Estonian Osprey Nest (Ivo & Iiris) 2019

[Jenny]

Hi Cessie, CrazyLv831 and balistar, yes to watch Iiris is a delight. When she misses fish coming from Ivo sometimes, she takes off and gets the meal for the chicks herself. She always tries that every chick gets the same amount of fish. She is quiet, not yelling and the way she takes care of her youngsters is remarkable. I guess it will not take that long that they will get their identifikation rings. You see how fast they grow and already try to swing their wings. In the meantime they have learned so much from Iiris and she watches them how active they are in the nest. We all loved Irma, but this Ospray lady is better and I sincerely wish that she comes back next year .

[Felicitas]

What a pleasure to watch this family. This year is a hard season to watch the cams: the little owls dead, maybe the parents too, one BS killed by his mom and one sibling killed by a goshawk. Cainism by GSE and LSE. Ivo and Iris are wonderful parents

[Rita]

Quote from Jenny:

... this osprey lady is better ...

How is this to be understood? Human projection again? I thought it was clear that animal behaviour shall not be judged, lest be compared to human morals.

[Jenny]

Quote from Jenny:

How is this to be understood? Human projection again? I thought it was clear that animal behaviour shall not be judged, lest be compared to human morals.

Hi Rita,
as I put it, I did not want to put Irma down as a bad mother in any way. What I meant, this year everything in the nest runs silently. Iiris has other advantages that we did not experienced by Irma. But they are birds and not humans and everyone reacts in their own best way. I just like the actions from Iiris.

[Summi]

Jenny, thank you very much for your beautiful morning pics.
Irma was special and when she didn't return, we were sad and thought that no other osprey lady can be as good as her. Now Iiris has a different personality and we are also fond of her. She is special and great in her own way. The more as it's her first nesting.
I think we just love ospreys and are privileged to have a close look into their world. This is something we are grateful to Looduskalender for.

13:12 Ivo brought fish #2
I think it was Middlie who was at the right edge and crawled under Iiris' belly to be served there!

[lispet]

13:12 Ivo brought a big fish



13:20 Feeding in progressa

[balistar]

Hello everyone


13:10 the development of their plumage is advancing rapidly


13:12 and the patterns are becoming clearer and still more beautiful
they are "talking" with Mom

....
13:12 Ivo brought fish #2
....

how amazed they watch when Daddy brings this HUGE fish

[Summi]

Is the fish ide?

[Owlie]

15:36-15:37
Iiris flew in with a BIG living fish #3 with head (a tench?) And starts feeding to all chicks immediately. And it (the fishing) went very rapidly, she was not away many minutes Our "Super Ospress"

[balistar]

Is the fish ide?

Summi,
i have no idea, maybe a golden ide, but maybe it could also be a rudd ? Fins of both are nearly similar and both are kind of the carp family.

The best picture, besides the picture of the delivery, i could take is this,
illuminated by the sun the fish looked somehow golden-orange and shows red flesh



I found that, each with pictures:

the ide,
"common sport and food fish of the carp family.... An elongated, rather stout fish, the ide is blue-gray or blackish with silvery sides...... The golden ide is a hardy, reddish gold variety of the species"
https://www.britannica.com/animal/ide

the rudd,
"stout-bodied freshwater sport fish of the carp family..... similar to the related roach, but more golden, with yellow-orange eyes, deep red fins, and a sharp-edged belly"
https://www.britannica.com/animal/rudd

[Owlie]

Quote from Jenny:

How is this to be understood? Human projection again? I thought it was clear that animal behaviour shall not be judged, lest be compared to human morals.

I think we can afford human opinions, we are humans. If Jenny thinks Iiris is in some category "better" than Irma - so what? Personal opinions are not away from anyone and don't harm the birds. I think there is no reason to argue of opinions.

[Rita]

Quote from Owlie:

... does not harm the birds. ...

I think that in fact this does harm the birds, it harms the individuals of a species:

Owlie, the reason why I react on such comments is that a lot of harm has happened (and still is) to
animals (and predator birds especially) because of human projections on their behaviour. I think it is about time
to let go of these beliefs. We are so lucky here on the forum to get a deeper insight into nature and we should
not spoil it by such statements.

Remember the bird-bashing on Ivo when he did not live up to our expectations and the even worse bashing of
Kati who killed one of her chicks. No to mention the happenings in the GSE/LSE nests ...

[Owlie]

Feeding of the fish #3 is still going on after a short break of Iiris, only one ospret is still getting fed at 16:27

16:43
Iiris, again, took off suddenly and returned in a minute

[Owlie]

Owlie, the reason why I react on such comments is that a lot of harm has happened (and still is) to
animals (and predator birds especially) because of human projections on their behaviour. ...

I agree with you that human attitudes do harm animals all over the world. But I am convinced, that none of us LK forum members are those, who really harm birds or other animals. Most of us have hardly any touch with the wild nature we follow via cams. The real evildoers are not here.

[Rita]

What I mean is on a mundane level, in the collective - as long as a certain attitude is in the minds of a lot of people,
harm will be done to the birds.

Observing these birds is like a growing awareness - which we have the chance to share and to spread. We cannot do this as long as we dislike a certain animal behaviour.

[Owlie]

What I mean is on a mundane level - as long as a certain attitude is in the minds of a lot of people, harm will be done to the birds.

Dear Rita
I give up. I cannot believe as evil as you do of other people.

[Rita]

Hi Owlie: Does not matter.

[Owlie]

18:00
Iiris jumped down from the cam stand. This is apparently the phase when Iiris can let the chicks spend more time on their own on the nest. She can follow them from the cam stand and go fishing, the chicks don't need the motherly warmth and protection as much as when they had only down on them.

18:32-18:33
Iiris left the nest

18:40-18:41
Iiris returned with the fish #4 (a tench?) *** So: 8 minutes of this Super Lady!
Two of the chicks are sleeping and growing, one is fed, I can't tell which one.

18:49
A second ospret joins feeding. It looks like the older ones are fed and Smallie sleeping and growing ...

PS. I give the times between two minutes, I cannot read the display time but have noticed that my laptop time is mostly one minute ahead

[Kitarr]

18:40 Iiris lands on the nest with a fresh fish
18:44 Iiris is feeding 1 chick. The other 2 are (not yet) interested

[Owlie]

19:07

Ivo in - with a fish without head? He left at once. Iiris is going on with feeding of her fish to only one of the chicks ... No, she stopped the feeding and looks surprised (to me), she looks around a long time, the remains of the fish in her claws ...
Finally she eats by herself, and in the end feeds one and two chicks.

It looks to me that Smallie has not attended this feeding at all, s/he has been sleeping and growing or otherwise uninterested and aside.