Osprey Update

Each morning as we drive home from the gym, we take a short detour to look up at the Osprey Family as the sun is just beginning to break. Each day is the same, the babies are crying, the mother is sitting on the edge of the nest and the daddy is sitting on a pole 10 feet away waiting for it to get light enough to FISH for his family. Yesterday we burst out laughing because the mommy and daddy were both sitting on the pole 10 feet away, staring away from the next of babies and waiting for the sun. It was as though the mother said, I can't stand that nest another minute with all that yapping,

 archive photos of Osprey (fish hawk family) I am unable to get a closeup of the current Osprey due to height of the poles they live on. this one rested on a short light pole back in 2007

Facts I found online while researching to teach about Osprey's at the nursing home where I am a volunteer.
* They eat only fish
* A grown osprey needs up to 3 fish a day, when feeding a family, the male must bring 8 or more fish to the nest per day
* They mate for life (no divorce in these families) and use the same nest for years and years.
* Typical nest weighs 1000 pounds, but will not hold anything heavier than the birds.
* Polluting our enviroment with fishing line, plastic bags and baloons kills many of the babies because the parents use it for lining the nest.
* They are on the endangered list because we have fished out the hunting waters and poisoned the water and the fish with polluants that poison the fish they eat and kills them if they eat the fish
*Baby Osprey leave the nest at 2 months old, the mother throws the fish on the edge of the nest and gets them used to standing there, then she throws the food off the nest, litteraly teaching them to fly or nothing to eat. to see the nest, click on links below


If you missed the beginning of this story the first of May Click Here
archive of first Osprey photos from 07 Click Here