Ospreys! (Idaho Falls, Eagle, Hope: neighborhood, homeless, eat)

[Cnynrat]

Originally Posted by Native Idahoan

Thanks much - very cool!

My husband is now addicted to the Osprey Cam. He's off on Fridays and had it on most of the day. He kept saying that the one squaking definitely has to be the female. I have no idea what he means.

LOL!

The female is generally the larger of the two birds.

[Native Idahoan]

Oh no. Nope. Not gonna touch the whole "the larger bird is the female." Gonna leave 'er right there. Cannot rope me to that one. Cain't touch this!

[Clark Fork Fantast]

The smaller one is actually flying out and bringing back nesting material. The bigger one just sits there...for now . Looks like a blustery day!

2 minutes later: The smaller one is trying to build the nest underneath the bigger one, who is still just sitting there...

5 minutes later: Now they're both engaged in nest-building.

Okaaaay, I think I have to actually leave the computer and go do stuff...

[Native Idahoan]

It's kind of fascinating. I just can't believe how much work goes into building a nest. Gotta build a good home for the family, though!

[Cnynrat]

Does anyone know if they remove the nest from the platform every year?

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

Does anyone know if they remove the nest from the platform every year?

Probably not. Ospreys build strong nests and add to them every year. A mating pair will return to the same nest for as long as the territory is productive for them, and they can live 20 years or more. Their hatchlings
Take off as juveniles, but as adults after they've formed their own pairs, will return to the same nest they hatched in, so a family of Ospreys can use one nest for several generations, each adding onto the nest.

The nests of most of our predatory birds are remarkably strong. A golden eagle nest on our ranch, placed at the top of a lone aspen, survived for 40 years after the last eagles left it. It only came down when the tree itself died and fell over. After the eagles left, other birds occupied it for a time.

[Cnynrat]

Which leads to my next question: I wonder if they removed the nest this year because of the fungal infection the baby ospreys had last year.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Oh those poor things--the nest doesn't look any better than yesterday morning. They look so forlorn. Don't they know how to build a nest? Have they used grandma's and grandpa's nest always, and have no idea how to make their own?

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

Which leads to my next question: I wonder if they removed the nest this year because of the fungal infection the baby ospreys had last year.

That's possible.
Ospreys have been on protected species lists in some states in the past. I don't know if Idaho is giving them any special protections or not, but a bird cam aimed at a nest where viewers are watching the chicks die is never very good publicity for the agency who put the cam in place.

Ospreys are so different from all of the other raptors that they have their own genus classification. All the other birds of prey can survive on several different food sources, but not ospreys. They are completely adapted to eat, hunt, and live on only fish. That's why they are such good indicators of a watershed's state of ecological health.

Nest building takes practice. Young pairs learn, just like humans, from their past mistakes. None of our predatory birds won't pass up a little human help when it comes to nest building; as long as a nesting box is built in a manner acceptable to them and placed in a spot that works well for the species, they'll use it. And then build onto it until they decide its proper.

Nests may look very messy to us, but each species has it's own way of building, and every nest is suited to their requirements. Some birds build no nests at all. Other birds build no nests of their own and depend on another species to raise their young.

The most interesting thing about predatory birds is when it comes to raising young, there seem to be nesting spots where a truce is declared between predators and prey.

Just above Weiser High School, there's and old abandoned Normal School, the old term for a teacher's college.
The main building on the campus has decaying eaves that offer a lot of secure nesting, and for years, a local pair of Prairie Falcons had a nest in one spot under the eaves. Prairies are closely related to Peregrine falcons, which are almost entirely bird hunters; Prairies hunt mostly birds, but have adapted to go after some small mammal game like ground squirrels.

For whatever reason, there were at least 4 other species of other birds who nested very close to the Prairies under the same eaves, including birds that are their natural prey.

The "Institute", as the campus is called, sits on top of a hill surrounded by a mix of irrigated and dry fields, with a reservoir just over a nearby hill, with the Snake River flowing at the lowest spot, close to the downtown area. Good territory for all kinds of birds. The buildings must be a no-conflict zone, but I've wondered if one bird's daddy wasn't lunch for a Prairie Falcon chick when caught outside the neutral zone.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

LOL!

The female is generally the larger of the two birds.

I just read up on them. The one with the speckled chest is the female.