Bits and Pieces

Happy August 17th! Many of you have noticed that the osprey camera is frozen at the moment, and we are currently working to fix it, no need to worry. As August progresses, our feathery friends continue to grow and experience new things every day.

My family and I recently returned from vacation and have not been around to make many observations, but we will keep our eyes peeled and keep you up to date!

Spitz relaxing on our boat lift, much to COM’s disapproval

Here’s a quick update for those of you who are going through withdrawal. COM has a direct feed to the ospreycam which has not been affected by the camera malfunction, so we kept our eyes open today.  At the moment, Audrey is resting in the nest, beside a pinecone. We are not sure which genius brought the pinecone back (probably attached to a branch). It doesn’t seem to be serving a purpose at the moment other than providing a cozy atmosphere.

“Careful” landings

Earlier today there were five crows and a seagull on the nest, pecking at some leftover fish. There were no ospreys to be seen, and the interlopers seemed to be enjoying their stay at Casa de Tom and Audrey. All of a sudden, one of our adult ospreys (we’re not sure which one) came swooping in out of nowhere and chased the intruders away. Take that, crows and seagull!

As I write this, Audrey is sitting all by herself on the nest.  Spitz has come back twice in rapid succession, each time with a branch.  When she (?) brought the first branch back, which was quite large and oddly shaped, it ended up on Audrey’s back.  Audrey looked at Spitz as if to say, “Really?”, and then rearranged herself until the stick landed in the nest where it belonged.  Spitz took off, and immediately returned with another less cumbersome stick.  She deposited this stick in the nest without incident, and then took off again.  Right now, Audrey is all by herself in the nest, finally some peace and quiet.

This morning, Mrs. COM noticed one of our juveniles on the center perch with a fish. We are not sure if the young one had caught the fish, but it seemed like it had. Unfortunately, it flew off before we could get close enough for a photo and a good look at the feathers. Most other years, we have been able to walk out on our dock without seeming to disturb whoever was in the nest. But this year, Spitz is not happy at all when she is in the nest, and one of us walks out onto the dock.  She is getting very good at making the distinctive danger sound.

Taking Flight

As usual, I am going to update every one on the ospreys whereabouts. The two babies have been sitting in a neighbor’s really big tree two houses to the north of us.  They like to perch near the top.  Tom frequently visits the tree in our next door neighbor’s house directly to the north of us.  We have also seen our ospreys on our neighbor’s boat lift two houses to the south of us. This year, although the family hasn’t been using the perches as much as others have in years past, both the adults and juveniles do hang out there occasionally.

Breezy and Spitz hanging out on the perches

Many of you on Facebook have noticed that many long skinny fish have been brought back to the nest, we think that they are Garfish. Recently, we were outside baiting the crab traps at the end of the dock and saw groups of these same fish swimming just beneath the surface of the water. This is a perfect source of food for the osprey, really easy pickings! While we’re on the fish topic, I really appreciate everyone’s help with the fish survey, I could not do it without you guys.

Garfish

[http://www.charterboats-uk.co.uk/fish/garfish/]

That is all I have for today, thank you so much for reading the blogs and my apologies for not being here to make more observations! I know that a lot of you rely on the Crazy Osprey Family when our feathery family is not on the nest.

*Just as I was finishing up this blog and ready to post, Spitz flew into the nest with a HUGE menhaden, still flapping!  She is happily eating away.  In between bites, she is squawking!  Why am I not surprised at that?  Great catch, Spitz!  Where is Breezy when you need him?

Here is this week’s winner in the “Where in the World Are Tom and Audrey” contest”.  Keep sending in those entries to be eligible for the grand prize at the end of the 2014 osprey season.

Jim watching from Nauset Beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts during the August super moon!

Adios Amigos,

Until Next Time,

Osprey Girl