Incubating Eggs

On 4/22/10 we observed the female laying low in the nest. This is a good indication that she has an egg. She has been deepening the bowl of the nest for the last 3 days in preparation for laying her clutch.

Incubation usually begins after the first egg is laid. Both sexes incubate, but female generally does most of the incubation. Female nearly always incubates at night. Male usually provides female with all food during this period; female takes fish to nearby perch and feeds there; male generally incubates while female feeds, but will initiate incubation independent of food transfers.

It takes about 36 days for osprey eggs to hatch. Notice the unusual color of osprey eggs in the above photo.

This information and the photo is from the Birds of North America Series. To learn more, click the osprey info button while you are watching the cam.

Gravid Female

The female osprey is roosting and generally staying near the nest. She is heavy with eggs. The Male continues to roam and roost on other nearby sites.

....Oops. I just said that and she flew off the nest platform....possibly to do some morning fishing.

Upgrade of Osprey-cam

Laying Electrical Line and Excavating Trench

The ospreys are back at Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge. The male arrived the last week of March and the female a few days later. They have been busily adding sticks to the nest and readying it for a new nesting season.

Meanwhile, The Friends of Deer Flat have been working with local partners to upgrade the webcam for the 2011 season. In mid-march, Randy and Steve, refuge maintenance personnel, exacated a long trench from the visitor center to the webcam pole. The following week, workers from Budget Electric came out and layed a heavy duty electrical line. Then last week, Ken and Phil from Fiberpipe removed the solar panels from the camera pole and hooked up the camera and transmitter to the permanent electical line. And just yesterday, Fiberpipe was able to finish hooking up the camera video to the Fiberpipe streaming internet site.

Any day now the female osprey will start laying her eggs in the nest. Last years egg laying started on April 22nd. So stay tuned.

Removing Solar Panels while ospreys look on.