Ozzie and Harriet continue to look healthy. As is common during osprey breeding season, Harriet has begun to engage in almost incessant, loud chirps that are called “food-begging” and “solicitation” calls. She does this whenever Ozzie is in the nest with her or visible to her while she is in the nest alone. This image shows her making such calls yesterday:
Male ospreys bring most of the pair’s food (fish) to the nest when their mate is laying eggs and brooding there. When the nesting female osprey sees her mate flying in with a fish or eating one nearby, she often chirps loudly. Ornithologists have dubbed these sounds “food-begging calls” when it is apparent that she’s looking at food.
Nonetheless, a breeding female osprey will make the same calls directed at her mate when he does not have food and she does not appear to be hungry. Why she does this apparently is still a matter of debate among researchers who call them simply “solicitation calls” without identifying what the female is asking for (if anything).
Although Harriet is spending much more time lying down in the nest, she does get restless and take off for flights of up to 30 minutes, often returning with some moss or a new stick for the nest:
This flying leads me to believe that she hasn’t laid any eggs yet. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 2 [Harriett flying] and 5 [the pair], 2022.]