August 03, 2005
Fledging Days
Nest Update: Lots of exciting events today. At first we believed we saw the moment when the oldest chick took its first flight. All morning the oldest had looked a little nervous, standing close to the edge, hunched over, with the others looking like they were waiting for the chick to go. Then suddenly we couldn't see it on the nest and the mother was looking around, then the mother left the nest, leaving the youngest alone. A few minutes later, both the oldest and the mother reappeared and she seemed to have a small fish, which the chicks began eating.
Now looking at the Gallery photos, I'm inclined to believe that the oldest was in the far left portion of the nest, which you can see if you look at all the shots together. Looking in the far corner, you can see its tail briefly appear.
Hope was not lost though, as later this morning, we saw only one chick in the nest for what appeared to be about nine six minutes, and we were more sure that the oldest is now flying. For the record, the oldest is 54 days old and the youngest is 53 days old. We're not sure when the youngest will likely fly because it's still somewhat behind in its growth, although sometimes chicks can surprise you.
The youngest also had a big day today as we saw it tearing off its own fish bites, an important step towards independence. Many cam watchers have commented on how inactive the youngest has seemed. The chick appears to be healthy and not injured, so we believe it is all right. Now that the oldest is flying, it should encourage the youngest to want to fly and become more active, too.
Be sure to take a few minutes and look through all the Gallery updates. Our cam watchers sent in some amazing photos that show the oldest and the youngest exercising their wings. Much thanks to our viewers for making our Galleries such a wonderful record of the life of an osprey family.
In the next log post we'll talk about what we can expect for the rest of the summer now that the ospreys are beginning to discover their wings.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster