Another wet and cold day here in the Tweed valley unfortunately- we were even watching hailstones bounce off the back of our nesting Ospreys!
Today we were treated to some great views of what we've all been hoping for- our first Osprey Egg of the season! Sometime late yesterday or early this morning our female laid a single egg which we hope in time will soon be joined by more.
Our first clue was the way she was sitting in the freshly moss lined nest centre, instead of perching as she has the last few days. Then she stood up and was seen turning over something between her feet with her beak- a telltale sign. Finally, as she left the nest briefly, we were able to zoom our camera right in and confirm the presence of an egg.
Ospreys usually commence incubating straight away, but our bird has been a bit restless today, probably as it is still snowing up at the nest site! Our male bird took a brief turn at incubating too- friends will remember that in previous years he has been a great father, often sharing such duties.
Our main concern now is that the current cold and wet weather doesn't jeopardise the egg. Lets hope it is joined by more soon- It's going to be great weekend!
Friday 11 April 2008
2 comments:
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I am not very optimistic that this egg is fertile as she left the nest for more than five minutes on at least two occasions this afternoon leaving the egg exposed to the elements. She did not seem to be incubating the egg by late afternoon. Looking back to last year there was one egg which did not hatch and we thought then that it was the first egg which was unsuccessful in view of the time scales involved. Good news is that the birds mated again this afternoon!
ReplyDeleteOur female Osprey has indeed been very restless over the last few days, up and down off her egg many times. Perhaps she's been tryng to keep warm! You are right to be worried as the egg may be at some risk from the elements. Thankfully she has just laid again, and now seems more settled so maybe the first egg will turn out to be a 'trial' run before she settles down to the job properly. Fingers crossed!
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