Estonian Osprey Nest (Irma & Ivo) 2018

[Sunshine]

Unringed bird standing on the nest for a while now.

Oh my, what turbulent events today! It is so special, how the strange osprey was dropping the sticks on the nest (if it was him/her) and afterwards landing on the nest!..

At 22:44 Irma called out and landed on the cam-stand; few seconds later, at 22:45 Ivo landed briefly on the nest. He seemed very alert.



22:56 the stranger landed on the dead tree.
22:59 The stranger took off from the dead tree, Irma was calling very loudly an alert on the cam stand
23:00 the stranger flew to the nest, Irma left the cam stand in the same instant. Irma comes back after half a minute and lands again on the cam stand



23:06
Kids are moving around, Irma is cleaning her feathers on the cam stand, stranger is looking around and not at all aggressive.

[Sunshine]

In my opinion this could be a young male. Ivo was chasing the stranger away before; Irma would never tolerate another lady so close - in her nest/territory. She has never tolerated any ladies before and there is no reason to assume that this time it is different.
It is also common that osprey ladies settle the fights between ladies and males take care of the males.

This stranger is very peaceful, shows no signs of aggression towards Irma or chicks. It must be a youngster, perhaps a first-time returner, who has not found a mate this year and is thus free to roam around.

23:45 Stranger is still there; Irma moving on the cam stand; 01:00 the same..
It seems that with no Ivo around the stranger has settled to stay for the night.

[Silke]

3.45
At about 3.30, when the beginning dusk allowes to see a bit, the stranger sits still on the nest. Now on the left side behind.
Some minutes later at about 3.45 he's gone.
The 3 chicks sleep peacefully.
Someone, perhaps the stranger(?) sits on the top of the dead tree.

[Silke]

4.10
The chicks wake up and begin their "morning toilet". Heli is the first, who stands up and cleans her feathers carefully while the others prefere to sleep again.
The osprey on the top of the dead tree cleans his feathers, too.

[lispet]

04:44 The stranger is back on the nest. Crop looks very empty.

Arranging sticks!

04:52 One of the chicks crawls under the stranger, touches him/her a little bit and the stranger leaves

[Silke]

04:44 The stranger is back on the nest. Crop looks very empty.

Arranging sticks!

04:52 One of the chicks crawls under the stranger, touches him/her a little bit and the stranger leaves

5.00
Nice picture! Kaja looks ennoyed and the stranger insecure.
Might it be that she/he is a fully-flegded youngster who didn't find the way back to her/his own nest?

[Woody]

Regarding the stick incident, there is a video from 2017 in wich an osprey attacks canada geese in their nest with a stick, maybe that's what happened here yesterday??

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bHfLl7DqqD0

[lispet]

The stranger from this morning (around 04:48)

[Sappheira]

08:25
Irma flew in, a strange osprey was flying around the nest. In the light of day, Irma does not tolerate his presence close







Yes, Sunshine, you are right, it is more like a male.
He asked for asylum for the night and Irma offered him the warmest welcome.
Let's see if he will return again today during the day and at night.

[Woody]

Everytime I turned on the cam today, the chicks seemed to be very nervous...

05:06 - is the stranger on the cam stand?

[seira]

06:59 breakfish

[seira]

08:35 Ivo flew to the dead tree with fish, and eating

09:00 delivery.. but Irma was not home

09:03 Ivo leave the fish for chicks

[Woody]

I'm glad to see that everything seems to be back to normal again, I was a bit worried...

10:06 - nobody wants that nice fishy?

[yitmoth]

Regarding the stick incident, there is a video from 2017 in wich an osprey attacks canada geese in their nest with a stick, maybe that's what happened here yesterday??

Just to clarify that this is actually an osprey nest (in Charlo, Montana) which Canada geese and great horned owls have occupied at various times, mostly in winter. And no wonder, it's a really beautiful nest with a fine mountain view. And it's livestreaming now with 3 osprets.

[Woody]

Thank you, yitmoth, for the information. That of course could explain why the attack in the video took place.But I actually posted it as an example, because we were wondering about the weird stick attack that happened yesterday. Have you seen this behaviour before, maybe?

[mogga]

I think this is / was not an intruder of the kind we normally think of when we use the word intruder or offender.
There is no aggressive behaviour visible. It reminds me of the osprey visiting Daisi last year. Of course Daisi was very excited and vehemently wanted the intruder to leave. But the intruder was as peaceful as the intruder now.

[Silke]

13.10

The chicks lay calm in the nest. Perhaps their are more tiered than usually because of their "nightvisitor", which didn't let them sleep as well as the other nights?
And who sits on the top of the dead tree? Irma? The stranger?

[Suski]

Beautiful chicks

[Silke]

13.50
Sport-Lessons for Kaja and Jaak , but Jaak decided quick to have dinner and began to eat the fish, whick layed in the nest.

[Rita]

Could it be that the strange male osprey is, like poor Mati of two years ago, an unlucky osprey who did not breed
successfully either because his female did not return or they lost the eggs? Maybe there is an urge in him to
care for/get close to chicks/nest and that this is a reason why he is not aggressive. No idea to be honest, just my 2cts.

Let's see whether he returns for the night.