Osprey pair in nest

By the side of the highway along the flooded Salmon River, a pair of Osprey guarded their nest.

Momma’s Home!

This attentive mother osprey had been on the nest, watching over her two young chicks. She must have spotted a fish near the water’s surface not far away, because she flew perhaps 20 yards away and plopped down into the water. Unfortunately, the fish escaped her grasp. I was able to snap this shot as she returned to her nest to be welcomed by her chicks.

Osprey Feeding Time

I spent several summers photographing an Osprey family from a scaffolding at a nearby farm. This allowed many intimate moments with the family as they totally ignored me. The male is watching over the feeding of his just presented fish.

Early Lessons Learned

I had spent two summers with an Osprey family on a nearby farm when I witnessed this fledgling just learning to fly and being repeatedly jumped on by this Red-winged Blackbird.

I like fish too, Dad!

Osprey nest box in Lewes, Delaware, showing Dad pulling a fish apart and a juvenile osprey waiting for his meal.

Osprey Feeding Time

Nest remodel

In watching this osprey nest, I’ve noticed a pattern. One adult brings in a fish, which the other adult then feeds to the baby and itself. The adult that did the feeding then flies to the river, brings in a stick, and does a little nest remodeling. This is the delivery of one such stick, with the baby looking on.

Osprey refreshing the nest

pair of ospreys on a nest

a pair of Ospreys on a nest

Curious Osprey

This photo was taken from our boat in the intracoastal waterway heading into Clearwater Pass. The next is built on a channel marker.

Ospreys

This nesting platform is at Delta Ponds Natural Area, just across the street from my house. I “visit” the Ospreys every day, and listen to the juvenile holler “more fish! more fish!” off and on throughout the day. I have also been lucky enough to watch the parents catching fish in the Willamette River, which is just a short flight to the west.

Conflict with an Osprey

At this point back in April of this year our eaglets were several weeks old and still rather small. This Osprey was hunting off to the right of the nest. As I was watching the eaglets in the nest, I suddenly heard all this hissing. I looked over and the mother eagles, “Claire” and “Ted” were in hot pursuit of the Osprey trying to convince him to hunt elsewhere while literally zooming right over my head. The father eagle “Jamie” (we have a collaborative nesting site) stayed back at the nest and protected the eaglets. I haven’t seen that Osprey back in the area for several months now. I think he got the message the eagles were giving.