Note: In the Chesapeake, best to lay eggs by early May. It’s 37-ish days to hatch, another 55 to fledge. Then the kids have to learn enough about fishing and flying to survive migration.
Osprey typically lay clutches of three, sometimes four eggs, frequently wait for the third to begin 24-7 incubation, which is performed primarily by the female. Males fish, deliver food to the nest, and to varying degrees help with incubation. Some males are assertively broody. Some are Indeed-by-God not.
Mrs. Bennet had laid her third egg five days before George and Martha arrived. Ten days after their arrival she stopped incubating.
Two weeks later an attempted resumption of affections between the Bennets faltered. For the next two months, Mrs. B absented herself for days at a time and then other females paraded through Nest 2. Mr. B was slow to escort them off but he ultimately did.
Mrs. B returned July 12. Mr. B brought her the last fish I saw him deliver that season. She shooed any remaining females away and they shared the nest, platonically as far as I noted, presumably fished for themselves.
Upstream was a different scene By May 9, Mrs. Perfect was feeding a chick. By the 21st she had four chicks, the elders bullied the youngers. Mrs. Perfect configured the nest to separate the two youngers where they were no longer attacked but no longer competed for food. By the end of the month the pen was dismantled and the Perfects ultimately and efficiently fledged two chicks.
The Bigs hatched three chicks in the familiar pattern, the first a bully, the third quickly perished, the number two a survivor. The chicks were well fed, bullying diminished, and both fledged.
The combined Big and Perfect chicks began fledging the second week in July with all four flying in early August. They landed in one another’s nests, wherever food arrived. The second Big to fledge flew straight into Mrs. Bennet on Nest 2, and got promptly booted home. But the adults in the nests upstream, after some initial consternation, fed whoever showed up.
Ethel and Mark-8 handled the breeding season differently. Ethel had been liberated.
Previous Episode 2022-3: Territorial Negotiations
Upcoming 2022-5: Ethel Was Liberated
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