looduskalender.ee

Piret rolled the eggs at

7:13


7:54


8:21

Madis at the nest without fish, but ready to take over the caring for the eggs



Piret left.

12:01 Attention Please


12:02 Work, work ...


16:32 Madis changes fish with eggs - Piret is off with the fish

Nice sized, headless fish, Piret takes it with her, Madis on the eggs.

17:23
Madis is on the eggs, but Piret returns and takes over.

Why fish is always headless? Does Madis bite the heads out and eats them himself?

Asteria, it is not always, but it is often without a head. They don't bite the head off, but do it in bites, if I use the right words. Maybe because he is hungry at that time, or maybe because it is easier to bring it to the nest that way?

18:03
Piret was on the eggs, and Madis arrived - with a piece of bark. Piret took off and flew out over the trees.






18:06+
Piret returned and moved some branches. She also chirped at Madis, who got up and left the nest.







osprey_Estonia_5-25-2012 11.07.12 AM_47 by aurospio, on Flickr

18:13
Madis returned with something small and inedible (a clump of grass or a small branch?). Piret did not bother to get up but chirped softly to him. Madis preened a little, then flew off at 18:15







18:16
Piret got up and rolled the eggs


osprey_Estonia_5-25-2012 11.16.50 AM_16 by aurospio, on Flickr

Nancy, those are beautiful pictures, thanks!

That is interesting because other birds(WTE or BS) bring the whole fish and only ospreys bring them headless.

Beautiful pictures Nancy. Weather very hot in UK. Is it also hot in Estonia? How far does Madis have to fly to catch fish?

Asteria, could it be that it depends on the kind of fish they bring? I see different kinds, but don't know with which kind they remove the head before bringing it to the nest. Maybe the Osprey brings different fish to the nest then other Eagles? I don't know and am guessing also.

18:41
Piret got up to stretch her wings, then settled back down again

Asteria, this one was brought in with a head and alive, the biggest I have seen so far



It is from the 27th of April



And the only logical reason I can think of is, that if they are alive, they can wriggle very strongly and the Osprey may let them fall, but maybe somebody knows the real reason why they do it.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischadler (German Wiki - translated via Google):

"Most will be eaten by fish, only the head and the front part of the body, the rest is dropped frequently."

And now in my own bad englisch: They favorite the fish heads! I think if Madis come with an headless fish its just a bit selfish - He catch the fish so he get the best parts of it?

Spl I hoped for something simple as that (Barnowls also do that with their prey, the rodents, when feeding the young) It is a good explanation why in the beginning of the "courtship" he brought more fish with heads and now more without.

First I want to thank you all for very good reports of days! Its really good to come home and look over the forum about webcams and see quickly how the nesting is developing. Of course sometimes it needs more time as quickly...

About fish brought by male I think he eats the head himself, because Ospreys start to eat always from head and maybe it is something like preparing of meal for female.
Previously I have seen almost full fish brought by male, but it has been not during incubation, but during ringing time, with big chicks. We probably see that period too, after couple of months.
Female sometimes takes fish from flight, not waiting when male arrives to the nest and those cases are usually not visible for us here.

Fish farm is not far, did not measure, but about two-three kilometers and the natural lake is even a bit closer. So different fish species are possible to see - would be very good if some fish specialist could join our forum and determine brought fish by case.

Another thing I wanted to inform, is that in other nest
http://pontu.eenet.ee/player/kalakotkas2.html
almost every day some new nest material has appeared... but as this stream is not stored, we could not say more. Probably brought by the male of the nest situated ca 400m away.

Urmas, thank you for the information. Yes, I saw that a few times, that they started to eat the fish at the mouth of the fish, I didn't like to watch that

These "table manners" have been developed much earlier as humans started to walk on two legs... and for Ospreys this is most polite way to eat. Eating of pasta or potatoes - this could be for them something really distasteful and bad, if they see it.