All three chicks have successfully fledged and are doing well. This is only the second year to have three chicks fledged. Now the focus is off the nest, as they learn to fly and fish. They can be seen in the area. One chatter saw several of them (presumably from this nest) on the sand spit on July 8. Re Tony\, our expert scientist, ospreys can be seen following their parents to fish and being fed off the nest. It should be noted that there are other osprey nests in the area now, so more ospreys are flying around. This includes the Richmond Yacht Club nest and nests in Pt. Molate and off the Richmond-Sn Rafael bridge. The population is increasing!

During the day, they may rest on the nest, sit quietly watching or call loudly for fish, then squabble over it and eat it when it comes. (VZ) Lupine, the youngest, appears to spend the most time on the nest. 

For more enjoyment, visit the sfbayospreys Youtube page where there are many videos of the ospreys. Here is one below of a fish falling over the edge of the nest. 

The chicks' feathers have come in, their wings have grown large, the chicks have almost reached their adult weight, and they have become more independent. The next few weeks will be all about wings, as they exercise their wings then learn to hover and finally fledge. This is an exciting but nail-biting time for the human observers. See the calendar below for the approximate dates. It is assumed that since this set of chicks hatched earlier than in years past, they will also fledge a bit earlier. 
​For more detailed pictures by video, see the sfbayospreys Youtube page.

June 19: The chicks are all beginning to hover. This year, they are closer in development and are hovering at the same time. Who will be the first to fledge?

Wing stretching.  June 19.   Video by VA. 

 (ZP)Poppy hovering taking the nest with him  June 25   video by VA

(WR) Sage hovering  June 25   video by VA

Sage fledges to the rail, June 25, 2021

Sage (WR) fledged to the railing around the nest on June 25. There was some discussion whether this was a true fledge or accidental. But he proved his mettle afterward by flying back to the nest and subsequently flying up on the crane. Each day he has flown, quickly becoming adept and flying out of cam sight. The other two watch with interest. Rosie seems to fly to the crane to encourage Sage and the others to fly to meet her. 

The other two watch their sibling. Poppy (ZP) has tried flapping but can't seem to get airborne. Lupine (VZ)  is still a baby, lying down to sleep and wanting to be fed. He is also the youngest. 

After fledging, Sage quickly learned to take off and land and frequently flies to the crane and even circles over the Bay. Lupine and Poppy watched and on June 30 began to hover more. Both had long , successful hovers. But Poppy had trouble landing, using his claws to poor effect and not folding her wings. 

sThe morning of  July 1, one chatter's birthday, Poppy finally fledged. Apparently she had learned overnight how to land. She landed on the boom of the crane, a bit awkwardly but holding on well. Her brother was up there to cheer her on and to greet her. The parents were absent. Perhaps they decided that it was time for the offspring to learn on their own. 

The fledgling are not accomplished fishers yet and they will continue to return to the nest to sleep and to get fed. Like good human parents, Rosie and Richie will be glad to comply with both their teenagers' need for independence and their need for their basic needs still to be met. 

Three chicks have successfully hatched and survived the first few days. Now the fun begins.  They are just leaving the bobblehead stage. There have been one or two Bob'em fights between Chicks 1 and 2. 

The chicks are eating well. They pop up their heads when hungry or when they know a fish is there. Rosie makes sure all three are fed. Then they topple into a food coma until the next feeding. Chick One has begun poking its head out and even venturing a bit beyond the nest bowl. 

Richie tries hard to be a good father and mate. But his actions often make human chatters laugh, as he appears awkward. He expertly brings fish to his family, even traveling all the way to San Pablo Reservoir to get a tasty trout. He also brings nesting materials. He is not bringing human objects to the nest much now, thanks to clean up efforts. Unfortunately, fishing line and ropes still lie around the shore. A yellow rope was in the nest but is now buried but a pink plastic twine presents more danger. Thankfully, the birds removed it from the nest bowl recently but it is still on the nest itself. Richie has also been brining large sticks, presumably to act as rails for the growing chicks. But one acted briefly as a cage, hiding the chicks from our view. It was moved around and gradually reduced in size and moved to the edge of the nest. 

May 14: The chicks grow quickly, as you can see on the calendar of growth Chicks #1 and#2 are already developing their second dark down (not all ospreys have this second growth, but ours do), which makes it easy to distinguish them from Chick #1. All three poke their heads up when a fish comes and eagerly open their beaks. Chick #1 (Tug) seems to be the most assertive. But Chick #3 (Clipper) makes sure it gets its share. They are also just beginning the bop 'em stage where they fight briefly but without harm (at this nest anyway). Chick #1 has ventured beyond the nest bowl. 

 Both Rosie and Richie are good parents. Rosie stay with the chicks at all times, only taking a brief break when Richie is there. At night, she is often alert, watching for any dangers. Richie is also nearby, ready to hurry to the nest to chase away any danger. Richie wants to babysit but isn't sure how, so he just stands there. But he provides for his family. Not only large sticks for crib rails but he faithfully brings fish up to 6 times a day, even flying to the reservoir for trout. (See Fish Matrix for more information on the fish or Archives September 2018). 

Richie and Rosie are kept busy bringing new sticks as nest railings, bringing fish and feeding the chicks. They are beginning to leave the chicks alone briefly but are always nearby in case of danger. This year, there have been more osprey intruders flying by. Rosie and Richie handily chase them away and there have been no untoward incidents on the nest. There are fun videos to watch on the sfbayospreys.org Youtube page of the sticks being flown in, often landing on Rosie or the chicks. They seem to take this in stride.Richie has been asking for some CK's, to tighten his relationship with Rosie.

Richie brings a stick.   May 17, 2021

In the early morning of June 5, the chicks were banded without fanfare. The cam went down and a few hours later, Tony\ gave word that they had been banded. The birds in the nest were surprisingly calm. Richie had brought a fish earlier. Tony\ left a fish in the nest when the crew was done and Rosie took it, flew away then returned with it and fed the chicks. Below are the accounts and information.

Tony\'s report on the banding:
​As mentioned in Robin’s post yesterday, banding of the three nestlings was carried out uneventfully yesterday. Teresa and the rest of the crack banding crew found all of the nestlings to be quite robust, and they were fairly calm upon return to the nest.
The weights indicated that the nestlings are all males. Here are the masses. I’ve assumed that the ages and weights are in the same order. Examining the wing chord is consistent with this assumption. That measurement, like others involving feather growth, is still in a step part of the growth curve.
This time Rosie came back to the nest pretty quickly. That was likely in part due to us getting out of site as quickly as possible, but maybe more so because Richmond showed up with a fish just as Ben and I were heading down from the crane. Lat year he showed up well before we were finished, so he took ended up consuming that fish. Rosie quickly flew to the nest just after Richmond, and grabbed the Largemouth Bass that I had left. Richmond fed them for a bit, then allowed the young to have it themselves. Eventually Rosie returned with the partially eaten bass and fed the young, and thigs continued as normal.

​

As can been seen in the chart, it is assumed that the three chicks are males. This is based on their weights at their given age. Later confirmation would be a lack of chest speckles and, of course, mating behavior in the future. 

When the banders band the birds, they also weigh them and take other measurements. Tony\ takes the opportunity as well to clean up the nest of hazardous materials and to service the washer. Too many human objects were found in the nest, as usual, the most dangerous being a rope entangled with fishing line. 

Richie brought sticks as gifts to his mate and the first chick. One has to wonder about his placement of them. But Rosie takes it all in stride. 

Chick #3 hatched out on May 5 at 4:51 pm. The hatch was a bit hard to watch as a stick was in the way. But first viewers saw a pip, then Rosie carried away a shell fragment and then the chick was evident. It quickly entered the fray and has fended for itself in the midst of its two siblings. 

Richie has brought a female friend to visit, but Rosie will have nothing of it! Or was Richie trying to chase the female away? Who can know?
Video by VA on sfbayospreys youtube channel

Another osprey predilection that the humans don't understand: bringing desiccated bird carcasses to adorn the nest. Perhaps because there are no human made plush toys available  this year? Insulation? Soft pillows? we humans can only groan and guess. 

Now begins incubation. Both Rosie and Richie incubate. In fact, Richie is noted for demanding his time on the eggs. This year, Rosie seems to be ceding him more time and he appears more relaxed in his duties. In his fifth season on this nest, he is an experienced Dad. (There is evidence that he was at the RTYC nest a year prior to this nest, so we don't know his entire mating/nesting history). 
Richie's other duties are to guard the nest, flying to the nest anytime he sees an intruder, to bring fish to Rosie, and to bring nest items Rosie will also bring items. Unfortunately, both have begun bringing HMO's (human made objects) to the nest lately: two plastic bags, a hard red plastic thing and a rope. More information on these objects can be found in the Fish Matrix, logged along with the fish. 

Fish delivery in three caps on April 5. Caps by PP and C.  And a glimpse of the eggs, cap by C

Life continues calmly for the osprey couple. Richie brings a fish or two daily. Otherwise, he stays nearby, ready to defend the nest when necessary. He is often on the rail, especially at night. And Rosie stays on the nest, except for short breaks. Richie will nudge her off the eggs and take his turn, while she bathes, catches her own fish or takes a poo break. It is fun to watch one tap its mate lightly with curled talon to urge it to get up off the eggs.
​They have the routine down this year. There are fewer human made objects in the nest this year probably due to clean-up efforts by concerned citizens. There has been a brown plastic bag, which isn't too hazardous for the adult ospreys and two small red plastic items. Of course, Richie always has to have something red in the nest!

Good Samaritans cleaned up the Sandpiper Spit area and found the following. Midi and others also found fishing line at Tepco beach. Please, if you are are fisherman's dispose properly of your fishing line and lures. They are very dangerous to birds and other wildlife. A dead osprey was found recently at Pt. Pinole dangling from fishing line and hook. Also dispose of other trash in receptacles. Six pack plastic is very dangerous and are plastic bags and other human trash. Carelessness can lead to death for our beloved wildlife! If you see trash that is dangerous, please pick it up safely (gloves) and dispose of it in a receptacle. 

A new osprey season starts when Rosie returns to the nest. There is always much anticipation and anxious waiting by the humans for her return. This year, she returned, without fanfare, earlier than anyone anticipated. An osprey had been seen on Marker 12 recently but no one knew if it was Richie. A male osprey was seen on the nest this week but it did not look like Richie. Then Rosie flew in and immediately those watching knew it was Rosie. She looked around for Richie, then flew off. 

Rosie has been staying near the nest, either on it or on the crane each day. She keeps looking for Richie and has made some calls. There have been no confirmed sightings of Richie. One person saw two ospreys flying high near each other. There has also been an osprey on Marker 12 periodically. We assume, however, that if Richie were near, he would visit the nest to see Rosie as he has in past years. Where are you, Richie? If an chatter visits San Pablo Reservoir, please keep an eye out for ospreys and especially Richie. He appears to have visited the reservoir regularly to catch trout last season. 

Three caps of a visitor to the next on February 16, before Rosie showed up. Was this Richie? Or someone else? Note the odd stance. Richie usually stands with his legs together. 

Rosie and corvids  Fab. 21.  cap by Lurker.

Rosie continues to hang around near the nest, on the crane or on the ROV wires. She has been seen eating fish that she presumably caught herself. Twice, two ospreys have been seen flying together, or one chasing the other off. There has also been an osprey on Marker 12. Richie? or other ospreys? The female osprey at the RYC nest has returned. 

 Richie possibly came to the nest February 24. But did not find Rosie. On February 25, the couple finally hooked up. A quick CK then off again.Rosie has been on the nest more and bringing sticks. Still, she leaves after a while and Richie is still mostly absent. But it is still early in the season and perhaps hormones haven't kicked in yet.

The couple is slowly getting ready for the season. They spend a lot of time off the nest but do connect during the day. Richie tries for a few CK's and Rosie has been busy bringing nesting materials. Richie has not shown much interest in helping her or in bringing fish. 

CK stands for cloacal kiss, when the reproductive parts of each bird touch and Richie can transfer semen to Rosie. That is considered a successful CK and should lead to an egg. 

Sometimes it looks like the pair are fighting over the fish. But that is not what is happening. The talons lock onto the fish or stick and need to be unlocked. the other party helps with this. For a scientific description of this see Poole's book or ask our expert Tony\ to explain it. 
​

A Day in the Life of Richmond and Rosie.  March 2  Fishing and Nesting and Mating

Rosie is sleeping closer to the nest at night at times. Getting ready for nesting time? Richie sleeps elsewhere and we're never sure where he is.

Rosie and Richie brought in sticks first to make the perimeters of the nest. They are working more on the nest bowl now. This is made with grass, moss and seaweed that they pack down. The end result is soft and warm. Richie likes to sit in the nest bowl himself. But soon he will have to share it with chicks.

Rosie has begun spending more time on the nest. The nest is ready, with a deep soft bowl for the eggs to come. Richie has been spending more time on the nest with Rosie but usually spends nights elsewhere and during the day goes fishing.  Lately, he has brought a starry flounder, jasksmelt, a striped bass, and only a few salmonids. The weather has been cold and windy. 

Fish caught and brought to the nest February to March up until egg laying. Chart by Matrix Master craigor
The trout presumably come from the San Pablo Reservoir.