We have another osprey that is attempting to land on the platform. Currently Jasper is away from the nest leaving Bea to fight off the intruder. Upon writing this Jasper has returned. 

The intruder osprey has been flying about the nest for about an hour now causing the pair a bit of stress. Bea is back to incubating the eggs.

Bea has laid her fourth egg, the second for the pair, Saturday, February 24th. the 3rd egg was laid February 21st. Initially Bea laid two eggs from a previous male, but those eggs were not incubated. The two cinnamon colored eggs are from Jasper. The brown egg is from the first male and not viable. 

Below is Jasper from this morning with the eggs. 

 

Bea has laid another egg. It is possible this egg could be produced from Jasper. The dark cinnamon colored egg is the latest egg. Bea or Jasper could push the older egg away from the nest cup since it is no longer viable.

Bea seldom incubated her first two eggs, but has immediately incubated this egg and continues to do so.

Bea laid a second egg Friday late afternoon egg - 4:20pm. This egg is undoubtedly from the male that was on the nest in January. The 1st egg is broken and the 2nd egg is being covered over. As Jasper and Bea continue to mate we await a second clutch.

 

Will the real Jasper please stand up. 

Yesterday while observing the nest, it dawned on us that the male osprey appeared different than the male that had been on the nest since January 26th. Upon closer inspection of photos, much closer, we discovered that we were wrong in announcing Jasper’s arrival in January. He actually came to the platform February 14th. Such timing, right? :) The photos we took of the latest male matched Jasper's eye marks and markings on and around his beak. As past observers may remember we do not band the ospreys that frequent our communications tower so we are left to matching photographs, which isn’t a perfect science. 

Yesterday the male was witnessed hunched over with his back to Bea. That posture is what threw us off. Why would Jasper be mantling with Bea at this point in time? So back to past photos we went. The markings between the males are similar, but when we took better pictures of the newest male, it was evident that we misidentified the first male osprey as Jasper. Sorry for the confusion. 

Now the real Jasper and Bea have settled down and have begun to mate. Bea is back and forth on the nest so we are hopeful she continues on at the platform.

As quickly as the first egg appeared, we may have already lost it. Bea did not incubate the egg most of this morning and apparently did not do so last night either.  As of this post she is sitting on the egg, but most likely it is too late. We will have to wait and see. 

 

Not sure what is happening with the first egg. Bea has not been incubating it for most of the day. It is possible the egg is not viable. Currently a crow is checking out the egg.

We have our first egg of the 2018 season. Longtime viewer, Beth, noticed the egg last night about 6:47. I have to admit I didn’t think the pair would have an egg this early since Jasper arrived only less than three weeks ago.

In the past eight years Bea has laid her first egg on the following dates:

12 Feb
17 Feb
16 Feb
2 Mar
7 Mar
13 Mar
24 Mar
25 Mar

Bea seems a bit unsettled this morning as she flew off and left the egg momentarily unattended until Jasper flew to the platform. 

We finally obtained photos that we can match to previous years and can announce that Jasper is back. He arrived January 26th, but we weren't sure it was him, due to his back facing the camera.

The pair has been quite busy this morning restoring the nest by bringing in sticks and spanish moss. A few attempts at mating has taken place now that Jasper's submissive posturing has lessened. Below are a few pics from this morning showing their work.

We still have yet to confirm that the male osprey on the nest is definitely Jasper. But Bea's acceptance of him on the platform makes us believe it may be him. The photos we have taken are not good enough yet to match up to previous seasons. The male has attempted to mate, but Bea has shrugged off his advances. His back is normally to her so they may still be in courtship mode.