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.