Our Osprey Garden
Greetings Osprey Friends!
Our ospreys seem to be pretty much finished with nest building though some are still at it as they arrived and began late. We believe some are sitting on eggs now! Such an exciting time in Colonial Beach! Although we can’t see what is going on in the nests, we can observe the behaviors of the ospreys. If you observe a bird constantly sitting in the middle of the nest, chances are she is incubating eggs. Eggs take about 35 days to hatch. Typically, ospreys lay one to four eggs, three on average. Unlike most birds, the female begins to incubate the first egg as soon as it is laid, she will finish laying her eggs over the next few days. The eggs will hatch in accordance with the order they are laid so there will be quite a size difference between the first hatchling and the last.
By next month, there will be babies. When first hatched, you will be unable to observe them. What you can observe is the female osprey tearing pieces of fish with her beak and then her head will bend down, she will be feeding the babies. The male osprey will keep the family supplied with fish. This is a difficult time for the male and female. He must catch enough fish to sustain the female and her chicks while keeping himself fed enough to keep up his strength. As the babies grow, they require more and more fish so his work has just begun once the chicks hatch! Hopefully by next month there will be some pictures of chicks to share.
We have a new international friend, J. C. Fenandez-Ordonez, he lives in Cojedes, Venezuela. At this point and time, things have reversed, I will be sending all of our international friends information and photos because the ospreys are now back with us. I appreciate the partnership we have with our friends all for the love of ospreys, we can all learn from each other.
Festival News
What a fantastic and successful festival we had!! We almost tripled the attendance from last year. We had lots of children that enjoyed our Nestling’s Corner and we already have new ideas for next year to make it even better. Young and old alike took advantage of our exhibitors and all they had to offer. Our vendors offered a wide array of items that showed off their talents. The Presenters were informative and on point.
I must give a huge shout out to our Team that worked countless hours to put this together and then our volunteers that made it all happen!! Colonial Beach is a small town, but it has a big heart and it truly does take a village to make good things happen.
If you attended the festival I hope you learned something from it and had a great time! If you were not able to attend, I hope you consider joining us next year. We will start planning in another month.
Have a fun and safe summer! SAVE THE DATE – April 13, 2024
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