Bella and Benecio have been on the nest for almost an hour now. During this time Benecio brought in nesting material and the two mated twice, quite encouraging. As of this posting no sign of the intruder. If they're mating has been successful, Bella could lay eggs by mid March. Benecio has a lot of work ahead of him to prepare the nest.

Benecio is still at it preparing the nest with moss and sticks, though we haven't seen Bella for several days now. The intruder still shadows Benecio's every move. Bella may have been at the nest, but off screen as we have seen shadows of another osprey at times.

Earlier this morning our osprey pair had one and a half hours of peaceful bliss on the nest before the intruder osprey appeared and drove off the female, Bella. The male, Benecio, had left the nest about twenty minutes earlier.

During the pairs stay on the nest they were able to mate. If this couple can establish control of the platform, they will have a great deal of work ahead of them to prepare it for their eggs. As much time and effort these ospreys have invested into this nest over the last two seasons I'm sure they do not want to lose it.

This is the intruder osprey that is interfering with our couple, preventing them from nest building and settling into the 2010 season.

Moments ago our couple began mating. Hopefully the intruder will find a nest of its own and leave our pair in peace.

This year's ospreys will have a major repair on their nest. A hole on the left side has appeared from all the high winds and heavy rain.

It looks as though our couple from last year, Bella and Benecio, have returned. Their markings look to match very closely from last year.

We have an osprey bringing sticks and spanish moss to the nest. On first observance, it looks like Benecio, but I have to check against photos to verify markings. I believe our 2010 osprey season has officially just begun.

Not much action on our nest. We did have an osprey on the communications tower yesterday, but he/she didn't stay very long. It could be all the storms that have been passing through the last few weeks that is delaying the return of Bella and Benecio.

Another front is expected to arrive this afternoon bringing 1 to 3 inches of rain. We're optimistically awaiting our couple to arrive and begin their 2010 family!