Well, what a week! All three chicks are doing very well and are the size of pigeons by now being approximately two weeks old. As they get larger of course, so do their appetites and our male bird has been demonstrating his hunting skills this weekend bringing up to six fish a day back to the nest. Its at this stage also that the chicks become a little bit more independent and are now moving around freely in the nest rather than just staying in the brooding cup; it must be difficult for the female to protect all three youngsters when they can be several feet apart in the nest. Goshawks and other raptors will still be a threat for another couple of weeks yet.Of note also, today we saw the male feeding the chicks as well as the female for the first time this year. Disregard the old text books that say this doesn't happen, it certainly does in Wales!. Having said that however, it's Mum that is the boss in the nest — she allows the male to help feed the chicks only for so long until she decides to take over and banish him to a nearby tree or back to the cob estuary for more mullet.
A strange thing happened yesterday, whilst hovering over the nest with his latest catch (see photo) the male actually dropped the fish into the nest edge, something that we have not seen before. Perhaps he was afraid of being ousted out again by his bossy wife — can't blame him really..The intruder osprey is still around and causes our pair some grief from time to time; surely this bird is here to stay the summer now as its too late to be a migratory bird.Finally a big thank you to the dozens of volunteers that have helped out again this week, particularly Colin and Anne who finally made our protection caravan camouflaged!. Also, all those people that helped out in the visitor centre - we welcomed and joined our 200th member of the season to the RSPB on Thursday, well done.
Its great to see that the male is not just a great fisherman but that he can also feed the chicks - if the missus will allow it!
The live pictures of the Ospreys on the nest are so interesting at the moment, its fantastic to see how much the youngsters have grown between our visits.
Fingers (and talons) crossed that all three of them will survive this season.
A steady stream of visitors this week have kept us all busy and it is so rewarding to hear them exclaim
"I can SEE an Osprey!!!!"
as they look through the scopes at the nest.
Lin and Reg Heath,
Volunteers
Well done indeed. I've always been made to feel welcome on my visits to the visitor centre. You guys are doing an amazing job. The stars are still the birds, but you guys come pretty close. Thank you all.
Ralph
well done again to all the team at Glaslyn. It is so amazing to see the progress of the chicks. It's lovely to see the amazing photographs and hear about the daily dramas. Is the rouge bird still in the area?
Sounds like the community weekend went really well dispite the weather, well done to all the staff and volunteers who must have worked so hard, regards jackie
hi Jackie
yes, the other osprey is still around - we're still trying to get a closer look to see if he/she is a previous offspring of the Glaslyn pair. All the chicks (6) have been ringed so fingers crossed we'll know before the season's out!
Had a fantastic time visiting the project over the last weekend. We were made to feel really welcome and are hoping to come back to see progress in a few week's time. In the meantime it'll be great to keep up with progress here... Looking forward to the next update!