Possible hatching dates for ospreys and herons....

The waiting game has begun in earnest as we watch the two live screens with the heron nest and the osprey nest on camera at Kailzie Gardens Osprey and Nature Watch Centre and the osprey nest at Glentress Peel Wildwatch room. The ospreys and herons at the nest are engaged in full time incubation duties and it is fascinating to watch the behaviour and different strategies adopted by the two different species towards their nesting activities and in the rearing of their young.



Glentress Peel Wildwatch

The osprey pair at the main nest behave as a very close partnership. The incubation duties appear to be equally shared and there seem to be genuinely affectionate moments between the two expectant parents. They sidle up close together, often the male will gently nudge the female until she is persuaded to rise up off the eggs and let him take a turn at incubating.


During this period a lot of nest scraping takes place and fiddling about with sticks to move from one side of the nest to the other, possibly a way to occupy the time. It is easy to tell the difference between the adults not just because the male has the leg ring white SS but he is about one third smaller than the female and has a pure white chest, whereas the larger female has a streaked chestnut band of feathering on her chest and the markings on the back of her head crest look like a chocolate coloured concorde. 

Heron adults appear to be identical to each other, the text books tell us that the parents share incubation duties but we have never witnessed a swapping over at the nest, so perhaps this only happens infrequently. We have not witnessed any interaction between parent birds and never know if it is the male or the female that is sitting on duty. Apparently the male heron is the larger of the two but only really noticeable in wing length and beak length which is not obvious at all when they are sitting incubating. Both birds are strikingly handsome with long black head plumes and sleek grey plumage with streaked black, speckled, neck feathering. They sit motionless when incubating for long periods and often we double check that the camera is still working, when suddenly, the bird will stand and reach down to turn the three blue/green eggs.

Osprey incubation takes between 37 and 42 days and the first egg was laid on 12th April, so we can expect that the earliest likely hatching date for the first egg could be 19th May.





Kailzie Osprey and nature watch



The heron eggs were laid on 20th April, 24th and 27th April and they take 25 to 26 days to incubate, meaning that we will have live hatching on camera anytime from the 16th May. Because they have nested so late this year it will be the first time we have ever seen the heron chicks when they have just hatched. We are very excited about watching the heron chicks develop this year as we get to see the family raised right from the very start. Heron siblings behave with a great deal of rivalry and there can be many dramas, often with older siblings killing off younger ones and even eating them.



Ospreys have never displayed such behaviour in the nest in the ten years that we have watched this family. The parents are very attentive to their young whereas the heron parents have a very different approach, delivering food and leaving the chicks for long periods in the nest alone.

The camera nest box became occupied with a blue tit nest building very early in April and then all activity seemed to come to a halt. The warm sunny weather seems to have kick-started the nesting imperative and the blue tit has been seen actively nest building again, although we have not seen any eggs yet. It would appear that the cold snap has caused the blue tit to delay laying which is good because they need to wait until there is a plentiful supply of caterpillars to feed any young. Last year they were caught out by laying early and the wet weather meant there were no caterpillars. We watched as one chick after another starved and the sad image of the blue tit removing dead nestlings is hopefully not to be repeated this year. Populations do fluctuate due to seasonal variations but over time should even out.

Twitchy Ospreys await the day

 

One of our ospreys guarding the nest

The soon to be parents are becoming a little restless, they are old hands at this family game and have raised 8 broods of chicks to date, with this year being their ninth brood.

So understandably they must realise that the time is very close now for hatching out their first 2012 youngster.
We are hoping to have this years first hatched osprey chick in Scotland too, so hurry up parents and incubate those eggs!

Today on the nest the male brought a huge fish in to eat and this became a shared meal.



Our male osprey brings home the dinner

The backdrop of forest sounds was delightful as a song thrush has taken up residence close by and was practising his triple song phrases with gusto.

We are expecting hatching soon and as there is news we will post it on the blog and via our twitter feed.

Nine years of watching this osprey pair raise their family and yet the excitement at hatching time never fades.

They are magnificent birds and we are all looking forward to see how many chicks they will have.

Ospreys reveal two eggs (at least....)



Osprey at the nest in Tweed Valley



The ospreys have been keeping the number of eggs that they have as a closely guarded secret until yesterday when the female stood up and began to turn the eggs, revealing two, possibly more, but definitely two.

They are taking turns to incubate and seem very settled in their lofty eyrie. This pair are in their ninth year together and have raised 20 chicks to date.

They have laid their eggs very early and so we can expect hatching to be in mid May which are likely to be the earliest chicks to hatch in Scotland this year.

The centre cameras are providing the greatest opportunity to watch them continue their family life in peace in the forest, so that we can really appreciate how they live their lives and raise their families during their annual summer visit to the Tweed Valley.

The great thing about having such a remote nest relayed through camera is that we are seeing totally relaxed and natural behaviour at all times and the only disturbance they generally encounter is another passing, intrusive and nosey osprey on occasion!

First chick has hatched

The first osprey chick has hatched today. The female was seen removing egg shell from the nest and peering down to feed the youngster. The nest is still built up with sticks around the edges, so we do not yet know how many eggs there are or even how many chicks have hatched but there is at least one.

The brand new heron HD cam is now showing live pictures from the nest in the heronry. There has been great drama with the parent birds choosing to remain absent through some very bad, wet, spring weather. The cold chicks set upon the youngest one in the nest and viciously attacked it, repeatedly stabbing the chick on the head and neck. It was not seen in the nest today and so we presume that it has died. The parent bird stayed with the young today and they appeared to be more settled.

The blue tits on blue tit cam, now have 6 young in the nest.

A grey squirrel climbed into the open fronted nest box and deposited an acorn!
All the nests are live on camera in Kailzie Gardens Osprey Watch.

osprey dates

The incubation period for osprey eggs is approximately 37 days long. The pair at this nest seem to have an incubation period of around 39 days and we think that the first egg was laid on 5th April which means that hatching at the very earliest date could be 11th May but more likely from Friday 13th May. It has been an uneventful incubation period so far with both parents appearing relaxed and settled. This pair are in their 8th year nesting and raising a family together and little ruffles their experienced feathers!

Our records from previous years suggest that today Wednesday 26th May will be the day for the third chick to hatch. We are going to be watching very careffully for any signs at the nest.
As soon as we have news we will update this blog.

We had high hopes that the third egg would hatch today but as yet no sign of any hatching. The parents have been very busy feeding the two youngsters during the hot weather at the weekend and during these times the female has not been incubating.
Today she has resumed incubation duties, so there is still time and we will keep a close watch over the next few days and keep fingers crossed.

Second chick hatched!

Today the second chick hatched, much to the delight of the visitors at Glentress Osprey Watch. When the camera first came on at 10am, the female stood up and turned the two remaining eggs and then settled back down again with the hatched chick beneath her.

At 10.30am she stood up again and revealed a second chick which had just hatched!

Both chicks are fine and healthy and the parents seem very relaxed as family life seems to be playing out in idyllic fashion so far this season.

We could very well have a third chick tomorrow but if not it will be very soon after, hopefully.

feeding first chick

The male brought in two fish to the nest today and the female took the fish and began tearing off small strips of raw fish to feed to the tiny chick. The parents peering into the nest looked like very proud parents admiring the latest family member.

Two more eggs left to incubate to complete the brood.

First chick hatched

The first of the osprey chicks has hatched this morning. A tiny little head has been spotted in the nest when the female bird stood up. We are delighted and believe the osprey chick is the first to hatch in the UK this season. The female continues to incubate the other two eggs and so over the next few days we should see the arrival of the siblings.

And a Third and a Fourth

Fantastic news confirmed this afternoon that another of our local Osprey nests ( there are at least 8 again this year) , affectionately know as the 'backup nest' also has recent hatchlings. This nest is camera monitored , although not live linked , and todays recording clearly shows least two chicks. They are probably three or four days ahead of our main nest birds. We are hoping to be able to share this footage with you in the centres soon, so if you would like to see the backup nest birds, just ask the volunteer on duty to show you the latest recordings.
Lets hope all our local nests will do as well this year and we may have another bumper Osprey year!

First Osprey Chick Hatches!

Great news this morning as our first wee Osprey of the season has hatched!!!!! Our first clue was when we turned the camera on this morning half a hatched egg was clearly visible. The male was sitting on the eggs and chick, but when mum arrived with food ( which she has been eating itself off nest) we saw the wee head appear. Both remaining eggs were also clearly visible.
Both parents have been seen spreading their wings wide to provide shade for their first arrival. More news soon!

Waiting With Baited Breath

Here in the Tweed Valley we are literally waiting with baited breath for our first Osprey chicks of 2009 to hatch. Yesterday was the 35th day for our 'oldest' egg, and therefore the first possible hatching date. Our birds seem to have an historical average of about 37 days so we feel sure the big event can't be far off!

The parent birds behaviour has certainly altered somewhat over the weekend. Despite the blazing sunshine, both parents have been diligent on the nest, with the male sitting most of the day on Sunday. Both birds seem to be somewhat restless, and we are looking out for signs of them 'listening' to the telltale noises from inside the eggs as they prepare to hatch.

Unusually on the weekend, when the male brought in a fish, the female did not leave with it as she has been prone to do, but he sat next to her and fed her strips of fish in a delightful display of tenderness. This is more like the behaviour we see on the nest when has has young chicks she is unwilling to leave.

Keep your fingers crossed and hopefully we will have good news to share with everyone very soon.

Potential Dates For Hatching

Many people have been asking us when to expect the osprey eggs to hatch, and believe me, we're getting excited about the imminent event too!

The ospreys typical incubation is 35- 37 days. Our three eggs were laid between the 24th and the 30th April so according to our calculations , the earliest possible date for hatching would be the 30th May but most likely the first week of June. So not long to wait now!

Our congratulations go to those osprey nests that already have chicks this year- Glaslyn, Loch of the Lowes and Loch Garten. Lets hope it's a good season for all our birds, and for ospreys UK wide.

New Arrivals Welcomed

No not osprey chicks yet- they'll be at least another week to ten days before they hatch. But we do have babies already at our Kaizlie centre with delightful Nuthatch chicks on live camera. There are six of these amazing wee birds , who are perhaps the ugliest babies we've ever had, but will soon grow into beautiful adults. These birds are notoriously quick fledgers so be sure to drop into the centre to see them live soon! We are also awaiting our swallows at Glentress hatching soon.

Then There Were Two

Great news today as we have confirmation of a second osprey egg in the nest. It was probably laid on Sunday afternoon or Monday but it has taken us until now to confirm its presence. This is because the nest is so very deep in the centre.

We may even yet got a third egg laid if this female's historical record is anything to go by.
We are overjoyed at the prospect of even two potential osprey offspring this year- but it's a long and hazardous 35 days ahead until hatching at least so fingers crossed all round.