Ozzie and Harriet have been well and are acting very much like there are eggs and/or one or more nestlings in the lower reaches of their summer home here. (It’s more likely to be eggs at this time.)
Above, you see Harriet on Thursday, doing what many birders call “begging” on the nest, although “complaining” seems more apt to me. She often does this until Ozzie comes by and delivers a fish. Note that she is crouched and has her wings slightly spread, a typical stance for shading eggs or nestlings from the sun while letting air flow below her.
The image is a different story, however:
That’s Harriet returning to her nest after a 10-minute break – and she’s soaking wet. It’s more likely that she has just taken a thorough bath than just been unsuccessful at fishing. However, this raises an issue that may be of interest to some of you who have never looked into an osprey nest.
Osprey nests contain rotting fish parts, fresh and dry blood from fish, dust and soil from imported moss and lichen “beds,” and feces when there are nestlings or the parents’ sphincter muscles have misfired. Stated another way, osprey nests are dirty places that attract swarms of flies and other pests, including a wide variety of parasites that infest the birds.
Thus, regular bathing is common among ospreys. I’ve only seen ospreys bathing in fresh water, but they may bathe in salt water as well. Perhaps one of you has seen them do so.
The bathing ospreys that I’ve seen stand shoulder-high in the shallows and continually dip their heads and bodies in the water, shake themselves, and wave their wet wings about – just like robins in a bird bath. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 16, 2022.)