Bea and Jasper have their 3rd egg which was laid Sunday, April 6, 2025. It's possible we could see chicks hatch the first week or second week of May.

Bea and Jasper's 2nd egg has arrived. The egg came either Thursday night or Friday morning.

The red glow in the first photo is from the beacon light atop the tower. The communications tower is located within a quarter mile of the Hilton Head airport.

Bea and Jasper have their first egg of the 2025 season. The egg was laid on April 1 in the afternoon. This is the 44th egg Bea has had since she and Jasper began their stay atop our communications tower back in 2011. Last year, Bea and Jasper's first egg was laid on April 2, 2024.

Welcome to the 2025 Osprey season. Bea and Jasper have returned for their 15th season atop our communications tower on Hilton Head. Jasper returned February 14th and Bea returned around February 22nd. 

The pair has a lot of work to do as there isn't much left of last year's nest. For most of this week the pair has been establishing their right to the platform, fending off crows and turkey vultures that have been residing on the tower for the past several months.

The pair is starting later this year as we have experienced colder weather than usual. Last year the first egg was laid on April 2, 2024, so we may see an egg around the same timeframe.

Bea and Jasper, our osprey pair for the last 14 years, had a successful 2024 season with two of their three chicks growing and eventually fledging the nest. With the two juveniles, AT and HT, this marks the 19th offspring the pair has produced since 2011.

We haven't seen Bea or Jasper in the past few weeks as turkey vultures have been occupying the platform more often since the osprey's time at the nest is finished.

The season began with the pair having another late beginning to their egg laying. Normally the pair has their eggs in March, but the past two seasons the eggs were laid in April. Nonetheless, the pair had a successful season.

We want to thank all of our viewers and posters to our blog for joining us in exploring the fascinating osprey, a magnificent bird that lives along our waters at Hilton Head Island. 

A few more photos from this past season.

With their two juveniles fledging, Bea and Jasper remain at the nest to keep other pairs from taking ownership of the platform. Our pair spent a few days chasing off another osprey couple from the tower. Their two offspring have been roosting in nearby trees or structures in adjacent property from the tower.

With AT and HT fledging, this marks 19 successful hatchlings for Bea and Jasper since they first occupied the nest in 2011.

Now that AT and HT have, fledged Jasper and Bea are tasked with retaining ownership of the nest atop our communications tower. Another osprey pair has been attempting to make the nest their own. Jasper and Bea have been chasing off the squatters.

The first photo is the new male to the left of the nest and the bottom is Bea with one of the new osprey's on top of the camera bracket (shadow). 

HT has fledged. As of 6:30am this morning, we no longer have any juvenile osprey on our communications tower. Bea and Jasper have had another successful year rearing their chicks.

Jasper brought HT a small fish around noon to eat then flew off, leaving HT to wanting more fish. Both parents have been encouraging HT by flying past him and sitting on to of the camera bracket and other structures on the tower.

We believe the juvenile, HT, fledged this morning a little before 10am. The lone juvenile watched its sibling fly around the tower. A little envious. Bea and Jasper have been encouraging the two juveniles to take flight by flying past the nest for several days or hovering over top the tower.

It shouldn't be long for the second osprey to join its sibling.

Update: Friday, 6:38am - Correction, it is AT that has fledged. HT is still on the nest. Another female osprey along with her mate tried to get HT removed from the nest, but he didn't budge. Maybe HT with muster up his courage and take his first flight soon.