There has been no sign of a third egg laid this year and the female is sitting tight incubating the two eggs. AW as usual is taking his turn and she had to physically turf him off the eggs at one point yesterday, maybe she was ready for him to go and catch another fish. There is more plastic sheet on the nest today, only a small piece of clear plastic but it is right on the top of the nest in front of the incubating birds. There is less wind today to blow it away. The weather has been dry and sunny for the last three weeks or so but the forecast predicts a wet day for tomorrow. A rare wet day in the incubation process this year.
Busy incubating two eggs in the sunshine
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Still two eggs
The ospreys are still basking in sunshine and we still have a clutch of 2 eggs. It has been quite difficult to see what is actually going on in the nest cup due to the mounds of grass and sticks that the female has heaped up at the edge of the nest. Today AW took his turn on the nest for almost 2 hours over lunchtime before his mate took over again, when he stood up we could clearly see at least 2 eggs, the very dark almost brown first egg and the more speckled second egg.
With the increased daylight and sunlight hours we now have enough solar power to beam live CCTV images to the visitor centre from 10am till we close at 5pm.
Still no third egg
At the end of the CCTV recording yesterday I could still see only two eggs on the nest. This morning the female has been sitting tight on the nest most of the morning and has built up the grass and twigs at the front of the nest so that it is difficult to see the eggs when she stands up to turn them. Hopefully I will get a chance to see what is going on later on and update today or tomorrow morning. Still basking in spring sunshine which is always a good thing for the birds.
Can’t see the third egg yet
Like yesterday AW has been doing a lot of nest duty today sitting on the eggs. He spent nearly 2 hours this morning before his mate came in and took over. Due to the build up of nest material on the edge of the nest it is very difficult to see if a 3rd egg has been laid this morning. Hopefully I will be able to see what is going on this afternoon on the live feed, if not I will have to go through the DVD later to se if I can get a glimpse of the eggs when they stand up and turn them or change over. At 1.10pm AW arived back on the nest empty handed and stood on the edge of the nest for 10 minutes before flying off again. Maybe she is in need of a fish, she was calling to him when he left. I hope to post another update later this afternoon with an egg update.
First egg laid this morning
As the CCTV system came on at the centre this morning the female was sitting tight on the nest. Was she on the first egg? Emma watched patiently and at 10.20am she saw the female stand up and sure enough there was the first egg of the season in the cup of the nest. AW came in with a fish for his mate just after 12 noon and she flew off to eat it and he took over the incubation duties. She cam back half an hour later and gave him back the half eaten fish and took her place on the nest as he flew off to finish it.
Emma had calculated that today would be the day as it is exactly 9 days since the first successful mating attempts were seen on the nest. It is great to have such an osprey expert on the staff here at Caerlaverock.
