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.

The male osprey we spotted a few days back has returned. Unfortunately, we can't obtain a good enough photo to compare to previous photographs of Jasper. Bea hasn't been too aggressive towards the male, but continues to force him away from the platform. If it is Jasper, maybe a fish will seal the deal. :)

We are not positive if Jasper has returned, but another osprey landing on the nest at 10:08 this morning then quickly departed. We'll be observing the tower for any osprey other than Bea and will report back as soon as we can obtain photos to check out markings, etc.