As of 7:05 this morning we still have three eggs.

It's almost time for our pair, Bea and Jasper's, eggs to hatch. Incubation periods range from 5 - 6 weeks and next Friday, April 29th is the 35th day since the first egg was laid. Because the eggs are laid a few days apart, they also hatch in the order that they were laid - a few days apart. Chicks that hatch first are usually bigger and dominate over their younger siblings. If enough food cannot be supplied to all the chicks, the smallest chicks may not get enough to eat and die. This is called brood reduction.

Jasper will definitely be busy bringing in more and bigger fish to feed all the hungry little mouths.

The top two photo's are of Bea and the bottom of Jasper, the male.

Bea taking a break from incubating the eggs Tuesday morning.

Not much going on at the moment with our pair, Bea and Jasper, while they continue to incubate their three eggs. The first egg could hatch anywhere from April 28 - May 4. If we are lucky enough to have chicks this season, it will be the second time since the web cam went live in 2007.

Not much is going on at our nest at the moment other than Bea and Jasper exchanging incubation duties. The weather for the coming days will be in the upper 70's and into the 80's. Thought I'd list activites at other nests in the meantime: An osprey is back at Friends of Blackwater NWR and building the nest for the 2011 season. I've only seen one osprey on the nest so I'm not sure if both male and female are there yet. At Loch of the Lowes the male and female have been mating and they are hopeful to have eggs in the near future. The Dunedin Osprey nest has eggs that are expected to hatch any day. They have a total of three eggs. The Kentucky Environmental Education Project is live, but no osprey's seem to at the nest at this time. They did have Great Horned Owls, but their eggs were broken by the pair incubating them.

So far Bea and Jasper are doing a fine job caring for their eggs as both continue to take turns incubating the eggs and are bringing in new nesting material. The normal clutch size is three eggs so our pair is right on track. We hardly see one of them off the eggs as they must be kept at a certain temperature for the chicks to develop properly.

Another reason is to protect the eggs from predators. If the eggs were left unattended for long periods, they would be vulnerable to attack from land predators such as raccoons and foxes. Since our nest is clearly out of their reach the ospreys have daytime aerial predators such as eagles, crows, or vultures, and nocturnal predation from great horned owls.

Osprey webcam thrills bird lovers as Lady of the Loch awaits mate

Thousands log on worldwide to watch oldest breeding osprey keep vigil beside Scottish loch http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/03/osprey-webcam-lady-scotland

Eggs from this morning at 9:21.

We've picked names for our pair and they are...Bea and Jasper submitted by Beth from Ohio.