Welcome to Palmetto Electric's 2017 Osprey Season

We are opening the seventh season with our osprey pair, Bea and Jasper, and celebrating our 10th year overall broadcasting images of our osprey nest located off Mathews Drive on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Bea arrived January 10th at 8:25 a.m. and Jasper arrived this morning, January 31st, at 7:08 a.m. The pair have produced eleven offspring in the past six years. Unfortunately for the pair the nest failed last year so we are eager for Bea and Jasper to have a successful 2017 season.

Luckily, the pair still has much of their nest remaining on top of the platform. We were quite surprised to see it after Hurricane Matthew hit during the night of October 7, 2016.

Hilton Head experienced maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, just 1 mph shy of a category 3 hurricane. The island took a blow, but it didn't take long for the ospreys that hang around to be seen and heard around the island. It has been estimated that Hilton Head lost over 120,000 trees and that number could climb. So Bea and Jasper are fortunate to not have to build their nest from scratch. They should have an easier time finding twigs and other material to add to their nest as there are stockpiles of tree debris scattered about the island.

We welcome all of our viewers/bloggers to our site and hope you enjoy Bea and Jasper and osprey chicks.

Our 2017 Osprey Blog is not officially open just yet, but wanted to let everyone know that Bea arrived the morning of January 10, 2017. We are awaiting Jasper's return so the pair can begin rebuilding their nest and start a new family of ospreys.

Updated: 4/14/16

The pair has begun mating often and Jasper now turns his back to Bea and spread his wings out and down with tail depressed. These are signs usually seen at the beginning of the season when the pair is re-united. Such a strange season we are having.

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A comment in our last post asked if they pair could have another brood. It is a rare event that osprey have a second brood, but I did find it documented in Scotland thirty four years ago. Our pair, Bea and Jasper, have begun mating again so who knows. It would be great if that happened.

It appears our osprey nest has failed this season. Yesterday, April 7, I checked the nest early morning around 6:15 and KS was fine. I was away on business all day and checked the nest this morning and KS had disappeared. A blogger wrote in (see comments on previous post) that he could see no eggs or chick yesterday early evening. 

It was unfortunate to not have all the eggs hatch, but to have the only chick die is discouraging. We checked around the base of the tower and did not find any evidence of egg shells or of the chick. Upon observing the center of the nest there is a gap from which the chick and eggs most likely fell through. We've noticed Bea pull on a twig/branch that was centered within the nest and her persistence may have lead to the instability of the center of the nest. 

We are not 100% sure this happened, but most likely it has. So unfortunately our 2016 osprey season is over. The pair should maintain the nest for the rest of this year and hopefully we'll have a successful 2017.

As always our camera will remain active so you can continue to watch Bea and Jasper.

Surprisingly, we still have only the first chick, KS, hatch. It is possible that the remaining two eggs are not viable. Today marks the 45th and 42nd day for the remaining eggs. It may be best if the other two chicks don't hatch as KS has a six day advantage and is steadily growing.

We possibly have a pip in the second egg, the left egg. Will keep you posted.

Become an Osprey Watcher

For those that can't get enough of watching ospreys why not consider joining OSPREY WATCH. The Center for Conservation Biology - a partnership between researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and The College of William and Mary - allows citizens to gather nest data on breeding osprey.

The website has a wealth of information and if you know of a nest site that is not being observed you can register - no charges -  and help them document nest activity. I registered a few years back and have been listing our nest activity.

The site lists observed nests all over the world so you can follow them too. 
Check them out! 

When an osprey chick is ready to hatch from its shell, it uses a pointed egg tooth located on the tip of its upper beak to break through the egg shell. The chick is usually awkward and quite tired from exerting itself. The initial break in the egg is called a "PIP" when the chick begins to crack the shell to free itself.

Watch this YouTube video of a chick hatching at the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust (MWT) in Wales. Turn up your volume so you can hear the chick as it emerges from its egg.

 

We have our first chick of 2016. 

The first chick hatched at 8:47 this morning. The chick's name is KS.
Pictures pending.

Updated: 11:14
 
KS receiving its first piece of fish since hatching.

 

The first chick is still attempting to break free of its shell. You can see that Bea is checking on the little one in the photo.