Whopper - heading towards independence at a leisurely pace.

Wow! Stay cool!

I sincerely hope you are there for the final 'bon voyage'.
OH yeah, don’t forget some pictures.

Cripes, a hot summers day, and that's the night minimum!

Hope it cools off soon

Resin

I hope so too, Resin. I love the "Signs of spring" thread because it gives some hope that summer will eventually end in this part of the world. Mind you, with what others have been experiencing in the eastern states (Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria) and now with our cousins in New Zealand, a bit of hot weather pales into insignificance and I should stop whinging.

Ginger, you just never know when is the last time you see the juvenile bird that you've watched from an egg. It'll be there one day and then you never see it again - or not so that you can positively identify it - but it's a wonderful journey to watch.

You folks 'down under' are having a frightful summer. Hope there is relief in store for evryone one soon.

All your osprey are special in their way....Aussie for starting you & us down this wonderful path of following your osprey, Harmony who seemed to have such a sense of drama and humor. But this one, is such really a beautiful bird and I hope she grows up to pass on her legacy.

This message was edited Feb 26, 2011 11:24 AM

Nanny,what a lovely thing to say. Thank you. It has been an amazing journey, hasn't it?

Regarding the weather, the heat just goes on and on. The maximums aren't all that high. Generally around the 36 or 37C mark. It's the absence of any cooling sea breeze that makes it so uncomfortable. The night time minimum's are between 23 and 25C - not conducive to undisturbed sleep. The record has already been broken for the number of days in a row where the temperature has been over 30C and the record is just about to be broken, and then some, of the night time minima.

Mind you, the Pride of Barbados just LOVE the heat. The more you can throw at them the happier they are.

I'll have to get myself to the nest at the first hint of a breeze, no matter where it's from. Thing is, if it's too hot for humans, it's also too hot for the ospreys to spend time at the nest.

This is the only place to be and that's where I'll be heading very shortly.

Looks like a beautiful spot to cool off. We had snow today. I would trade your warm weather in a heart beat!

Boo hoo hoo. Have a look at the minima in particular.

Poor Margaret, I hope you'll soon have a break in that weather. You're welcome to visit our home-we're looking at falling snow right now and listening to our beautiful tree branches breaking from the weight of the wet snow. Worse yet, is tonight when our temps will be down to the teens this evening. I'd gladly trade you weather systems!!

I'd have a hard time with those temp too, Margaret. It's as unbearable as the cold.

Duc, I'm so sorry your trees are being damaged. It must be distressing to watch and not be able to do anything about it. I remember dellrose's heartbreakingly graphic description of listening to trees on their property cracking and breaking during an ice storm a few years ago. We have a huge eucalypt in the yard, easily 100' tall. It is responding like so many native trees do in a drought - it self prunes by shedding limbs. The last two days in a row it has dropped one large branch and a smaller one. There may be more over the next few days.

A beautiful Banksia on the verge that the Black Cockatoos loved to feed on split in half and fell across the road about three weeks ago. The tree surgeon from the council that came to have a look said it was just doing what native trees do when under stress but unfortunately this one was unsalvageable and had to be razed to the ground. Here's a shot of the Banksia in flower with a New Holland Honeyeater feeding on the rich nectar.

Burn, I agree. Long stretches like this are really hard to cope with.

I actually went down the nest for about an hour yesterday late afternoon. Whopper was in the shade below the nest, but I couldn't get any shots as she was mostly hidden by foliage.

Edited because I said Harmony was below the nest, not Whopper. The heat's getting to me.

This message was edited Feb 26, 2011 1:53 PM

Margaret, I guess I have never heard of trees splitting and falling from the heat. I'm so sorry to hear of the beautiful Banksia. That will be a huge loss for the birds. I guess all of our native trees here must have very long roots because they all seem to survive without water from early spring into late fall. I do hope you'll get a break in the weather.

Glad you got to see Harmony!

As always I love the pictures

Saw one of our Ospreys carrying a branch yesterday.

Oh that is a shame!

I closed my eyes & that still hurts.

An update on our ospreys. I received a call from Madam X yesterday morning, telling me that Dad was on the nest. As I haven't seen him since mid December, I went to have a look. I took some photos, but mornings are not a good time for photography as the nest is side/backlit. Big Hook was on Dad's branch in the trees outside Madam's place, dozing contentedly with a huge fish in her claws. Whopper was nowhere to be seen.

I went back down there yesterday afternoon. Big Hook and Whopper were both on Dad's branch, just sitting quietly, occasionally gazing to an area between the tree they were in and the nest and I assumed that Dad must have been down there, although I couldn't see him.

Here's Big Hook on the left, with Whopper again looking astonished.

A bird then arrived on the nest. It was making a bit of noise and I thought it was Whopper. It was, in fact, Dad. Very unusual to hear him carry on.

His chest is more heavily marked than when I last saw him, but it is unmistakably him. He has a black spot in one of his irises and I can see that on my computer.

His sojourn ended up being quite brief. As if jealous that someone was on "her" nest, Whopper arrived with her usual flair.

There was no interaction, but Dad seemed a bit nervous.

... and he left.

So, what's a girl to do? She studies her navel.

Herein is the difference between our non-migratory Ospreys and the ones from the higher latitudes in the northern hemisphere. Whopper is now five and a half months old and is still hanging around with her parents and using the nest as a base. Birds of equivalent age in the northern hemisphere would have migrated several thousand km to Africa or South America prior to the onset of winter, facing enormous perils on various fronts along the way. Here she is migrating a couple of hundred metres from the nest to the northern end of the bay.

Madam X and I saw her leave a low branch a few days ago and she skimmed the surface of the water as she flew to the top of the bay. There, she landed on the shore and had a long, flapping bath in the shallows. Too distant to get any shots.

I keep you posted on any further activity.

Very nice pics Margaret! Glad you got to spend some time with them. They are all looking wonderful!

Wonderful as usual Margaret. Love the studies her navel comment too! Funny!

Glad Dad made an appearance. I like the shots, showing the difference in size of Whopper and Dad, boys is she ever big compare to him!!!
Too funny about the navel, gave me a good chuckle.

Great pix, Marg! I wish she would pull up her feathers and allow us to see her naval ;o))

LOL @ the navel shot!!

Gald to hear & see Dad is okay too!

Our hot weather continues - and is expected to for some time to come. Fortunately there was a gentle sea breeze this afternoon so I went to the nest for the first time in a week. I saw an osprey flying low and silently below the nest and could then hear sporadic calling from trees down by the river, both to the north and to the south of where I was sitting.

Whopper eventually arrived with a flourish on the branch below the nest that is favoured by Dad during the nesting season. It was unmistakably Whopper because of the demanding calls she made during her hour long stay on the branch.

She is now five and a half months old and seems to be losing the distinctive white scalloping to the edges of her dark feathers. If it wasn't for the fact that she was squealing like the young osprey she is, there's be no distinguishing her from her mother, although she doesn't have the bulk that Big Hook has.

Madam X has seen Dad and Big Hook together on the nest and has also seen the three of them soaring up and down in the strong, early morning wind. They were even joined by two other ospreys at one stage.

Last one for now.

"If it wasn't for the fact that she was squealing like the young osprey she is, there's be no distinguishing her from her mother, although she doesn't have the bulk that Big Hook has."

Love that description!! lol

Glad you liked it. :)

With Dad and Big Hook already spending time on the nest together, we wonder if the season will begin early this year. Hard to believe that it's only another three months until the cycle begins again. It'll be interesting to see just how long Whopper stays in the area.

As a side issue, the nest tree looks dead, but it isn't. Only the part that the nest is built on is dead. Now herein lies a problem. The living part of the tree is thriving and I think that this coming season may well be the last one where there is such a fantastic view into the nest. Any foliage you see in the more recent shots are actually of the nest tree. I'll be able to access an even higher vantage point, but it will be that little bit more distant. We'll wait and see.

Oh Margaret, what beautiful photos. I best favour the 1st pix where the bird lands on her Father's fav. branch. Thanks for the update. Best wishes.

Margaret thanks for the update and the gorgeous shots of our beautiful gal. She certainly does look vocal...LOL!!

It is hard to believe that in a few short months another season will begin... I am looking forward to more!!

Does MadamX ever think that she sees Harmony or Aussie around the nest? Just curious if they ever return to their birthplace.

Whopper has turned into such regal young lady! Your pix are stunning! Thanks for the update.

Thanks, folks. Whopper sure is gorgeous bird. I'm glad you're enjoying the photos.

Rose, no strangers are ever around the nest itself or even perching in nearby trees. There's no way of knowing who the other two osprey were that Madam X saw flying with "our" family a couple of days ago. It's not unusual to see six or even up to eight birds soaring together on a really windy day, but where they come from is anyone's guess. Maybe from nests on the other side of the river. Ospreys do tend to gravitate towards their natal areas, though, so who knows.