All is well as of yesterday with Ozzie and Harriet and their three nestlings, David, Ricky, and Lucy. Most of the images here were taken yesterday; a few were taken Monday (July 13).
The nestlings are growing quickly. Here, we see that Ricky, the second born, is starting to lose his reptilian look, but is still “all eyes,” brown ones at that:
Both parents have been attentive. Below, we see Ozzie decapitating a freshly-caught fish for his breakfast, then leaving the rest of it at the nest rim for his family. After a few minutes on the nest, he leaves, but stays withing calling range.
Staying within calling range is important. Ozzie and Harriet (especially Harriet) seen to have a concept of protected airspace near and over their nest, where intruding raptors will be attacked by them.
Yesterday, a lone female osprey got curious and came too close to the nest. Harriet screamed her special intruder call and the nestlings dove for cover as they always do when she screams like that. She even left the nest to intercept the intruder before Ozzie could come and drive the complaining female off . As he did, it was easy to see the difference in size between mature males and larger mature females.
The decibel level caused by three ospreys screaming during this episode was amazing. But, in the end, the intruder flew away and Harriet checked us out as she returned to watch over the still-hiding youngsters. She and Ozzie seem to have gotten comfortable with us.
(Brooklin, Maine)