Scoggins Nesting Log ~2013~ Beal Nesting Log
Note: Egg laying and hatch dates might not be exact. I am not able to get out there every single day, but I keep it as accurate as possible.
Hog and Dash first seen: March 24th
First egg laid: April 19th Second egg laid: April 21st. Hatch watch begins: May 20th S3 hatched: May 26th S4 hatched: May 28th First Self-feeding Observed: S3, July 11th. First branch sighting: July 21st Second branch sighting:July 21st Fledge watch begins: July 13th, 2013 First fledge confirmed: S4: July 21st Second fledge confirmed: S3: July 21st S3 last seen: August 19th S4 last seen: August 7th Dash last seen: August 24th Hog last seen: September 29th October 27th Nest was observed leaning. |
Star and Sparky first seen: --
Eggs Laid: -- Hatch watch begins: -- Eggs hatched: - First self-feeding observed: -- First branching observed:-- Second Branching Observed:-- First fledge confirmed: July 22nd, 2013 Second fledge confirmed: August 6th, 2013 V1 last seen: July 24th V2 last seen: August 21st Star last seen: July 24th Sparky last seen: August 21st |
Links to Posts and albums throughout the 2013 Season: (I only have the notes and albums because facebook thinks it's cool to hide my posts about a month ago and before . . . oh well.) Notice how the pictures/writing improve as the season goes on!
EDIT: I later discovered I had saved all of my posts from before June 27th! They can be found here
Albums
~March 24th: Album: The Day Hog and Dash Returned to the Lake
~ April 27th, 2013: Album
~ May 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2013: Album
~ May 17th, 18th, and 19th, 2013: Album
~ June 1st, 2013: Album: Vernonia Lake and Ospreys
~ May 30th, June 1st and 2nd, 2013: Album: Part One Album: Part Two
~ June 5th. 2013: Album: Sticks and Chicks
~ June 8th, 2013: Album
~ June 12th, 2013: Album: Sticks, Chicks, and Fish
~ June 13th, 2013: Album: Bobbleheads, Pinfeathers, and the Old Nest Tree
~ June 14th, 2013: Album: Gray Blobs and Wing Dances
~ June 15th, 2013: Album: Big Bobbleheads and a Dashing Dash
~ June 23rd and 24th, 2013: Album
~ June 25th, 2013: Album: A Busy Hog and Some TV's
~ June 26th, 2013: Album: S3's One Month Birthday
Notes and Albums
~ June 27th, 2013: Hungry Chicks and a Dramatic Entrance ~Album~
~ June 29th, 2013: Album: The Van Loo Ospreys
~ July 7th, 2013: The Great Osprey Nest Hunt
~ July 8th, 2013: Growth Spurts and Begging Chirps
~ July 10th, 2013: A Van Loo Update
~ July 11th, 2013: Some Self-feeding and Bad Manners ~Album~
~ July 13th, 2013: Wingercizing, Sitting Tall, and a Soap Opera at Van Loo ~Album~
~ July 21st, 2013: Fledges! ~Album~
~ July 22nd, 2013: More Flying About, Another Fledge, and the Real Name ~Album~
~ July 24th, 2013: Vocalizing, Wing-Waggling, and Temper Tantrums ~Album~
~ July 26th, 2013: Album
~ August 6th, 2013: Fly Abouts, Dramatic Fly-ins, and Another Confirmed Fledge! ~Album~
~ August 7th, 2013: A Bit of Sibling Rivalry ~Album~
~ August 21st, 2013: Dinnertime With Sparky ~Album~
~ August 22nd, 2013: Album
~ August 24th, 2013: One More Visit from Dash ~Album~
~ August 31st, 2013: The Great Osprey Nest Hunt 2 ~Album~
~ September 13th, 2013: The 2013 Season: Part One (Also see below)
~ October 26th, 2013: The 2013 Season: Part Two (Also see below)
~ October 29th, 2013: Nest Comparison ~Album~
~ November 23rd, 2013: Nest Comparison 2
~ November 30th, 2013: Album
~ December 14th and 15, 2013: Album
~ December 28th, 2013: Album
~ The 2013 Season: Album: The Scoggins Ospreys and The Beal Ospreys
EDIT: I later discovered I had saved all of my posts from before June 27th! They can be found here
Albums
~March 24th: Album: The Day Hog and Dash Returned to the Lake
~ April 27th, 2013: Album
~ May 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2013: Album
~ May 17th, 18th, and 19th, 2013: Album
~ June 1st, 2013: Album: Vernonia Lake and Ospreys
~ May 30th, June 1st and 2nd, 2013: Album: Part One Album: Part Two
~ June 5th. 2013: Album: Sticks and Chicks
~ June 8th, 2013: Album
~ June 12th, 2013: Album: Sticks, Chicks, and Fish
~ June 13th, 2013: Album: Bobbleheads, Pinfeathers, and the Old Nest Tree
~ June 14th, 2013: Album: Gray Blobs and Wing Dances
~ June 15th, 2013: Album: Big Bobbleheads and a Dashing Dash
~ June 23rd and 24th, 2013: Album
~ June 25th, 2013: Album: A Busy Hog and Some TV's
~ June 26th, 2013: Album: S3's One Month Birthday
Notes and Albums
~ June 27th, 2013: Hungry Chicks and a Dramatic Entrance ~Album~
~ June 29th, 2013: Album: The Van Loo Ospreys
~ July 7th, 2013: The Great Osprey Nest Hunt
~ July 8th, 2013: Growth Spurts and Begging Chirps
~ July 10th, 2013: A Van Loo Update
~ July 11th, 2013: Some Self-feeding and Bad Manners ~Album~
~ July 13th, 2013: Wingercizing, Sitting Tall, and a Soap Opera at Van Loo ~Album~
~ July 21st, 2013: Fledges! ~Album~
~ July 22nd, 2013: More Flying About, Another Fledge, and the Real Name ~Album~
~ July 24th, 2013: Vocalizing, Wing-Waggling, and Temper Tantrums ~Album~
~ July 26th, 2013: Album
~ August 6th, 2013: Fly Abouts, Dramatic Fly-ins, and Another Confirmed Fledge! ~Album~
~ August 7th, 2013: A Bit of Sibling Rivalry ~Album~
~ August 21st, 2013: Dinnertime With Sparky ~Album~
~ August 22nd, 2013: Album
~ August 24th, 2013: One More Visit from Dash ~Album~
~ August 31st, 2013: The Great Osprey Nest Hunt 2 ~Album~
~ September 13th, 2013: The 2013 Season: Part One (Also see below)
~ October 26th, 2013: The 2013 Season: Part Two (Also see below)
~ October 29th, 2013: Nest Comparison ~Album~
~ November 23rd, 2013: Nest Comparison 2
~ November 30th, 2013: Album
~ December 14th and 15, 2013: Album
~ December 28th, 2013: Album
~ The 2013 Season: Album: The Scoggins Ospreys and The Beal Ospreys
2013 Season Summary
An Amazing Season
All I can say is wow. What an amazing year this has been. Wasn't it just yesterday when we went out to the lake to discover the old nest gone, just yesterday that our pair returned, just yesterday that the eggs were laid? It seemed not that long ago that I was thinking about doing this post, and then admonishing myself, "Oh, that's not for a long time yet." Well its here now. The dreaded, dreaded thing. The 2013 breeding season is. . . is *sniffles* over. All that running around from one nest to another, all the worrying and hoping that the chicks would be okay until next time we got out to the nest, over.
Now, I guess it sounds like quite a bit of work. Well, it was, of course, but it was also one of the best Spring and Summers that I have ever had. The chicks made it, our osprey parents were successful, and we learned a ton.
At the beginning of the season, I thought I knew that ospreys could lay up to seven eggs. Imagine that. Seven. Now I know that was false information, of course, and know things like the way ospreys talons are positioned (two toes forward, two back) is called zygodactly. A bit of improvement, eh?
So for those of you who have just joined the party, what on earth happened this year to be so excited about?
Recap follows.
> http://carrgroup.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/dsc3886_edited-1.jpg < This is a pic of the old nest. (Not mine, photo belongs to John Carr, I just borrowed the link) This nest was on the very tip of a dead pine tree. Seeing the tree now, you may not believe me, but somehow those ospreys, whether it was our pair, Hog and Dash, or another pair, were able to balance a huge nest on the tip of the tree for several years. (I found one source that noted it being there in 2006, but it may have been there even before that, when the tree was still alive and boasted more branches to support a nest.)
It almost looks like a nest on top of a nest, which makes me think that our pair was the second pair to take over the nest. Maybe not, but it looks a bit peculiar, does it not?
Who knows.
We watched the nest periodically last year(2012), but we started watching late, and we were watching from practically under the nest, since it was next to a road. So, not much to be seen unless a parent was coming or going. So was it luck, or fate, that the nest fell over the winter(luckily) and the ospreys moved to a much superior and finer place to watch? It was especially ironic because after the nest fell, we guessed that the ospreys might use this seemingly "perfect" cottonwood. We stood along the road and day dreamed at what a great place to watch the birds it would be. An open space where we could park the car and watch on rainy days, or sit outside and still be able to see on sunny days! But these are birds we're talking about. Nature. What humans think and nature, don't always seem to go together. Likely these birds would fly off and nest over the hill, out of sight, out of mind. Well, maybe not out of mind.
You can guess our surprise that next Sunday when we got out to the creek, when we saw an osprey perched on the broken off top of the cottonwood! On further binocular inspection, you could easily see a loose pile of sticks that would one day resemble a nest, one day be a nest. A spectacular nest.
The next weekend we returned and watched the ospreys for a total of eight hours. This was new to us, and we weren't sure what was going to happen, so we stuck around. The last time we had been there, the nest was a pile of sticks that the ospreys could barely perch on without falling off. Now it resembled a birds nest. What improvement in only just a week! Sadly I didn't take many pictures then because the camera I was using was broken, and the pictures I did get were purple and showing half of the nest and a black blob, the lovely inside of the binoculars. The pictures that did have ospreys in them looked like, like, well blurry ospreys!(For lack of a better simile, ;) )
It wasn't long though before I was using a better camera, and eggs were laid. Right after that is when I created this page.
It was the evening of April 19th when we got out to the nest and saw Dash on the nest. We watched and waited for her to fly off the nest to go retrieve another stick, like they'd been doing the past few times we were out there. She was just sitting in the nest. She was incubating! Later, when the chicks had hatched, I guesstimated their age, and from when they hatched, back to when they were laid. If they hatched at day 38 in incubation, it would've meant that Dash laid her first egg that day we first saw her incubating!
Then came forth the next eager wait. Usually ospreys lay three eggs, would our pair? Would they even hatch? We'll see.
Finally, on June 1st, we got to the nest to see Dash was acting quite strange. She was standing over the bowl, and kept staring down into it for long periods of time. Soon Hog came around with a fish, and Dash took it and began feeding herself. But then, the moment came, when she tore off a small piece of fish and offered it to the bowl area. A little bobblehead reached up and took it. A chick! A chick!
Here's a very horrible video of that first feeding. You can't see the chicks, but you can see Dash lowering her head, making tearing motions, and bending down to feed. > https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=150882091762717&set=vb.137459759771617&&theater < Luckily, next year quality shouldn't be as much of a problem.
The next Wednesday when we got out to the nest, we got to see two chicks, which confirmed how many I thought I had seen on the last visit being fed.
The chicks began growing like bamboo, and every time we went out there after not being there for sometimes as little as a day, they were bigger.
Time passed quickly, and the chicks were almost ready to fledge. Then an osprey at Hagg Lake got caught up in fishing line and had to be taken to Audubon for care. It barely crossed my mind that this osprey could potentially be Hog. We went out to the lake that afternoon, and were surprised to see Dash and the chicks, with empty crops. Dash had her gaze trained on the lake, waiting for Hog to come around with a fish. We weren't too worried at first, Hog has stayed away for a couple hours before, stuffing himself full of fish. But after around three hours, it got a little worrying. Had it been Hog that had been caught up in fishing line? If he didn't come back, would Dash be able to raise the chicks to fledging on her own?
Luckily we didn't have to worry much longer. Dash started chirping like mad at the sky, and we looked up to see an osprey flying dramatically in from above, diving back and forth until landing at the nest with a fish---and a crop bigger than his head. He'd been out stuffing himself fatter than a turkey on Thanksgiving! His name never stops suiting him.
It was around this time when we started watching another nest at the Beal Wetlands. I didn't find the name of the wetlands at first, so I took the name of a reservoir a couple miles down the nearby creek. Van Loo. The name stuck, and even after I found out what the wetlands was called, I couldn't bring myself to change the name for quite a while. The first day we went out there, the lighting was beautiful, and I got wonderfully clear pictures.
When I got home and looked at them, I was amazed to be able to see small details like the pupil of the eyes and even their tongues!
There was no question that we would have to start watching this nest, too. How could we not when it was so close and easy to watch as well? Personalities of the pair were instantly visible, and the loud mouthed, well, beaked, female became known as Star, for her knack of being the center of attention. The male osprey was kind of gangly looking to me. I instantly knew what to call him--Sparky, after the chick that died at Duniden last year. The chicks became V1 and V2, although I couldn’t easily distinguish one from the other; partly due to the fact that we started watching so late in the season, and partly because I’m almost certain they were both males. Both chicks successfully fledged, and at least one made it to migration. (The other disappeared at the same time as Star.)
Van Loo was exciting to watch because it was so different from Scoggins. Instead of being built in a “wild” location,(or in an actual tree) the nest was built on a platform about two hundred feet from a large neighborhood on one side, and a busy road on the other. This has and will make it interesting to see some of the differences this has on osprey behaviour. Are ospreys that live closer to people more tolerant of human activity? Yes and no. Star started chirping at anyone (not just us, if anyone walked by on the sidewalk she would freak out) who even looked her way, as opposed to one day we walked right under Dash while she was incubating, and she didn’t say a word. It will be interesting to explore other questions that arise next year, as we continue to monitor these nests.
It was very cool(no pun intended, hehe)--at the end of September we got to see Hog one last time before he migrated. I hadn’t seen him in over a month and a half, so I had thought for sure he had already left, but one day we saw a male osprey in the nest tree. I thought it might just be a vagabond migrant, who happened to spot the nest and came to check it out, and instantly submissed it. Later in the day we drove out to the nest again. Nobody there. But when we stopped by the old nest tree, guess who?! There was an osprey hanging out on the top, giving us a look before quickly flying off. What other osprey would perch on that stag, so far from the lake, right next to a road? Maybe a chick from the past? Maybe, but it was more likely that this was Hog. We saw similar behaviour from Dash right before she left for migration; stopping at the cottonwood and perching at the old nest tree.
This has been the most amazing year for me. The ospreys have been so wonderful to watch and have taught me SO, so much. I’m so excited for next season, I’m certain it will be as great as this one was.
All I can say is wow. What an amazing year this has been. Wasn't it just yesterday when we went out to the lake to discover the old nest gone, just yesterday that our pair returned, just yesterday that the eggs were laid? It seemed not that long ago that I was thinking about doing this post, and then admonishing myself, "Oh, that's not for a long time yet." Well its here now. The dreaded, dreaded thing. The 2013 breeding season is. . . is *sniffles* over. All that running around from one nest to another, all the worrying and hoping that the chicks would be okay until next time we got out to the nest, over.
Now, I guess it sounds like quite a bit of work. Well, it was, of course, but it was also one of the best Spring and Summers that I have ever had. The chicks made it, our osprey parents were successful, and we learned a ton.
At the beginning of the season, I thought I knew that ospreys could lay up to seven eggs. Imagine that. Seven. Now I know that was false information, of course, and know things like the way ospreys talons are positioned (two toes forward, two back) is called zygodactly. A bit of improvement, eh?
So for those of you who have just joined the party, what on earth happened this year to be so excited about?
Recap follows.
> http://carrgroup.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/dsc3886_edited-1.jpg < This is a pic of the old nest. (Not mine, photo belongs to John Carr, I just borrowed the link) This nest was on the very tip of a dead pine tree. Seeing the tree now, you may not believe me, but somehow those ospreys, whether it was our pair, Hog and Dash, or another pair, were able to balance a huge nest on the tip of the tree for several years. (I found one source that noted it being there in 2006, but it may have been there even before that, when the tree was still alive and boasted more branches to support a nest.)
It almost looks like a nest on top of a nest, which makes me think that our pair was the second pair to take over the nest. Maybe not, but it looks a bit peculiar, does it not?
Who knows.
We watched the nest periodically last year(2012), but we started watching late, and we were watching from practically under the nest, since it was next to a road. So, not much to be seen unless a parent was coming or going. So was it luck, or fate, that the nest fell over the winter(luckily) and the ospreys moved to a much superior and finer place to watch? It was especially ironic because after the nest fell, we guessed that the ospreys might use this seemingly "perfect" cottonwood. We stood along the road and day dreamed at what a great place to watch the birds it would be. An open space where we could park the car and watch on rainy days, or sit outside and still be able to see on sunny days! But these are birds we're talking about. Nature. What humans think and nature, don't always seem to go together. Likely these birds would fly off and nest over the hill, out of sight, out of mind. Well, maybe not out of mind.
You can guess our surprise that next Sunday when we got out to the creek, when we saw an osprey perched on the broken off top of the cottonwood! On further binocular inspection, you could easily see a loose pile of sticks that would one day resemble a nest, one day be a nest. A spectacular nest.
The next weekend we returned and watched the ospreys for a total of eight hours. This was new to us, and we weren't sure what was going to happen, so we stuck around. The last time we had been there, the nest was a pile of sticks that the ospreys could barely perch on without falling off. Now it resembled a birds nest. What improvement in only just a week! Sadly I didn't take many pictures then because the camera I was using was broken, and the pictures I did get were purple and showing half of the nest and a black blob, the lovely inside of the binoculars. The pictures that did have ospreys in them looked like, like, well blurry ospreys!(For lack of a better simile, ;) )
It wasn't long though before I was using a better camera, and eggs were laid. Right after that is when I created this page.
It was the evening of April 19th when we got out to the nest and saw Dash on the nest. We watched and waited for her to fly off the nest to go retrieve another stick, like they'd been doing the past few times we were out there. She was just sitting in the nest. She was incubating! Later, when the chicks had hatched, I guesstimated their age, and from when they hatched, back to when they were laid. If they hatched at day 38 in incubation, it would've meant that Dash laid her first egg that day we first saw her incubating!
Then came forth the next eager wait. Usually ospreys lay three eggs, would our pair? Would they even hatch? We'll see.
Finally, on June 1st, we got to the nest to see Dash was acting quite strange. She was standing over the bowl, and kept staring down into it for long periods of time. Soon Hog came around with a fish, and Dash took it and began feeding herself. But then, the moment came, when she tore off a small piece of fish and offered it to the bowl area. A little bobblehead reached up and took it. A chick! A chick!
Here's a very horrible video of that first feeding. You can't see the chicks, but you can see Dash lowering her head, making tearing motions, and bending down to feed. > https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=150882091762717&set=vb.137459759771617&&theater < Luckily, next year quality shouldn't be as much of a problem.
The next Wednesday when we got out to the nest, we got to see two chicks, which confirmed how many I thought I had seen on the last visit being fed.
The chicks began growing like bamboo, and every time we went out there after not being there for sometimes as little as a day, they were bigger.
Time passed quickly, and the chicks were almost ready to fledge. Then an osprey at Hagg Lake got caught up in fishing line and had to be taken to Audubon for care. It barely crossed my mind that this osprey could potentially be Hog. We went out to the lake that afternoon, and were surprised to see Dash and the chicks, with empty crops. Dash had her gaze trained on the lake, waiting for Hog to come around with a fish. We weren't too worried at first, Hog has stayed away for a couple hours before, stuffing himself full of fish. But after around three hours, it got a little worrying. Had it been Hog that had been caught up in fishing line? If he didn't come back, would Dash be able to raise the chicks to fledging on her own?
Luckily we didn't have to worry much longer. Dash started chirping like mad at the sky, and we looked up to see an osprey flying dramatically in from above, diving back and forth until landing at the nest with a fish---and a crop bigger than his head. He'd been out stuffing himself fatter than a turkey on Thanksgiving! His name never stops suiting him.
It was around this time when we started watching another nest at the Beal Wetlands. I didn't find the name of the wetlands at first, so I took the name of a reservoir a couple miles down the nearby creek. Van Loo. The name stuck, and even after I found out what the wetlands was called, I couldn't bring myself to change the name for quite a while. The first day we went out there, the lighting was beautiful, and I got wonderfully clear pictures.
When I got home and looked at them, I was amazed to be able to see small details like the pupil of the eyes and even their tongues!
There was no question that we would have to start watching this nest, too. How could we not when it was so close and easy to watch as well? Personalities of the pair were instantly visible, and the loud mouthed, well, beaked, female became known as Star, for her knack of being the center of attention. The male osprey was kind of gangly looking to me. I instantly knew what to call him--Sparky, after the chick that died at Duniden last year. The chicks became V1 and V2, although I couldn’t easily distinguish one from the other; partly due to the fact that we started watching so late in the season, and partly because I’m almost certain they were both males. Both chicks successfully fledged, and at least one made it to migration. (The other disappeared at the same time as Star.)
Van Loo was exciting to watch because it was so different from Scoggins. Instead of being built in a “wild” location,(or in an actual tree) the nest was built on a platform about two hundred feet from a large neighborhood on one side, and a busy road on the other. This has and will make it interesting to see some of the differences this has on osprey behaviour. Are ospreys that live closer to people more tolerant of human activity? Yes and no. Star started chirping at anyone (not just us, if anyone walked by on the sidewalk she would freak out) who even looked her way, as opposed to one day we walked right under Dash while she was incubating, and she didn’t say a word. It will be interesting to explore other questions that arise next year, as we continue to monitor these nests.
It was very cool(no pun intended, hehe)--at the end of September we got to see Hog one last time before he migrated. I hadn’t seen him in over a month and a half, so I had thought for sure he had already left, but one day we saw a male osprey in the nest tree. I thought it might just be a vagabond migrant, who happened to spot the nest and came to check it out, and instantly submissed it. Later in the day we drove out to the nest again. Nobody there. But when we stopped by the old nest tree, guess who?! There was an osprey hanging out on the top, giving us a look before quickly flying off. What other osprey would perch on that stag, so far from the lake, right next to a road? Maybe a chick from the past? Maybe, but it was more likely that this was Hog. We saw similar behaviour from Dash right before she left for migration; stopping at the cottonwood and perching at the old nest tree.
This has been the most amazing year for me. The ospreys have been so wonderful to watch and have taught me SO, so much. I’m so excited for next season, I’m certain it will be as great as this one was.