Osprey Flight

2 weeks ago on August 16th at 8-9 am on a quiet Saturday morning, my neighbor Paul called me to say he saw the young osprey fly! Wish I would have been looking, this is what he said happened.

He did not see them take flight off the nest, He looked out the window and saw 4 birds circling around the nest about 100 feet up in the air. After a couple of circles around the nest, they landed back in the nest one at a time. Nothing dramatic, just a couple of steady circles and a landing.

In the week before they flew, they had been exercising their wings more and more. Just flapping away in the edge of the nest. They became stronger and noticeably more coordinated during that week.

Since then, they have been building strength, endurance and skill each day by flying and I mean flying a lot. They chase each other or other birds all around the meadows. They practice flying over marina and dive bombing to the water where they skim their feet in the water as if plucking a fish.

Seems when they are not flying, they spend a lot of time on the Electric and Telco wires that run behind the homes on Cottage Walk. Sometimes for exercise, other times to hang out and then sometimes to catch a nap.

Wilson, the bigger of the 2, chilling on the TV lines.
Qwen sitting on the roof taking in the morning sun, August 31st, 2020.

All of the above is to build the energy, strength and endurance for the flight to the southern United States in the fall. Qwen and Wilson will fly south this fall and will not be coming back soon. Young Osprey stay down south for a couple of years and then come back to mate and procreate!

Mom and Dad should be back to do it all over again in the spring! The height of an Osprey nest is a good indicator of how many times a pair has returned.

The Gilgo nest at the east end of the marina was started this year so it a small structure. Take a look at the nest from the west side of Gilgo, it has been here for years.

Snapped a photo as the sun came up on August 29th, 2020, guess they spent the night.

They Want to Fly

The family weathered the storm, easily. The adults clung to the nest with the babies under them, flat as can be. Would see them peak up every once in a while when the winds were 40 mph plus. Not sure what they did during the 50-60 mph winds, but they were just fine the next morning.

Both the chicks, Wilson and Gwen, were exercising this morning, doing Wing Flaps and Body Bobs. They are so much more coordinated. When they bob, they peer out over the edge of the nest looking like they are going to jump and fly.

The lady spreads her wings! Gwen and Wilson have so much more control this week
Wilson looking good. Their feathers are filling in! Pop admiring his son.

Took a late after SUP drift past the nest, nice and easy. I tryed to make the osprey sound with little success. Whistled low and easy the pretty bird whistle and they looked right up. Guess it works with more than parrots! Betty the mom took off as usual, but the chicks stayed up instead of flatting out in the bottom of the nest.

Was able to take this picture of Wilson on the right and his sister Gwen chilling beside him from 20-30 feet away from their nest. A note; updated this post the next morning with above photo. This morning there were exercising their wings flapping them as if flying without leaving the nest, They did it for about 15 minutes on and off and then have been mostly quiet since then.

Attempted the same SUP drift the next day, Saturday the 8th. The whistle didn’t work too good. Pretty bird did better, got them to sit up and take notice which is the featured image on this post now.

Gilgo Osprey Update 7/14

Osprey Cam Update

Osprey cam video of the nest at the east end of the Gilgo Marina has gotten softer or more out of focus in last week or so. Clean window and lens to no avail.

I have use the Sony Pella cameras for the web site, Went thru the other two spares I have from over the years, they are all 15 to 20 years old. Both had issues. The ocean surf cam is a Pella living on borrowed time, it has been running since 2006.

I have a Canon CB-50i, it was the Long Beach Cam for 10-15 years. Always thought it was sharper than the Sony, but think full zoom Sony better than Canon in this application.

Took the day, but changed out camera for the Osprey Cam at Gilgo Beach and we are back up.

Osprey Family Update

Now as to the fam… they seemed to be doing well. The parents stay mostly at the nest, Betty with the chicks Wilson and Gwenny while Skip keeps an eye out on the post out in front of the nest. Skip does the fishing keeping mom and the kids fed and safe. Hope to see the chicks try to fly in the next week or so.

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.

Osprey Love has Produced!

New family of osprey

The young pair of osprey that settled at the east end of Gilgo had two babies last week!

Skip, the male osprey has been hanging out below the nest for the couple weeks. Betty, the female osprey stayed most of the time in the nest, figured sitting on eggs.

Decided to shot them this morning, set up tripod and it was a wonderful surprise to see the babies! Looks like they had 2 of them last week sometime.

osprey nest on the north side of the gilgo marina

Took photographs on July 1st, 2020 from 7:30 to 8:30 am. It was a beautiful summer morning at Gilgo Beach. Light north wind, sun coming up, parking lot filling with surfers come and going, swell small, 2.8′, 10 sec with some fun on the set waves.

Hope you enjoy, watch the live Osprey Cam of their nest here at gilgo.com or our mobile site.

Somebody is hungry! picture soft, heavy crop, below is the original.
Hungry chick on osprey nest at Gilgo Beach with mom in nest and dad looking on.
The new family of 4! With proud momma osprey looking out and daddy osprey looking north. The kids are alright!