Welcome to our 2022 Osprey Season at Palmetto Electric

The osprey pair, Bea and Jasper, have returned for their 12th season. The pair has produced 16 offspring since their tenure at this site. Our nesting site is located about mid island and is situated around several water ways providing Jasper a multitude of options to feed his family. We welcome our viewers comments and anticipate a season with new chicks to watch grow.

The red glow on the birds is from the beacon light atop our communications tower.

 Happy 2022 to all of our Osprey viewers. We have our first osprey on the nest. We'll review these pictures from past photos and see if it matches others from Bea or Jasper.

2021 Recap:

The 2021 Osprey season opened with Bea and Jasper returning for their 11th year atop our communications tower on Hilton Head Island. The pair bore three eggs with three hatchlings: TT, JW, and LT. LT lived for two weeks. The remaining chicks thrived on the nest with Jasper bringing an abundance of flounder for his young. The chicks fledged in 65 and 58 days of their hatching. 

We do not band the juveniles and most likely the young fly south for the winter. Hilton Head does have osprey during the winter months, but we have no way of knowing whether these birds are passing through or staying throughout the year.

We hope to see the pair, Bea and Jasper, back next year as they have been produced 16 chicks since their time at our island nesting grounds. We appreciate all of our viewers comments. We hope to get back to normalcy in regards to the blog and keeping everyone up-to-date with the local osprey life at our nest.

Please have a safe 2021 and we hope to have you back next year.  

Thanks from the moderator!!       :)

 

TT and JW faired well with Tropical Storm Elsa last night. We were a bit concerned as only one was on the nest this morning when we checked the camera, but thankfully both juveniles appeared on the tower a little later on. Bea and Jasper are also doing fine.

Both juvenile ospreys, TT and JW, have fledged - taking their first flight. JW was the first to go which occurred on June 27th. It took TT, the oldest chick by a day, about one week longer. The communications tower located at our Hilton Head office is 100 feet tall, so taking the first flight is no easy task. JW fledged in 58 days and TT fledged in 65 days. The juveniles will stay dependent on their parents for food until they learn to fish for themselves.

TT and JW are the 15th and 16th successful juveniles that Bea and Jasper have produced since their arrival at our tower in 2011.  The juveniles will not reach maturity until age 3. As the juveniles mature their eye color will change to yellow and their buff-tipped feathers on their back will change to brown.

Photo of TT (foreground) and JW (background)

 

The chicks TT and JW are growing up fast due to Jasper bringing in fish such as the flounder in the above picture. Juvenile osprey's normally fledge within 7 - 8 weeks from hatching. That timeframe will be mid to late June.

The two chicks, TT and JW, are doing quite well. Both are nice and plump and are starting to loose their darker down and are beginning to grow their pin feathers. Pin feathers or otherwise known as "blood feathers" is a developing feather on a bird. The feather is rolled and protected in a tube-like shaft that contains blood vessels, which nourish the feather's growth. 

The top two photos have JW on the left and TT on the right. 

The bottom photo is a close-up of TT. You can see the development of the feathers. In the close-up of TT you will notice the deep red eye color. As the osprey's grow into juveniles the eye color will change to an orange-yellow to yellow once they become adults.

The chicks TT and JW are doing well and have added much weight since their last photos, especially TT. TT has been a bit aggressive towards JW, but in the last few days that has eased up a bit which we hope that trend continues. The top photo has TT on the top and JW towards the bottom. The bottom photo is a close-up of JW.

It appears Bea and Jasper have lost their youngest hatchling, LT. Upon leaving work yesterday the chick appeared to be doing well. The loss of the one will give the two remaining chicks a better chance of survival.

 We now have three chicks in the nest: TT, JW and LT.