Part 4: Eggs!

4/6/2022

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Rosie laid her first egg on April 5 at 6:01 pm.

Egg coming. April 5, 2022. 6:01 pm. cap by lurker

egg close up. April 5. 6:03 pm. cap by chagin

Rosie and egg. 4 5 22. 6:03 pm. cap by chagin

Both ospreys got right to work, Rosie sitting on the egg and Richie flying in for a CK to assure a second egg.

Richie in for a CK. Really, Richie? Don't you think she might be tired? gif by J

Rosie sleeping, tired after laying her egg. April 5, 2022. 10:33 pm. cap by midi

Rosie and Richie on the nest the morning after, April 6, 2022. cap by seabiscuit

Airing the egg. April 16. cap by midi

Airing the egg at night. April 6. cap by midi

Airing the egg serves two purposes. First of all, on hot days and nights, the nest bowl can get hot. Secondly, exposing the egg to lower temperatures can retard its hatching, so that the three eggs hatch close together. If they don't, the third chick hatched is smaller, less developed, and subject to bullying by its siblings.

No, Richie, it's not your turn yet. April 6, 2022. cap by midi

Richie incubating. April 7, 2022. cap by midi

Richie loves to incubate the eggs. He will land and nudge Rosie to let him take over. Sometimes she does, other times she resists his nudges, which can become more pronounced, until she relents or he gives up. An easy way to get his turn is to bring her a fish. He is a bit nervous when incubating and looks around a lot.

Both doing their jobs. April 7, 2022. cap by midi

Richmond brings a fish. April 6 2022. cap by lurker

Both looking at the eggs. April 7, 2022. cap by lurker

This is a real team effort by the ospreys. Rosie does most of the incubating. Richie brings fish and helps incubate when Rosie needs to eat or take a break. They both defend against intruders. Sometimes they look at each other and seem to be communicating about the process and what they should be doing. Other times, Rosie is quite vocal about Richie's duties, calling loudly for a fish.

Richie flying in a fish. April 7, 2022. cap by midi

Defending the nest. April 7 2022. cap by midi

The fish arrives.

Rosie and Egg 1. April 7, 2022. cap by lurker

Move over, it's my turn. 9:52 am. April 8, 2022 cap by midi

Can I help? April 8, 2022 at 15:24 pm

Rosie in egg laying position. April 8, 2022. at 16:54 pm

Egg #2. April 8, 2022 cap by lurker

Egg number 2 April 8, 2022 at 16:56

Egg Number 2 arrived on April 8 at 16:56. See the humorous interactions with Richie earlier that day, trying to help Rosie, who was getting ready to lay an egg.

Rosie and two eggs. April 10, 2022 cap by lurker

Close-up of the two eggs April 8, 2022. cap by lurker

A quiet moment on the nest. April 11, 2022. cap by midi

With two eggs in the nest, Richie decided a special gift was in order, so he brought a tree to Rosie. See the video by VA to enjoy the interactions with this tree. A still photo does not do it justice.

Egg 3 finally arrived on April 11 at 8:42 pm after dark. Chatters had been watching and waiting for hours. then it arrived without fanfare.

Three eggs! Well done, Rosie and Richie. April 11, 2022. at 20:42 pm. cap by C

3 eggs. 4 12 2022. cap by lurker

3 eggs close-up. April 11, 2022. cap by lurker

Richmond and the eggs. April 13, 2022. cap by lurker

The white egg appears to be Egg #3. It can be hard to tell them apart as Rosie rolls them.

Richmond egg sitting. April 14, 2022. cap by lurker

Three eggs close up. April 16, 2022. cap by lurker

Rosie's job now is to sit on the eggs and keep them warm, rolling them periodically and airing the nest bowl by rearranging the nest material. Richie's job is to give her a break once in a while by sitting on the eggs, a job he loves. And to bring her fish. This year, he seems to be lagging a bit in bringing her fish. He catches a fish, eats it first, then brings her the leftovers. While she doesn't need as many calories while sitting on the eggs, the hope is he will up his game once the eggs hatch. They also bring more materials to build up the nest or make the newt bowl softer.

I'm sorry I didn't bring a fish. April 14, 2022.

Rosie eats her long-awaited striper, April 12, 2022. cap by lurker

Tuckered-out Rosie. April 12, 2022. cap by midi

Richmond brings a stick. April 17, 2022

Richmond and branch. April 17, 2022. cap by Dianne A

One persistent intruder keeps coming around but Rosie and Richie are adept at sending any intruders away.

Bold intruder osprey sitting on the rail April 15, 2022. cap by lurker

Rosie protecting her eggs from intruders. April 15, 2022. cap by Tweeter

Richmond has not been bringing as many fish as in the past, but Rosie goes out to get her own when needed, while he egg sits, which he loves. He tends to fish, eat most himself then bring her the leftovers, which can be just a fishtail at times. One day though, he caught a great big striper, which fed them both a long time.

Richmond's striper. April 15, 2022. cap by lurker

Almost an hour later

Rosie's fish that morning. She takes her fish to the spar, also known as Rosie's Café often.

Later on the nest. Don't touch my striper! caps by lurker

Three eggs. April 16, 2022. cap by lurker

Life on the nest right now is all about the eggs. Keeping them warm, turning them, aerating them, keeping them safe from intruders. The eggs are quite distinctive this year. The dark spotted one was the last laid.

Iconic picture of the nest with an osprey, a tug and Brooks Island. cap by midi April 19, 2022

Angelic Rosie. April 29, 2022. cap by Dianne A

Co- incubating April 20, 2022

Both Rosie and Richie seem to like incubating. Each will nudge the other to move off the eggs to give them a turn. Richie is more alert while incubating, seeming nervous. It is his job, of course, to defend the nest. Rosie is more focussed on the eggs themselves and lies quietly and sleeps at night, while getting up periodically to air the nest bowl, turn the eggs or just check them.

New nest material in the way. April 20, 2022. cap by lurker

Arrranging the sticks. Note the nice curved stick rail. May 4, 2022. cap by Jest.

Clump to the nest. April 29, 2022 cap by lurker

When not fishing, Richie is always nearby, keeping watch on the nest. If he spots a possible intruder or Rosie calls, he comes to the crane and he and Rosie work as a team to chase away the intruder.

Defending the nest. April 25, 2022. cap by chaya

Chasing the intruder away. April 25, 2022. cap by chaya

Rosie defending the nest from an osprey intruder. April 19, 2022. from video by VA

Other visitors to the nest are left alone, if they pose no threat. These are usually small birds.

Small finch visitor. April 30, 2022. cap by lurker

Well, hello there. cap by FW.

Fish, of course, are important to the osprey pair. Richie was slow to start providing this year, often keeping the fish he caught to himself, or bringing Rosie the tail only. There is the possibility that a lost rear talon may have made fishing harder for him and he caught fewer fish and needed more for himself. This is only a surmise by chatters at this point. At any rate, it appears that he is doing better now and bringing fish to Rosie. When he doesn't, she quite capably goes to catch one for herself, while he happily incubates the eggs. True partnership. She often takes her fish up to the strut, a protrusion from the crane.

April 26, 2022. cap compilation by FW

Rosie's big fish. May 3, 2022. cap by kinnae ken

Then there are the quiet times. Nights have been quite restful this year so far. Often Rosie naps on the eggs in the late morning or afternoon. Richie spends less time on the nest this year, preferring the boom, where he can keep watch.

Rosie asleep May 4, 2022. cap by midi

Rosie awake. April 26, 2022. cap by midi

Rosie in the fog. May 4, 2022. cap by Dinnae ken

After some speculation about Richie's possible leg injury and his less active fish providing to Rosie this year, an alert chatter noticed a missing talon. This talon is now growing back in but could have hampered his fishing ability.