Osprey Feathers

Baby Osprey 12 days later

A beautiful Sunday afternoon at Gilgo, looking around the wetlands caught a glimpse of one of the baby osprey thru my binoculars. Set up the camera and was quite surprised as to how much she had grown and all the feathers!

Based on the nest finally secured on April 15th , thinking the eggs would have created around May 1st. The female osprey incubates them for 5 to 6 weeks so the eggs would have hatched around June 7th. I think the baby osprey were 3 weeks old on July 1st as shown in the image above.

Young osprey spend days practicing to fly, right around their nest. The bird gets their first flight at seven to eight weeks. Based on the estimates, this chick is 5 to 6 weeks old.

Amazing amount of feathers, the chick had trouble lifting her wing, the photo makes her look more graceful then she is. Still very much learning her body. Reminds me of my Great Dane Jackson, as a pup, learning to walk.