It’s been mostly a week of tedious waiting at the Osprey Nest, the spring and summer home of Ozzie and Harriet. I hardly ever see Harriet, who seems to be spending virtually all of her time lying low and unseen in the nest. Occasionally, she’ll stir and briefly raise her somewhat untidy head and shoulders so that I’m able to see her.
Although it seems a bit early for her to be laying eggs and/or incubating them, I prefer that interpretation to inferring that she’s injured or otherwise ailing. It usually takes about 40 to 45 days to complete incubation. So, I’m assuming we’re in that waiting phase of family founding.
I haven’t seen a lot of Ozzie this week, either. I can’t figure out his schedule, if he has one. Above, you see him doing one of his fly-overs while I’m there. I have seen him deliver fresh fish by unceremoniously plopping it into the nest. He does that after posing with his scaly prize and gulping down his share of it in an old birch tree that’s near the nest. That posing-gulping-and-plopping routine seems to be part of his daily activity.
In the birch, as you see above, it’s easy for him to keep his eye on me and vice-versa, when I’m there at an opportune time. He seems comfortable seeing my car with the big lens sticking out of the window, which is a sight that he’s probably seen for years.
Most important, Ozzie appears to be acting as if all is going the way it should go, and he would know better about that than I would. I think that we both may be sharing the hope of seeing three or four featherless, red-eyed nestlings in June. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 3 and 7, 2024.)