a maternal instinct of sorts and taken to helping to beak-feed the young. So far our father is not one of those. I don't believe a study has ever been done regarding the tendency for father ospreys to help out, but it might be a behavior that is displayed by more experienced fathers, as opposed to new fathers, who only know that they have to provide fish for the family.
We want to thank all those who have been sending in their photos. The Gallery submissions have helped us learn a great deal about the osprey family and their behaviors, which -- as we've learned this year -- continue to offer surprises and new insights.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster