Live from the eagle's nest

[The Infidel]

The nestcam is back, now with sound.

The osprey couple from last year is back, but another couple also claims the nest. Who will win the right to it? Time will show.

[The Infidel]

The original couple won and there's 3 eggs in the nest. It's all routine now. Male hunts fish, gives fish to female. Female flies away to eat while male keep the eggs warm. Female return after a while and they swap. Male goes hunting. Repeat.

[The Infidel]

Two eaglets have hatched! Hopefully, both will survive into adulthood.

[LadyTevar]

A local nest had a tragedy happen.

Mother was injured somehow, had a massive hole in her hip but she'd made it back to the nest and the babies, which were not yet fledglings. A photographer who'd been following the family realized Mom was dead, the babies in trouble, and Dad wasn't able to feed them properly.

Three Rivers Avian Center (TRAC) rehabbers were contacted, and the babies have been rescued and put in rehab. The babies are "thin, but healthy", and they'll be cared for until they're fully fledged and able to fly properly, then released either back near the nest if Dad is still around, or in another area of New River with ospreys.

[The Infidel]

I'm glad to hear they got rescued. Any updates?

The 3 eaglets are growing fast and father osprey provide enough food. The camerea is tilted a bit and sound is muted for a while due to a military exercise in the area.

[The Infidel]

Only one eaglet left now.

The first died because it got harassed by the biggest one, something that is not uncommon.
The second died because something got stuck in its belly and it couldn't eat properly.

[LadyTevar]

Update on the babies in rescue.

They were doing fine, growing and had been moved to the flight enclosure to learn to use their wings, but yesterday the smaller one was found dead. No sign of injury, just dead of unknown causes. The bigger one is on course to be released once his flying is better.

[The Infidel]

Flight practice in the nest.

Tev, I wonder if being safe in captivity and being fed well makes "your" chick mature earlier?

[LadyTevar]

Flight practice in the nest.

Tev, I wonder if being safe in captivity and being fed well makes "your" chick mature earlier?

That is a good question, one I don't know the answer to.

They did release the juvenile osprey a week ago, and it seems to be surviving on its own.

[The Infidel]

The eaglet has now started to fly around a bit and the nest is sometimes empty. It still can't catch food on its own and is fed by its parents.

[The Infidel]

The juvenile osprey manages fine. Not sure if it catches is own food yet. Mama osprey now fattens herself for the long trip south, but still feeds her kid. Father osprey is also an excellent hunter.

[The Infidel]

A couple of days ago, another juvenile osprey landed in the nest, something the resident juvenile osprey didn't like very much. It went away after a while.
Nest is mostly empty now, but mother is still arriving with fish and feeding is taking place from time to time.

One juvenile osprey marked in Norway this summer has been spotted in the Netherlands, so the trek has started.

[The Infidel]

Nest is now empty again.

[The Infidel]

Seems like the camera is down for the season.
The mother, the only one tracked, is now in Africa.

[The Infidel]

Nestcam is back, now on youtube.

[The Infidel]

Seems the link isn't valid anymore.
Here's an updated one:

[The Infidel]

It seems the link keep changing.
I think this is the new link now, but it's not working at the moment.
https://www.youtube.com/@FruRauer/live

[The Infidel]

Two eaglets in the nest.
The third egg didn't hatch.

Link above seems to work fine.

[The Infidel]

NESTCAM IS BACK!
Bigger, better, LOUDAH!

Follow the channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FruRauer
It's in English and Norwegian.

Here's a wildlife video about how they do it:


Fru/Mrs Rauer is the original female. She's easy to recognize with the radio antenna on her back.
As I understand, another female osprey (Mrs/Fru Bogen) got to the nest first and started to settle in. She even mated with Mrs. Rauer's "husband". Of course, from his point of view, he couldn't be sure if Mrs. Rauer made it, as they are not together outside nesting season.

Bird porn ahead:


Then Mrs. Rauer came home and wasn't too happy about the house occupant:


In the end, it seems like the original couple won the right to the nest for another year.


Live cam here: (It is very soothing to have on in the background, with sound and all.)

[LadyTevar]

YAY!

Down the mountain, in the town of Gauley Bridge osprey (fish eagles/fish hawks) made a nest several years ago atop an abandoned railroad bridge over Gauley River (yes the one the town's named for LOL).
Unfortunately something happened to the mother, watchers saw her flopped lifeless in the nest and the father avoiding it. Raptor rescuers had to climb up to the nest and get the fledglings. They'd been eating their mother out of desperation, so the rescuers don't know if she was shot or what.

I've been trying to get a look at the nest every time I'm driving down that way and pass the bridge, but I can't tell if more ospreys have come or not